International Women’s Day Lunch

Year 11 students Palak Maheshwari and Rena Cao reflect on their experience at the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) International Women’s Day Lunch

International Women’s Day falls on 8 March every year. This date calls for a celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women worldwide. However, it also serves as a call-to-action to continue on the path towards gender equity.

On this day, seven Year 11 girls, accompanied by three staff, had the privilege of attending the AIIA's International Women’s Day Lunch at the Hyatt Hotel. There, we listened to amazing women in various senior leadership roles.

The keynote speaker, Kate Woolley, who is one of the most accomplished ICT executives in Australia, spoke about the struggles she has faced as a woman in a workplace setting. She emphasised the importance of championing women who are doing a great job professionally, so people in higher management positions can see that.

We had a break for lunch and then listened to a panel discussion with Dr Michelle Graham, Rebecca Fealy and Natalie Gunn. These highly-accomplished women shared their insights into gender equity in the workplace, advised young women to embody confidence at the earliest possible stage in their life and discussed the importance of everyone calling out bias when they see it.

Overall, this was an eye-opening event, and we all feel so inspired and lucky that we were able to hear these women speak.

Radford College wishes to thank Greg Boorer and the AIIA for sponsoring the students and staff to attend the lunch.