In Pictures: Day One of the Women In Media National Conference 2023

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On Friday, September 8, the first day of the Women In Media National Conference kicked off with Master of Ceremonies, Sandra Sully setting the tone for a weekend full of thoughtful discussions about innovation, invention, disruption, reinvention and strength in unity.

The original disruptor Ita Buttrose AC OBE shared her remarkable journey as a trailblazer for women. Her efforts to promote diversity and inclusion and lead by example are numerous. She made it very clear that she won’t be silent about issues that matter and those that can make positive social change.

“As long as I remained on the women’s pages, I don’t remember any opposition but I like to climb mountains and when I get to the top, I see another mountain beckoning me and the pull of that mountain is so alluring I have to have a go at it. Don’t be afraid to push yourself forward, to recognise how good you are. You won’t always be made to feel welcome and that doesn’t mean you should give up,” said Buttrose.

The “Advancing Gender Equality” panel, included heavy hitters Kate Jenkins AO, Sam Mostyn AO, Mariam Veiszadeh, The Hon Mary Wooldridge and Minister for Communications, Michelle Rowland.

“I want to be clear that the gender pay gap, understanding what it actually is, is critical to the progress that we want to make. It’s not equal pay. Equal pay has been the law for over 50 years. The gender pay gap measures average salary of men, average salary of women, the differential over the average salary of men, so it’s a percentage. It actually represents not only pay but composition and a lot of the differential is driven by that composition element where we still see that 80% of CEOs are men, 60%+ of managers are men and that hierarchy compositions are changing very slowly,” said Mary Wooldridge. 

“So many women judge their bodies so harshly and give themselves a hard time and what I now know ten years on, we really sideline ourselves in life, we diminish our power, we stop saying the things we want to say because of how we feel about our bodies,” said Taryn Brumfitt.