As part of International Women's Day 2021, AdNews is celebrating women in the industry. Here, Accenture Australia senior adviser Sunita Gloster reveals how she is working with UN Women Australia to accelerate leadership.
Many of you will have seen the IWD #choosetochallenge often accompanied by a photo of woman with their hand politely raised. In this response I was asked to recount a time I chose to challenge. Here it is.
Given the prevalence of the theme #choosetochallenge many, in fact most people assume this is the official theme of IWD. It is not.
The company behind the theme is a commercial enterprise that works with stakeholders to come up with business-friendly themes. Their words. And admittedly they do it well, its everywhere.
Whilst everyone’s efforts to champion equality are worthwhile, in this instance the sum of the parts (many IWD themes) also adds confusion. Arguably unhelpful at a time when we need laser-sharp focus on a solution to address what is the biggest human rights issue of our time.
As an Advisor to UN Women Australia, I stand by the UN Women global theme ‘Women in Leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world’.
The UN Women theme recognises the vital role women have played in fighting the pandemic, whilst also calling out the disproportionate negative impact experienced by women and girls. #womenlead
UN Women’s focus is on women’s leadership and on ramping up representation in all the areas where decisions are made - currently mainly by men - about the issues that affect women’s lives. Sound familiar? The widespread lack of representation of women’s interests has gone on too long.
UN Women’s focus is on women’s leadership and on ramping up representation in all the areas where decisions are made - currently mainly by men - about the issues that affect women’s lives. Sound familiar? The widespread lack of representation of women’s interests has gone on too long.
In 2020, as a global average, women were 4.4 per cent of CEOs, occupied just 16.9 per cent of board seats, made up only 25 per cent of national parliamentarians, and just 13 per cent of peace negotiators.
Only 22 countries currently have a woman as Head of State or Government and 119 have never experienced this – something that has important consequences for the aspirations of girls growing up.
In Australia we are no better, women make up only 18% of CEO roles and last year of 25 ASX200 CEO appointments, only one was a woman.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Report estimates that we are 99.5 years away from achieving gender equality. Australia sits 44th on that global ranking, NZ at 6.
Realising the birthright of every second person on the planet and addressing the life-limiting consequences of inaction is the most pressing human rights issue of our time and on the current trajectory, the next century.
Now is not the time to give people the opportunity or the choice whether to challenge. Now is the time for accelerated action.
Women’s representation in all areas of decision making needs to be mandatory, not a choice. No country prospers without the engagement of women in decision making.
This #IWD2021 UN Women align behind #WomenLead because we need women’s representation at all levels of decision making in order to get real societal and policy change, fast. COVID-19 has shown us that when women lead, we see positive results.
Today UN Women Australia launch a new campaign which asks Australia to agitate for when will she be right? You can watch it here.
Join UN Women Australia in our campaign to ask When Will She Be Right? We encourage you to share our message via this TVC widely within your personal and professional networks and when you do, please use the tags #WomenLead #WhenWillSheBeRight
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