The chief executive of the Australian Recording Industry Association, Annabelle Herd, has dismissed the notion that women can achieve as much as men based on a meritocracy.
“We need to get rid of this rubbish merit myth…that you don’t need quotas because we should just hire on merit,” she told The Growth Distillery’s Dan Krigstien in the latest episode of Stories Untold.
“[There is this idea] If I just work really hard, I will have the same opportunities and I’ll be able to make it the same way if I was a man or a woman. And yes, I’ve had a really successful career and I’m happy with how it’s working out, but that is rubbish.
“The shocking thing to me is I thought my generation were going to be the ones where everything was equal. And here we are, and it’s really not that much better.”
Herd is one of Australia’s most influential cultural leaders and a former Network 10 veteran, who served as its director of corporate affairs and chief operating officer.
She has led ARIA for the past four and a half years, describing herself as “Australia’s biggest music fan” who has seen huge upheaval in an industry greatly impacted by piracy and streaming.
Herd only knows too well about gender inequality in the upper echelons of the media industry, having spent 15 years at Network Ten and serving as a senior adviser to the Minister for Communications, IT and the Arts, under former Senator Richard Alston.
She believes that women and other under-represented groups need to stand up for what they believe in to fight for equality, but “don’t think you need to fight every battle”.
She added: “Bring other women into the room and not just women, other underrepresented groups pick your battles and don’t feel like the whole weight of correcting all of this thousands of years of discrimination is all on your shoulders.”
Herd advises men in power to show up and ask questions about how they can improve, and to also display kindness and support for women in the workforce
“You’re told that to be a leader you have to be quite strong and a bit tough and not so caring,” she said.
“You don’t have to behave like that in the workplace. You don’t have to be shouting at people…you can treat people with respect and with empathy and be a kind leader and that is still really tough.
Check out the full episode of Untold Stories with Annabelle Herd in the video above.
