EP#97: Revisiting ‘Empowering women in the workplace – why mentoring matters’

Work with Purpose: A podcast about the Australian Public Service.

Despite greater flexibility and more opportunities, gender equity still has some way to go. The country’s gender pay gap persists, and women are still underrepresented in leadership positions according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency. One of the ways workplaces and women themselves are trying to turn the tide, is to offer and actively engage in mentoring.

In our final rerun of the most popular episodes of 2023, we revisit a conversation that aired around International Women’s Day. It featured two inspirational female leaders: Tania Rishniw, Deputy Secretary of Employment and Workforce at the Department Employment and Workplace Relations, and Nina Davidson, Deputy Director-General Intelligence at the Office of National Intelligence. They discussed how mentoring can benefit women throughout their careers and what a great mentoring relationship should look like. Tania, Nina, and Caroline also talked about some of the women who inspired them, including the influential Dr Margot McCarthy, who championed women through coaching and mentoring until her recent passing in 2022. Margot was the first female national security advisor, a leader in social policy and a founder of the APS Academy.

Discussed in this episode:

• Honesty, openness, and listening as key ingredients for good mentoring
• Margot McCarthy’s fierce leadership and support for other women
• Overcoming self-censorship as a woman
• Empowering and amplifying women’s voices.

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