Speaking Sensis

I went along to the 15th Telstra Business Women’s Awards National Awards Ceremony on Thursday 12 November and was overwhelmed by the achievements of the inspiring business women in the room.

Christine Nixon, Head of the Victorian Bushfire Reconstruction and Recovery Authority and former Police Commissioner made a great speech, telling the room about her experience joining the police force as a 19 year old woman in 1972.

She spoke about the importance of respect and courage in the workforce, and how there weren’t too many people in 1972 telling her that one day she could be the Chief Commissioner of Victoria Police.

She recounted a time in her early career when she was being harassed by a more senior policeman and two of her male colleagues overheard. They marched straight in and made it very clear to the harasser that – “We don’t do that around here.”

At risk of sounding a little bit Sliding Doors I wonder what the impact of that situation and those six words have had on Christine Nixon’s career. If her colleagues hadn’t overheard the situation and 19 year old Christine had continued to be harassed, would that have changed Christine’s path?

I wonder if WA’s Gina Rinehart has ever been bullied? Gina, Chairman of mining house Hancock Prospecting was announced as the 2009 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year. She has being working in a heavily male dominated mining industry since 1992 and successfully transformed the small prospecting company into a growing mining house.

The awards followed comments from Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard from 10 November, lamenting the status of working women.

“A lot of progress has been made for women at work over the last 20 or 30 years, indeed all the world has changed in many ways.

“But there are still some troubling sings, there is still a pay difference between men and women, there is still a clustering of women tending to be in low-wage, low-skill occupations,” Ms Gillard said.

The latest Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data reported the average hourly gender pay gap was 13.1 per cent in May 2009, the biggest gap since 1996.

It’s figures like these that reinforce the importance of continuing to recognise and celebrate the achievement of women in business.

The Telstra business Women’s Awards have recognised the achievements of more than 400 women in business since its inception in 1995.