Seven West Media is celebrating its fourth year in partnership with UN Women Australia as the Australian broadcast partner for International Women’s Day (IWD). This year’s day is themed “Count Her In: Invest In Women, Accelerate Progress.”
IWD is a global day celebrating women’s social, economic, cultural, and political achievements. It also marks a call to action to accelerate gender equality. Set up in 2021, UN Women Australia’s partnership with Seven West Media has seen the network support key IWD events around Australia in the lead-up to the day.
This week, the partnership has seen UN Women Australia CEO Simone Clarke appear on The Morning Show on Wednesday, a town hall with 7NEWS’ Gemma Acton and Home and Away’s Ada Nicodemou held yesterday for Seven West Media staff, and 7NEWS anchors hosting UN Women events in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne, and Canberra today, with a package to appear on air tonight.
When asked what economic inclusion empowerment means to them, female leaders across Seven West Media had the following to share:
- Sunrise co-host Natalie Barr said, “To me, it means empowering and encouraging women to reach higher levels in workplaces. When that happens, the evidence shows, more women are given more chances”.
- The Morning Show co-host, Kylie Gillies, said: “This is a very meaningful partnership. Marking international days such as International Women’s Day is important to highlight where and what we can do better. When we invest in women, everyone wins”.
- 7NEWS Network Finance Editor, Gemma Acton said: “Knowledge is power. Economic empowerment is about understanding your finances so you can make the best decisions for you and your loved ones at every stage of your life. It’s about not getting pushed around by people who don’t have your best interests at heart. It’s about setting yourself up to feel confident about your finances so you can earn, save and invest enough to live the wonderful life you want”.
- WA’s Chief Executive Officer, Maryna Fewster, said: “One of the great things about my role is being able to champion and mentor our future female leaders and help empower them to achieve their potential. If we believe, we can! It’s up to all of us to continue working towards true equality for women in a meaningful way”.
- Chief People and Culture Officer Lucinda Gemmell said: “We are so proud at Seven that women represent nearly half of our team members and our leadership team. Continuing to provide opportunities for all our team members to flourish and have strong opportunities to develop and have successful careers at Seven is core to who we are. As the major media sponsor of UN Women’s IWD events again this year, we are proud of the work we do both within our teams at Seven and to promote the importance of economic empowerment”.
- Melissa Hopkins, chief marketing and audience officer, said, ” While the inclusion of women in the workplace has made strong strides, empowering women to reach their full economic potential is the next big frontier. Building confidence and providing tools not only drives females to reach more potential than they thought possible, but it also drives substantial economic growth and value”.
- Director of Morning Television, Sarah Stinson, said: “Economic empowerment of women means giving women an all-access pass: access to equal pay, access to flexible work arrangements, access to education and affordable childcare and sharing of caring responsibilities. Every IWD it’s amazing to celebrate so many inspiring females and their accomplishments. It’s my hope that soon we won’t have to talk about breaking through any glass ceiling because there won’t be one: men and women will have all access to the rooftop terrace of equal opportunity”.
- The Nightly editor Sarah-Jane Tasker said, “We need to constantly push forward so it becomes the norm that women are economically empowered; it should be a given. It not only provides them with the ownership to set the course of their own destiny, but it can also lift national economies, increase productivity, and have real outcomes more broadly”.
