International Women’s Day 2023: Embracing Equity

On the eve of Tuesday, 7th March, Australian (Sydney) Chapter of ICAI had organised an event to celebrate International Women’s Day in collaboration with Chartered Accountants, Australia and New Zealand.  The chapter has held IWD events successfully for the last couple of years bringing in many women leaders to the forum where they share their knowledge and experience while also learning from the attendees/chapter members. The theme of this year’s event was “Embracing Equity” and three women leaders from diverse backgrounds were invited for a panel discussion addressing issues such as gender diversity, equity, equality and how technology can provide solutions to increase diversity.

The panel included Ms. Jodi McKay, Ms. Veena Sahajwala and Ms. Natalie Thomas. Jodi is National Chairperson of Australia India Business Council and has worked over 15 years as a Member of Parliament being recognised for her tremendous support to Australia – India relationships. Prof. Sahajwala is a scientist, engineer and inventor and a founding Director at SMaRT centre @UNSW. She has won multiple awards for her remarkable innovations on recycling technology breakthrough. She was also named 2022 Australian of the year. Natalie heads the Risk, People Enablement in COO Risk Westpac. She has excelled in several leadership roles in the Financial Services industry and believes in measuring successes with how well others around us are doing.

The event was attended by about 100 members and their partners as well as some esteemed guests from industries. Many members also brought in their young daughters who had some very relevant questions to ask the panelists. The event was hosted at the CAANZ facility who kindly sponsored the venue as well as the technology to provide an online platform for not just local members but also for overseas ICAI members to attend via the zoom platform – there were around 50 online attendees. The event was followed by a networking dinner.

The panel discussion centered around the cultural differences hampering the growth of Indian women in Australia, in politics and in corporate leadership. Leveraging their personal experiences, the speakers shared their definition of equity, equality, gender diversity and pay parity.  Jodi touched upon specific topics around authentic presence as opposed to branding and how important it is to be yourself, even when it gets hard. Veena shared how she found her feet in Australia as a migrant and how despite our busy days, we can always pave the way to innovation. Natalie bared her soul as she emphasised the importance of embracing one’s whole self and spoke about women in leadership, gender diversity and KPIs around the same in the corporate.

The audience thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to dive deep into the minds of these amazing leaders as they talked about identity, relationship management, sustainability, and self-belief. With engaging discussions and heart warming stories, everyone left the room feeling positive, empowered and stronger about their responsibility towards embracing equity, equality and empowering each other. “This evening was not just an event but a memory, an experience” said one member while another member exclaimed “Loved the evening, this has raised the bar, applause and thank you!”

The team of volunteers were working for the past three months for this event, and this would not have been possible without the tremendous efforts of our women power – Tanuja Bissa, Tania D’Souza, Shilpa Kulshreshtha, Ankur Chaplot and Sanchi Kogata. Sonu Rastogi and Navini Peiris from CAANZ ensured that the best venue and facilities were provided to all attendees.