Global Women

Getting clear on what matters: Women Into Leadership in 2026
2026-07-22 10:30 - 11:30 (Pacific/Auckland)
This event is exclusive to Champions for Change member organisation.’
2026 hasn’t shaped up the way we’d hoped. With economic turbulence, restructuring, AI, and a long list of competing demands, it’s easy for gender progress to slip down the priority list – not because it doesn’t matter, but because there’s only so much bandwidth to go around. This is also, though, a good moment to get clear on what matters most and where to focus the resources we do have for maximum impact.
Join Dr Amanda Sterling – researcher, consultant, and one of NZ’s leading experts on women into leadership – for a practical, research-backed session exploring what it takes to make real progress for the inclusion of women and where to focus your actions right now.
Drawing on two years of New Zealand survey data (622 women in leadership roles), her PhD research, and hundreds of conversations with workplace leaders struggling with good intentions – alongside an overwhelm of possible actions – Amanda will walk you through a framework for understanding where your workplace is at, what the evidence says about where to focus your energy from there, and what we all need to level up on if we want to see a real shift in opportunities for women in our lifetimes.
We’ll explore:

Why women’s experiences at work, and women’s experiences into leadership are different – and why that distinction matters.
The three stages of the inclusion journey, what they look like in practice, and what they mean for where you focus.
What the data actually tells us about what’s having the most positive impact on women’s careers into leadership, including a few results that might surprise you.
The challenges that workplaces genuinely committed to gender equity in leadership need to confront for meaningful change.
How to identify the highest-impact actions for where your workplace is right now.

This session is about helping you cut through the noise and focus on what is actually going to make a difference, as well as challenge you to think more critically about how we’re progressing with gender equity in New Zealand.
