Speaking Sensis

I read in the paper this morning that when Elizabeth Blackburn was a young woman, she was asked by a family friend: “What’s a nice girl like you doing studying science?” On Monday, Dr Blackburn became the first Australian woman to win a Nobel Prize.

It made me realise how lucky I am as a businesswoman in 2009, that I don’t have to put up with that kind of rubbish. It also made me proud to be working for a company with 40 per cent of its senior management positions held by females.

Fresh off my Australian-business-woman-pride with role models like Dr Blackburn leading the way for young business women all over the country, I gladly accepted an invitation to attend the 2009 Victorian Telstra Business Women’s Awards at Crown Palladium in Melbourne on Tuesday 6 October.

The winner of the White Pages® Community and Government Award category was Professor Pauline Nugent, Dean of Health Sciences at Australian Catholic University and Chair of Southern Health.

Professor Nugent was overseas for work at the time of the awards announcement and had sent her sister along sans speech because she was so sure she wasn’t going to win. Not only did Professor Nugent win the White Pages® Community and Government Award category, she was also announced as the 2009 Victorian Telstra Business Women of the year!

The Honourable Maxine Morand, Minister for Women’s Affairs congratulated Professor Nugent and spoke about the wonderful progress women have made in the business arena in Australia, but she also reminded the room of 500 that there is still a way to go with regard to equality in the workplace.

“Legislation may be needed to set quotas for board appointments in the private sector given that only eight per cent of board members on the top 200 are women,” Minister Morand said.

It was a good reminder for me, that while I’m lucky enough to work for a company which has many inspiring business women holding senior roles, it’s not the same across the board, so to speak.

Minister Morand has also recently mentioned that in the 2008/09 financial year, it takes women an extra 62 days to earn what men earn over the same period, based on average full-time earnings.

So, while we have made progress in Australia – there’s still a long way to go. We need to start challenging the way we think about women in business and continue the great (albeit slow) progress we’ve made to achieve equality among men and women in the workplace.