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WHAT A REMARKABLE YEAR FOR WOMEN IN 2023 WITH NFAW
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Celebrations, events and the upcoming Gender Lens review!
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Message from NFAW President, Jane Madden
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What a remarkable year for women is unfolding.
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As I write this, the Closing the Gender Pay Gap Bill has today passed the federal Parliament ensuring that companies with 100 or more employees will soon be required to publish their gender pay gap data. NFAW has long advocated for reform which can contribute to driving action on closing the gender pay gap, a figure that has remained incredibly stubborn in Australia in recent years. In 2022, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) calculated the national gender pay gap to be 22.8%, with women earning, on average, $26,600 less than men.
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This will be no silver bullet though. Women are still missing in leadership and under-represented at all levels of management across different sectors. As WGEA Director, Mary Wooldridge tells us; despite constituting a majority of the workforce, women hold a minority of manager level roles and men are twice as likely to be in the top income earning bracket than women. In 2022 just 14 of 200 CEOs at Australia’s top ASX-listed companies were women. Just over a third of ASX200 Board directors are female and only one in 10 ASX200 Boards are chaired by women.
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Recently, NFAW extended life membership to long-term director and member, Ruth Medd who, as the founder of Women on Boards (WOB), has dedicated much of her career to tackling some of these challenges. As Ruth concludes full-time involvement with WOB, a special black-tie dinner was held in Sydney on 9 March in her honour. The other recent recipient of life-term NFAW membership is Kate Bosser, long-term director and member, who for many years served as NFAW ‘s tireless Secretary. Bravo to both.
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Big congratulations are due to our co-founder and inaugural NFAW President, Marie Coleman AO PSM who has recently turned 90. Her birthday coincided with the 50 year anniversary since she was appointed as the first female to lead a Commonwealth Government agency. Please see below for a tribute and also tune into the video via this link featuring her interview as the 2023 Pamela Denoon Lecture, a highlight from many International Women’s Day events marked by NFAW members in March 2023.
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Yet, It's certainly not all parties and events; NFAW has been highly active recently with submissions, advocacy and preparations for the Budget. Please read below and feel free to give us feedback and suggestions. We are inspired by our leaders such as Marie, Ruth and Kate, but recognising we build on their work, we use their example to further galvanise our efforts.
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National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW)
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Gender Lens 2023 on the Budget – watch out for our in-depth review of how the budget could impact you this May 2023.
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The NFAW Social Policy Committee (SPC) lead by Professor Helen Hodgson, will be conducting an in-depth review of the forthcoming Budget this May 2023. The SPC have also been very busy since the Labour Government came to power, tabling a series of submissions which can be found on the Policy Submission page on the website: READ NOW >>
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Happy 90th Birthday to the Indomitable Marie Coleman!
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All of us benefit from progress towards gender equality, so all of us owe a debt of gratitude to Marie Coleman, on her 90th birthday. She has been cutting trails all her adult life, and knowing Marie, I think she would have been an adventurous kid too!
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Marie was only the second woman to edit the Sydney University newspaper, Honi Soit, a member of the university's Student Representative Council, and forged a path as a senior executive in the Australian public service. She became the first woman to hold the powers of Permanent Head under the Public Service Act when she was appointed, in 1972, as the inaugural Chair of the National Social Welfare Commission by Gough Whitlam.
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It seems it is not always easy for pioneering women to advocate for gender equality and to support other women, but this has been Marie’s enduring legacy. Marie has always supported other women, and mentored many, including me. In 1989, she co-founded the National Foundation for Australian Women and was our first President.
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Marie knows how to work the levers of power and she has used these skills to influence multiple government agendas towards equality. Australia has seen few non-government actors as effective as Marie. Government knows this, too. On International Women’s Day this year, Hansard reflects the well wishes of many Senators who know how effective Marie is as a feminist activist. Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Women’s and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, and Senators Tim Ayres and Larissa Waters all recorded their appreciation for her work.
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Many of us who have learned from Marie, and advocated with her for equality over the years celebrated her 90th birthday at a party at her place on 11 March 2023. As Penny Wong noted in her remarks in Parliament, “Those of us who've been the first of something must always be mindful of ensuring we are not the last. Marie Coleman lives by that. She has supported women to build on what she started.” Her 90th birthday was an opportunity to thank Marie for that contribution.
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Happy birthday, Marie, and here’s to many more!
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An inspiring message from long-term NFAW Director and retiring founder of Women on Boards: Ruth Medd
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As Women on Boards co-founder Ruth Medd gets ready to step back from the organisation, she talks about the importance of having a 'can do' attitude and reflects on her 20 years involvement with WOB in leadership. Here she has worked tirelessly to raise awareness around the issues facing of equality facing women in the workforce. Congratulations Ruth on your dedication and service to all women in Australia and for the work you continue to do as a board member with NFAW.
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An inspiring read: “‘Can do’ is about having a go, adventure and risk-taking. Rather like today’s director career” - READ NOW >>
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NFAW Speaker Event Sydney, Feb 23
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NFAW held an event on Tuesday 21 February 2023 at KPMG with guest speaker Julie Inman Grant. Around 50 people attending the cocktail style event in the lovely Barangaroo offices of KPMG, and found the wise words of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner rather sobering. When considering cyber safety and the challenges we face as women, it was good to have strong and thoughtful practical tips on how to deal with a variety of situations.
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NFAW held an event on Tuesday 21 February 2023 at KPMG with guest speaker Julie Inman Grant. Around 50 people attending the cocktail style event in the lovely Barangaroo offices of KPMG, and found the wise words of Australia’s eSafety Commissioner rather sobering. When considering cyber safety and the challenges we face as women, it was good to have strong and thoughtful practical tips on how to deal with a variety of situations.
