International Women’s Day 2022

Raising IWD awareness and furthering female leadership not just women’s work

Turning unconscious bias into conscious thought to #breakthebias

The Baumgartner Group in Melbourne injected extra oomph into International Women’s Day to recognise the significance of this year’s ‘Break the Bias’ theme.

In a two-part event the team took the opportunity to attend special in-house and external presentations that started conversations around key women’s issues.

The initiative was organised by Baumgartner Group’s IWD Committee.

On Monday the Baumgartners team completed a specially designed activity by Lean In (https://leanin.org/) that guided each person to arrive at one action to address bias against women in the workplace.

Later in the week, Baumgartner Group Director David Baumgartner welcomed clients to Camberwell Bowls Club to celebrate IWD.

Keynote and Baumgartners Principal, Susan Barbour, highlighted workplace perceptions between the sexes, and generated provocative discussion about gender bias and equality in leadership.

“Within my own career, I have spent a lifetime of meetings being the only woman in the room,” said Susan.

“Fortunately, that is starting to change. For example, in Iceland, Boards of listed entities must contain a 40 per cent female and male mix. These are not just quotas for women, but a true requirement for gender equality.”

“When you have three women in the Boardroom, that is when culture starts to change.”

Baumgartner Super Audit Manager Sarah Scales then spoke about this year’s chosen charity Share the Dignity (https://www.sharethedignity.org.au/) for which overwhelming support was received from both team and clients.

“It struck me that this year’s dignity drive is occurring at a time of major flooding throughout Queensland and New South Wales. This will cause a lot of financial hardship on people — something we consider a necessity all of a sudden becomes a luxury. We hope that our contributions this week will be able to help some women,” said Sarah.

“We were blown away by the donations that we received for Share the Dignity, both in terms of products and cash,” said Susan.

Whether deliberate or unconscious, bias makes it difficult for women to move ahead. Baumgartners is putting energy and resource behind breaking the bias.

“Susan is the face of our IWD efforts and she is supported by a strongly motivated committee that believes in and supports IWD objectives, as does the whole Baumgartner Group,” David added. 

About Lean In

Lean In helps women achieve their ambitions and helps companies build inclusive workplaces where women of all identities are supported and empowered with initiatives including Women in the Workplace and Lean In Circles.

About Share the Dignity

Share the Dignity is an Australian women's charity that believes everyone deserves to be afforded the dignity so many of us take for granted. Share the Dignity works to make a real difference in the lives of women experiencing homelessness, fleeing domestic violence or just doing it tough.

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