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This year’s International Women’s Day has come at the perfect time for us here at Peopleconnexion.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The reality is that\u00a0Papua New Guinea is currently ranked 143 out of 157 countries<\/a>\u00a0on the Gender Inequality Index.\u00a0After the last election<\/a>, 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).<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In short, there’s still serious progress to be made.<\/p>\n The good news is that the journey to a more inclusive future in Papua New Guinea is already underway.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n It’s about every person playing their part in driving better outcomes for women through meaningful celebration and targeted action.<\/p>\n Gender equality isn’t just a checkbox to be ticked, it’s a win-win scenario.<\/p>\n On average, organisations that have the highest proportion of women on their boards\u00a0performed significantly better<\/a>\u00a0than firms with the lowest proportion. In Australia, it is predicted that a\u00a06% increase in female workforce participation<\/a>\u00a0would increase the country’s GDP by 11%. In PNG, I can only imagine what this figure could be.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n\u00a0But that’s not the whole story.<\/h2>\n
The truth is ? today isn’t just about women.<\/h2>\n
What we can do<\/h2>\n
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