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Julie leads the world’s first government regulatory agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online. She has extensive experience in the non-profit and government sectors and spent two decades working in senior public policy and safety roles in the tech industry at Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe. As Commissioner, Julie plays an important global role as Chair of the Child Dignity Alliance’s Technical Working Group and as a Board Member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance. The Commissioner also serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Coalition for Digital Safety and on their XR Ecosystem Governance Steering Committee on Building and Defining the Metaverse. Under her leadership, eSafety has joined forces with the White House Gender Policy Council and Government of Denmark on the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Harassment & Abuse.
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As Commissioner, she has led work to stand up novel and world-first regulatory regimes under the new Online Safety Act 2021, with implementation of a sweeping new set of reforms beginning on 23 January 2022. NFAW would like to thank KPMG for their support of this function, and Alison Kitchen National Chair for her personal interest in NFAW.
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The Annual Pamela Denoon Event: Canberra March 2023
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The 2023 Pamela Denoon Lecture was a very special event. Held on 9 March at the Australian National University, and supported by the ANU Gender Institute, the Lecture featured Marie Coleman AO PSM on the occasion of her 90th birthday with Reflections on Feminism – Past, Present and Future. Marie was in conversation with Jane Madden, President of the National Foundation for Australian Women. You can view the 2023 Pamela Denoon Lecture in full here . The Lecture was also recorded by ABC Big Ideas, so keep an eye out for the broadcast.
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Awarded an AO for distinguished service to the advancement of women, Marie Coleman’s name has been synonymous with the women’s movement in Australia for the past 60 years. She maintains her indignation at the gender pay gap and has championed everything from universal access to childcare to paid maternity leave. ‘A lot of these issues take tremendous persistence’, she says. Marie was the first woman in Australia to head a statutory authority when she chaired the Whitlam Government’s Social Welfare Commission in 1973. She had a long and distinguished career in public service, being awarded a Public Service Medal in 1990 and a Centenary Medal in 2011. Marie was a founding member of the NFAW in 1989 and chaired the Social Policy Committee (SPC) until early 2020. The SPC plays a leadership role for women’s organisations nationally in the research and analysis of the impacts of policies on woman. She is also a committee member for the Australian Woman’s Archives Program. Marie has been inducted into the Victorian Parliament’s Honour Roll of Women and the ACT Honour Roll of Women.
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The Pamela Denoon Lecture is Australia’s longest running and most prestigious feminist lecture. The Pamela Denoon Lecture was inaugurated in 1989 as a tribute to the memory of Pamela Denoon. Pamela Denoon worked tirelessly to promote equality for women and was the National Coordinator of Women’s Electoral Lobby from 1982-84. She actively lobbied for women’s rights in Canberra during the 1980s.
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The Pamela Denoon Lecture aims to inspire and motivate women to find out more about issues for women in Australia and encourage some of them to get involved in a local organisation that works to promote women’s rights and other major women’s issues. The Pamela Denoon Lecture is also a reminder that the gains that have been made by women over the years have only been possible because of the enormous dedication of women like Pamela.
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We are very grateful for any donations (large or small!) to the Pamela Denoon Lecture Project Please click to donate
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ANU RECORDING: 2023 PAMELA DENOON LECTURE
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Good News for the Australian Women’s Archives Program
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Good things are happening for AWAP in 2023 and a few challenges over the last 2 year when staffing changes at the University of Melbourne ceased in 2020. Now, the Arts Faculty is funding a much-needed redevelopment and redesign of AWAP’s flagship online resource, the Australian Women’s Register to be launched in mid-2023. Importantly, the redeveloped Register will support easier contribution of new or amended content by accredited authors or editors, critical since the Arts Faculty is not currently able to reinstate paid staff.
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NFAW meanwhile continues to seek external funding for AWAP. A 2022/23 ACT government grant- funded project will contribute 20 new extended biographical entries to the Register for a diverse range of women on the ACT Women’s Honour Roll, this project serving as an important test of the new ‘contribution’ functionality. Among the new entries will be ACT Opposition Leader, Elizabeth Lee, the first Korean-Australian to be elected to an Australian parliament; Wiradjuri writer Kerry Reed-Gilbert, neonatologist Zsusoka Kecskes and swimming advocate Joan Kellett.
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The ACT-based AWAP Management Committee is relaunching its long-running events program, with Women Sharing Stories on 30 April at 2.00pm. A panel of archivists, librarians and curators will talk about the fascinating women whose lives and experiences are recorded in Canberra’s collecting institutions and give a behind the scenes glimpse of what they do to safeguard these stories.
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Explore a past AWAP Exhibition:
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How to leave a gift for NFAW in your Will.
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We are often asked about the process of making a provision for the NFAW in a will. So we have added some new details on our website which we hope will be useful, a summary of which is included below plus the link to the website for further details.
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Types of Gifts in Wills
If you are thinking of leaving a gift to National Foundation for Australian Women Limited in your Will, there are many ways you can leave a gift that could be the right fit for you.
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A few examples that may suit your preferences and individual circumstances include:
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• A percentage of the value of your estate, or
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• A residual gift (the balance of your estate after all other provisions have been met)
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How To Leave a Gift in Your Will
A Will must be carefully planned, drawn up, and executed to ensure your wishes will be effectively carried out.
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National Foundation for Australian Women recommends you seek professional advice when preparing your Will. You can contact a solicitor, the Public Trustee, or the Law Society in your State or Territory for advice about preparing a Will. Thank you for considering supporting the NFAW with a bequest.
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