For our International Women’s Day panel event, hosted in partnership with PwC, we were graced with the wisdom of six inspiring women from very different walks of life.
Our very own Global Women member Juliet Tainui-Hernandez facilitated an invigorating kōrero with five guest panellists, Judy O’Brien, Caren Doran, Mea Motu, Victoria Baldwin, and Dr Marcia Walker.
Focusing in on this year’s IWD theme of #InspireInclusion, the speakers together unpacked how we can better enact inclusivity in the workplace and our lives.
The kōrero shared was funny, insightful, and at times deeply moving, with each woman sharing her personal experiences of equity, inclusion, and exclusion, in both life and work.
Over the course of the night, our speakers highlighted the importance of amplifying the voices of women who are often absent from decision-making spaces. They highlighted the need to ensure that voices are representative, but not tokenistic, and asserted the importance of maintaining inclusion and equity gains for underrepresented groups.
The speakers also addressed the need for all voices to be part of the conversation, laying down the challenge to diversify the audiences of future IWD events by encouraging more men to be in attendance. The importance of allyship and inclusivity in equity practice was acknowledged, as well as the need to alleviate the fear of displacement for those who already have a seat at the table.
It was a night of stimulating discussion and connection, during which we were also able to celebrate and honour the tenure of Mark Averill, PwC’s departing CEO and long-time supporter of Global Women.
With supporting waiata tautoko from Auckland Girls Grammar’s Kahurangi group, we were able to express our gratitude to Mark through mihi and the gift of a tāonga, representative of his humility, generosity, and power as a leader.
It was a beautiful opportunity to acknowledge Mark’s steadfast integrity and immense support over the course of his partnership with Global Women.