This year’s International Women’s Day has come at the perfect time for us here at Peopleconnexion.
This year’s theme, Press for Progress, is a topic I’ve been considering as we welcome two new experienced women into the Peopleconnexion PNG team and prepare our Australian and L&D arms for expansion in the future.
I started Peopleconnexion over a decade ago, and since then we have worked closely with engineering consultancies and women in STEM who have made leaps and bounds in terms of gender diversity.
With a very strong representation of women in our team and management, including Lesieli Taviri – one of our PNG Directors, we are excited about what the future for women will look like in another ten years? time, particularly in Papua New Guinea.
As recruitment and Learning & Development professionals, we can make a direct impact on women’s professional development opportunities in Papua New Guinea ? and we don’t take that responsibility lightly.
Where we are now
The reality is that Papua New Guinea is currently ranked 143 out of 157 countries on the Gender Inequality Index. After the last election, PNG is now one of only five countries in the world with zero women in parliament (down from three in 2012 after the last election).
From an employment perspective, men are twice as likely as women to hold a job in the formal sector, while women in the same sector earn less than half the average amount reported by men.
In short, there’s still serious progress to be made.
But that’s not the whole story.
The good news is that the journey to a more inclusive future in Papua New Guinea is already underway.
Throughout the country, organisations are beginning to stand up and implement their own diversity policies and professional development programs that have been tried and tested in places like Australia and New Zealand.
There are incredible networks, scholarships and support programs being run for women in business, young women entering formal education and women-run SMEs. We are seeing clients across the country working towards equal representation and creating workplaces where women feel challenged to actually put their hand up for promotions and ask for mentorship and development.
The truth is ? today isn’t just about women.
It’s about every person playing their part in driving better outcomes for women through meaningful celebration and targeted action.
Gender equality isn’t just a checkbox to be ticked, it’s a win-win scenario.
On average, organisations that have the highest proportion of women on their boards performed significantly better than firms with the lowest proportion. In Australia, it is predicted that a 6% increase in female workforce participation would increase the country’s GDP by 11%. In PNG, I can only imagine what this figure could be.
What we can do
We all have a responsibility to respond to the needs of women around the world and create a more gender-inclusive world. The World Economic Forums has predicted that unless serious action is taken around the world, the gender gap will not close until 2186.
To Press for Progress, I encourage you to head to the International Women’s Day website and put your hand up to contribute to gender parity in your own way.
Here is the link: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/PressforProgress
This is my pledge:
We asked the women of Peopleconnexion about their favourite quotes for International Women’s Day. Here is a snippet of our favourites:
Rosalie, our Office Manager:
Gima, our Resourcing Consultant:
How will you #Press for Progress?