Every year as March 8 roles around, it’s a chance to reflect on the status of women in our workplaces and – I think – a chance to celebrate our achievements and advancements. Sure, men still far outnumber women in our leadership ranks.  But in Australia we’re making progress. We now have a female Governor General, a female Deputy Prime Minister (and Deputy Opposition Leader in Government), two female premiers.  The CEO of our largest banking group is a woman and as we’ve seen in our sphinxx Ascend development days, there are a host of wonderful women leaders – like Sue Filby, Lynn Wood, Amery Burleigh and Pamela Catty – who are sharing their experiences to help other women realise their full potential.

And then there are the amazing participants at Ascend who are demonstrating leadership every day – like Liz , the local Bank Manager at Whittlesea who every day helps her community to rebuild their lives after the bushfires; Emma who took on management when her newest team member bragged about his starting wage that was higher than hers; and Cindy who persuaded her CEO to hand over the money she needed to run the women’s program now considered best practice in her industry.

We are all doing amazing things every day, in challenging environments and with many distractions.  March 8 – International Women’s Day – is your chance to celebrate your achievements and those of the women around you.  So I encourage you to organise a coffee meeting with your colleagues at your workplace, invite a guest speaker to address your team or just book lunch with the girls to mark this special occasion. 

And don’t forget to share with us what you have planned – we have 5 sphinxx pamper packs to give away to the best blog posts.