Progress towards gender equity has been just a blip in the annals of history, and it is more important than ever to keep pushing for change: that was the message from the breakfast launch of 2016's The Australian Financial Review/Westpac 100 Women of Influence Awards on Friday.
Former sex discrimination commissioner Liz Broderick and Carnival executive chairman Ann Sherry, each an overall winner of the Award in 2014 and 2015, joined Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer, Human Rights Commissioner Gillian Triggs and others in Sydney to celebrate the launch.
Nominations for 10 categories in the Awards opened on Friday for 100 new influential women, who will together with existing alumni make up 500 women recognised through the awards since its inception in 2012.
Ms Sherry, the keynote speaker, said influence was something you chose to use, but deciding to go outside your family, work locus, is something you must choose to do. "There is a richness that gives, that you can't really explain until you get to the end of it. Choosing one or two extra things, that most of us have the power and opportunity to be involved in, is what changes the world."
Speaking about the period when she helped establish the aboriginal support program Jarwin, Ms Sherry said she was shocked by the conditions she saw during visits to remote areas.
"You either become overwhelmed by powerlessness, or you choose to do something," she said of establishing Jarwin, encouraging more women to take their own opportunities to do something similar.
Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer, father to four girls, reminded the women and men attendees that when you swim upstream from change, you'll often find one individual with courage, who didn't accept the way things were and was prepared to make a change.
"The beauty of the awards is that they give confidence and encouragement to individuals to have the courage to make the difference."
It is those individuals to see where change is needed, and to say something, and do something about it, he said.
Mr Hartzer used the opportunity to announce changes the bank will implement to its home and personal lending policy, overturning its traditional practice of ignoring parental leave and return to work income which significantly hampers the borrowing power of pregnant women and young families.
"When we went and did the numbers, it works," Mr Hartzer said of the policy change. "This isn't a social thing we're doing, it was just a dopy policy we had and we're fixing it. Hopefully others will follow and we will continue to look for more things we can change."
Kristi Mansfield, managing director of customer experience consultancy Fifth Quadrant, board member of the North Queensland Cowboys, and 2015 Woman of Influence in the Innovation category said the impact of her award had been tangible, underpinning her personal and professional influence in the time since 2015's September announcement.
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