At ICC Sydney, we promote diversity and inclusion for all. As part of this, we champion and celebrate women’s achievements. We are proud of our gender diversity with women representing 42% of our extraordinary team overall and 55% of our senior executive team.
This is why we celebrate International Women’s Day each year. This important global day celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, marking a call to action for accelerating gender parity.The theme in 2021 is #choosetochallenge, recognising that we can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality.
To mark the day, we sat down with each of our five female directors to learn about their first career breaks, what they’ve learned along the way, what they would tell their younger self – and how they choose to challenge, every day.
For our Director of Human Resources, Natalie Britt, who has always worked in male dominated industries, International Women’s Day is an opportunity to highlight and celebrate females across our globe who inspire, motivate and succeed as strong, independent woman.
“In my role I support women in leadership roles by sharing their stories of success, promoting them within the company and offering learning and development opportunities. I am surrounded by strong women in my team who have great career aspirations and who are not afraid to challenge the status quo.”
“There are still imbalances of power between men and women that exist today and we need more women to keep challenging inequalities. Whether it be around the issues of gender pay equity, championing higher participation of women across all levels within organisations, or simply being bold and courageous in speaking up on issues of equality.”
Director of Corporate Affairs and Communication, Samantha Glass, agrees that until we achieve equality for women in share of voice, pay and rights, we need markers like International Women’s Day to remind us to celebrate all that women contribute and keep challenging discrimination.
Glass is focused on what she can do now as a leader herself, “It’s my role to set women up for success, give them opportunities to shine and remind them just how talented, powerful and trusted they are.”
Along the way, Glass has learnt that women often aren’t heard but it’s important to respectfully call this out, “Sometimes women are talked over or not heard. Ever felt your point has fallen on deaf ears only to hear it supported when brought up by a bloke? Well, it’s okay to call people out in a respectful manner. I’ve found this wins people over and brings to their attention to nuances they’ve not noticed.”