March Forward: reflecting on #IWD2025

Carolyn: The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day is ‘March Forward’. For me, what that really means is that as individuals we can all take steps in our daily lives to positively impact women's advancement. I think ways that we can all do that is around calling out stereotypes, challenging discrimination, questioning inherent biases people might have, celebrating women's success and lots, lots more. Sharing our knowledge and encouragement with others is key – which brings us to today’s panel. 

There’s a great quote from UN Women Australia, which says “30 years ago the world committed to a bold vision for gender equality through the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Since then, we've seen women break barriers, reshape policies and ignite global movements. Yet despite significant process progress, the promises made remains largely unfilled for millions of women worldwide. We're simply not where we should be.” So what can we do differently, or more, to effect change?

On what has worked, for you?

Meaghen: I've predominantly worked my entire career in a male-dominant industry. I guess my very early learning was that I couldn't sit down and wait for recognition. It wasn't going to get me anywhere. I had to step well and truly outside of my comfort zone, often working twice as hard. I had to actively seek out opportunities for myself.

One of the hardest realities I faced, and some of the toughest competition, wasn't from men. It was actually from other women. Instead of women lifting each other up, women often tear each other down because of the stigma that only one or two can be successful or succeed. So about three years ago, I made a personal and a conscious commitment to breaking the cycle of that competition. I committed to myself, any my children and the sporting communities I’m active in, to mentor and share my knowledge and be a champion for women, because I think it's really important.

Anna: What has worked for me has been the support network of my family and the community surrounding me. I was balancing my Master of Laws degree while I had two babies and I wouldn’t have been able to do that without the support of my husband and all the strong, independent and highly driven women in my big Greek/Russian family, which has been the best environment for my kids to be raised in.  Also my incredible mentor and General Counsel here has supported me both professionally and personally and she’s certainly educated me (given she has 3 teenage girls herself) to be more equipped for the next phase of my kids' lives as I've learnt from her how to navigate through the challenges of teenage-hood in parallel with our careers, our work responsibilities and the responsibilities we've got at home.

Carolyn: My whole life – this comes as a huge shock, I'm sure – I’ve been told that I was ‘bossy’. I read this really awesome article once that said men and boys are never told that they're bossy, but women and girls often are. So it’s in the language. When I left my most recent job, one of the gifts from my team was a t-shirt that said ‘I'm not bossy, I'm the boss’. I would like all women to know it’s OK to say that we're in charge and we're senior and we're experienced. 

Ben: I have a 10-week-old little boy at home. So the joys and challenges of starting a new role with REMONDIS and balancing a new birth in the family's been a really interesting one for me. I come home at the end of the day and all I want to do is just sit down for 10-15 minutes and, you know, I walk in and there’s a 2-year-old running around the place and a little 10-week-old that doesn't want to be put down and relaxation is the absolute last thing that that occurs. But it's that reprogramming of the mind to say that just because someone leaves the house and goes to paid employment doesn't mean that their job is any more challenging than that person who stays at home. I think that mindset shift for me has been a real eye opener.

On the difference between equality and equity

Ben: Probably 5, 10, 15 years ago there was this notion that everyone must be treated the exact same way, right? You know it; it’s got to be the same approach to every single person, no matter what your age is, your gender, your race, your beliefs, those sorts of things… And what we've what we've seen holistically over the last five years is a change to that approach which now says it's OK to treat someone the way they need to be treated to get ahead. I think diversity is the greatest opportunity for success. So I'm really celebrating the fact that we can be flexible. 

Carolyn: I love it. I think it's really important and I try to remind myself as often as I can that there's a very big difference between equality and equity. Equality is where everyone has the same resources and opportunities, but equity actually recognises that people have different circumstances and needs and therefore the allocation of resources and opportunities actually might need to be different in order to reach an equal outcome. 

On increasing representation of women in leadership

Carolyn: Being a woman, particularly in our industry or in senior roles, it can be really hard to feel like you're an outlier in a room of people who are alike. One of the greatest gifts I think since I've joined REMONDIS is actually having three women on our Executive Leadership Team – I’ve joined Lisa and Linda, which is fantastic.

Renee: In my experience, there are equal opportunities within REMONDIS. I'm welcome to sit at the table and there is potential for growth within our company no matter what gender you are… There have definitely been lots of times in my career where I have been the only women in a group of men, but I think it's a testament to any colleague or organisation that when there is a woman in a room and she is the only one, that she’s included like anyone else, and she's got the confidence to step into that room and take on that challenge.

Meaghan: The reality is if you're the only women in the room you carry, not only the challenge of it, but the responsibility of it. I do believe though with the increased representation we are shifting as a society and by uplifting everyone we're changing that narrative. I think it's our roles as managers and colleagues to build other people up – particularly looking at, you know, the quiet achievers that think ‘I don't want to go in that room. I don't want to be that one’. It’s our job to say, ‘you can do this’. 

Carolyn: Absolutely. It can be so difficult to put your hand up and say ‘I'm ambitious’ or ‘I want this’ and I think that's not unique to women. I think the more we talk about it being OK to want more for yourself and to ask for help with that, the less of a stigma there will be.

On accelerating change by modelling change

Carolyn: According to UN Women Australia, if we continue the journey for equality at this current rate it will take until 2158 to reach full gender parity. So I think one of the most important responsibilities we all have is to do more and do better for the generations following us. 

I'm a mum of two. I have a 15-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son and I'm so conscious every day of role modelling equality in our lives, from the simple things like the equal distribution of household responsibilities – albeit apparently not the washing, but never mind – to more complex conversations about future career aspirations and what's possible for them. 

I’ve also made a really conscious decision in what is already a very busy and full life to contribute at a community level, so I commit to and participate heavily in women's sport as player, coach and VP of our local netball club. I'm passionate about encouraging young women through that process into leadership roles in sports. 

Meaghen: Like yourself, I’m heavily involved in sport. I'm one of those crazy mums. I played netball all through my childhood… but my daughter said ‘I'm not playing that sport, I'm playing soccer’. So I was like, here we go. 

I love mentoring. I always say that my purpose in life is to grow people, so I love it on the sporting field. That's my release. I love challenging what used to be. 

Carolyn: I think we've seen in the last couple of years there's definitely a huge correlation with women and young girls in sport taking those leadership roles, particularly in non-traditional sports for women, and the growing confidence and quality of conversation about female leaders.

Ben: I’m really pleased to say, in REMONDIS, I find it quite healthy that in our Operations team, especially across some of our sites, we do have a good representation of women in our in supervisory roles. But my commitment is to see how I can influence more female representation across some roles that aren't traditionally dominated by females, because diversity is really what's going to see us move on from where we are now. Intentionally and unapologetically, I'm really pursuing an agenda over the next 12 months of bringing more female representation into those traditionally male-dominated Ops roles. 

Anna: What resonates with me is that is this year’s IWD theme, ‘March Forward’. I think the campaign theme should be ‘March Forward Together’. It should be women supporting women – really supporting each other and not just, you know, women educating each other and the men in our lives on how to cope with gender inequality. We don't want to wait until 2158 to get there.

Carolyn: I think that's such a great point. This concept of networking and using your networks to help each other be successful is a bit of a traditional masculine theme, right? 

Renee: For me it's pretty simple and it's just to do my part in making sure that it just becomes an expectation of life and gender is not really a question. I go to work now, and I get treated the same as everyone else in the room. I get the same opportunities. I can participate and never once think to question my gender. So I guess my commitment is to ensure that anyone I come into contact with feels that exact same confidence and that gets instilled in them. 
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That’s a great place to end. 

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