Grit and determination characterises women honoured

Grit, determination and a lot of teamwork are credited by several women as the secrets to their success. Notable women in business, banking, the law and tertiary education, have been recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours List for their leadership contributions and gender-equality advocacy. Jennifer Westacott served as chief executive of the Business Council of Australia for 12 years before becoming chancellor of Western Sydney University in 2023. Having grown up in public housing and as the first person in her family to attend university, Sunday’s appointment came as a full-circle moment. “Getting the opportunity to study at university changed my life,” she told AAP. “(Universities) have that responsibility to produce the most skilled people in the world … so people have fulfilling and thriving lives.” Ms Westacott’s career has included time as a public servant, a variety of director roles and as patron of Mental Health Australia and Pride in Diversity. But a career highlight has been changing the stigma around public housing. During her time at the housing department she met with public-housing residents who told her they could not let their kids play in the gardens because there were no fences to keep them safe from traffic. “After we put the fences up I would often drive past and seeing the kids all playing there was a highlight for me,” she said. “What I’ve tried to do is turn my difficult childhood into a life-long mission to see better lives for people and fight for equality, and to turn around the stigma of people living in public housing and in poverty.” Ms Westacott is appointed a Companion (AC) of the Order of Australia, along with Kathryn Fagg, former CSIRO chair, Reserve Bank board member and non-executive director of NAB. Early in her career, Ms Fagg was often questioned on whether she got her role because of her gender. “We have come such a long way but that doesn’t mean there aren’t still challenges for women in the workplace,” she said. Gender-equality advocate Helen Fisher said her time as a discrimination and human rights lawyer opened new ways of thinking. But it’s her work undertaking gender impact analysis for federal government policy that she is most proud of. It means every government policy and expenditure is looked at in terms of how it will affect Australian women and girls. “It was really important to get the government to think actively about women,” she said. “We’ve gone from developing an idea of gender impact analysis to formalising it in the budget process and now using the budget to improve gender equality.” While Australia had made real progress, Ms Fisher - who has been appointed an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia - said there were still challenges for women. “We need more men to be working on gender equality,” she said. “The next frontier of feminism is to move beyond the idea of a binary opposition between ‘us’ and ‘them’ towards investigating how we overcome patriarchy to the benefit of all.” Former Bendigo and Adelaide Bank chief executive Marnie Baker has always been a keen advocate for regional Australia and the opportunities it provides. She is being recognised as a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for significant service to the financial and banking sectors. “I grew up on a dairy farm in northern Victoria and because kids in regional and rural areas didn’t really have the same infrastructure and opportunity as kids in the city, you had to have a bit of grit and determination,” she said. “I’ve grown up thinking if you needed something done, you do it yourself.” Her work at Bendigo and Adelaide Bank is her proudest achievement as she stayed true to her purpose and saw firsthand how finance could be a force for good.