As the Director General of the Department of Training and Workforce Development, I have the privilege of leading the skills, training and workforce development sector for Western Australia.

My career has been shaped by a passion for education and training as enablers for individual empowerment, social justice and to disrupt social and economic disadvantage.

I am inspired by the women and men who paved the way for gender equity and equality. Until the early 1980’s, financially independent women were not able to take out a mortgage to buy a home in their own right. In 1984 Susan Ryan, the only female Cabinet Minister in the Hawke Government, led the passing of the Sex Discrimination Act in Federal Parliament. Both of these milestones occurred in my early teens. Looking back, I find it hard to imagine what it would have been like before sex discrimination rights were formally recognised. I now appreciate the significance of these achievements made by strong leaders – women and men - working together for gender equity.

Joining CEOs for Gender Equity provides an opportunity to make a personal contribution as we continue to strive for gender equity, equality, diversity and inclusion. It provides an opportunity to collaborate with like-minded leaders to drive a progressive and inclusive agenda. Gender equity benefits everyone – women, men, gender diverse, families, the community, and the economy.

I’m proud to lead a public sector agency committed to improving the social, economic and employment outcomes for women. The public sector is a leader in striving to meet a range of diversity targets, including for women. At the Department of Training and Workforce Development we have made good progress towards gender equity, including increasing the representation of women in Senior Executive Service from 36% to 57% over the last five years. I am also proud to lead a sector which provides a broad range of training and workforce development opportunities to enable women and people from a range of diverse backgrounds and experiences in our community to have the skills they need for rewarding jobs and careers of their choice.

We are committed to creating a safe and respectful organisational culture where everyone can thrive. Awareness and understanding of gender equality and respectful behaviour in the workplace is promoted throughout our organisation.

While we have made good progress on gender equity, there is more to do. We will continue to drive towards gender equity outcomes and reduce the gender pay gap through programs such as supporting return-to-work programs for women returning from parental leave and undertaking organisational self-assessments to improve gender equity and respect in the workplace.

Achieving gender equity is everyone’s responsibility. By working together, we can continue to create positive change.