Handing back the reins (and a special request) - Women's Agenda

Handing back the reins (and a special request)

It was about ten months ago now when I came in to meet Angela Priestley for the first time. She was pregnant and I was on maternity leave. I brought my then six-month old daughter along for a coffee who was amazingly well-behaved as we discussed the possibility and logistics of me filling in for Angela when she went on maternity leave.

It was not going to be without obstacles; childcare, for one thing, was going to dictate my availability. Aside from that I didn’t want to commit to a full-time role given the age of my daughters but Angela and Marina Go were both confident the role could be fulfilled part-time. Angela had launched Women’s Agenda a year earlier and, given the all-consuming nature of running a website and her passion for this site and you, the readers, it was more than a job to simply hand over. We discussed all of these things and, I think, we both walked away feeling like somehow we’d work it out.

A few months later, at the end of July, our conversation came to fruition. We commenced a hand-over and then with some trepidation — certainly on my part — Angela went off to immerse herself in the world of motherhood. It is probably fair to say the intervening seven months have been quite transformative for both of us, albeit in different ways.

On Monday, the second part of our initial conversation will come to life. Angela will return to the editor’s chair and I will stay on in a different capacity. (I will still be writing here often). It’s an exciting week to have Angela back as we are set to celebrate the second NAB Women’s Agenda Leadership Awards next Thursday.

I feel extremely fortunate to have had custody of Women’s Agenda for the past six months, it has been terrific fun, and I want to thank Angela for entrusting her job in me. I very much look forward to supporting her return.

I am also very grateful for one hard-working woman behind the scenes who helped make my transition as smooth as possible. Our producer Jordi Roth is a vital and tireless cog in the Women’s Agenda wheel and she has been integral in my being able to fulfil the role flexibly and part-time. For that I cannot thank her enough.

Before I sign off as acting editor I would like to ask a favour. You might have gathered by now that my interest in women’s empowerment and equality is more than a passing professional concern. It is something I am genuinely passionate – and increasingly maddened — about. Last week I read an article that estimated, at the current rate, we will reach gender parity in the workplace in 300 years. Three. Hundred. Now I know we’re all living longer, but none of us have that much time. Not even my daughters’ potential children have that long.

So I ask you this. I ask you to remember that gender inequality is not a personal bugbear of angry women; it is a legitimate problem evidenced all too clearly in business, in government, in every section of society. And it disadvantages all of us. Men, women and children. Individually and collectively. Personally, professionally, financially. It costs us all and it is time for change.

Chances are, however, if you read Women’s Agenda you already know that so my real request is this. I would like each of you to become personal ambassadors for gender equality. I would like you to arm yourself with information (I know a really good website), encourage others to do the same and start disseminating the message. Start conversations about gender equality – at work, at barbecues, at home. Print out articles, share links with your boss or your staff and don’t shy away from the topic. We all know, far too well, that very little change is happening in this space. I can’t make any guarantees but I am confident that the more of us who, calmly and rationally, start tackling this topic we can make a difference. It certainly won’t hurt. Deal?

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