International Women’s Day

Amy Childs
Managing Director, Momentum Energy

“Monday, 8 March marks International Women’s Day (IWD) – an opportunity to celebrate social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and to accelerate gender parity. The global theme for this year’s event is “Women in Leadership: Achieving an Equal Future in a COVID-19 World”.

As I write this, I acknowledge that I am very privileged; I have been given an excellent education, grown up in a home where I wasn’t treated any differently to my two brothers, and have been fortunate to have had male bosses throughout my career who have been my biggest advocates and have inspired me to do my best. Despite all of this, there are moments that I do feel scared about facing a forum which is largely male dominated. Not because anyone has made me feel unwelcome but insecurities about being a women in a leadership role in a male-dominated industry do play out for me. I can’t imagine how hard it must be for women who face those situations and haven’t had the same privileged background as me. 

The stats* worldwide are heartbreaking:

• 87,000 women are killed globally each year because they are women – 50,000 of them are killed by their partners or a family member and these are only the deaths that we know about.
• 111 countries around the world have no repercussions for husbands who rape their wife
• 2.7 billion women are legally restricted from having the same choice of jobs as men
• 45 countries do not have specific laws against domestic violence
• 35% of women globally have experienced sexual or physical violence

As a multicultural nation, we all share our workplaces, communities, social circles and families with women who have been impacted by some or all of the points above – therefore this International Women’s Day, I’m asking everyone I know to take a moment to reflect on this and think about what they can do to support a women in their life to be her best.

To support women in leadership, Momentum is funding two places in a Women’s Leadership program called Emerge. The program is a fantastic opportunity to help women find their voice and build confidence to go after what they want. The sponsored spots will be offered to emerging female leaders in not-for-profit organisations in our community to help lift the participation of women in leadership roles.”

*sourced from www.iwd.org.au