GWN: International Women's Day 2022
Hosts: DoC, MPI, MfE MBIE in collaboration with GWN
Venue: Online via Zoom
Date: 10 March 2022
Attendance: Approx. 105
Speakers:
Honourable Kiri Allan - Minister for Emergency Management, Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, and Associate Minister for the Environment
Rachel Cooper - Senior Climate Change Policy Advisor at the Ministry for the Environment. Rachel is also a self-employed Business Sustainability Advisor
This event saw a wonderful collaboration between GWN and four women’s networks to celebrate IWD. The event explored the theme “a new way of leading” with two fierce wāhine toa who spoke about leadership, work/life balance and the message of “sisterhood” which rang clear!
Although their perspectives were vastly different, the speakers both had a passion for the ‘sisterhood’ and the networks that lift us up and help us find balance.
Over 100 public servants attended the online event to hear our speakers kōrero and highlight the progress made in the Public Service. Events like this are a highly effective way for networks to connect, collaborate and support progress for women.
Feedback from the networks
- Both speakers were inspiring and motivational. They spoke about identifying the sisterhood, lifting everyone up and developing a good work/life balance as well as the importance of role models. Be yourself and be brave as in order to facilitate change we must first be ok to do things differently – on behalf of GWN.
- New Ways of Leading was a fantastic event and the two inspirational speakers united the sisterhood. Kiri Allan and Rachel Cooper demonstrated that vulnerability doesn’t take away from being a leader but strengthens it. Becoming a leader isn’t only the effort of the individual but also of those before who paved the way and those who support our wāhine on their journey. As a leader, demonstrating your expectations will empower others to do the same – on behalf of MPI.
- It was with a bit of nervousness that we joined the final pre-meet for our seminar. Two hours later, we were buzzing. Over 105 wāhine zoomed in to hear inspiring kōrero and keen questions resulting in a strong sense of connection and comradery among the attendees. This connection began months ago when Carin, the ELN Programme Director at Te Kawa Mataaho asked a few GWN agency reps if they’d be interested in a joint event that would demonstrate collaboration across agencies. During planning, we needed to pivot a lot, but the support and commitment of the working group didn’t falter. If someone needed to step back, someone stepped into the gap and when challenges appeared, we found solutions. This enabled us to achieve an outcome we couldn’t have achieved alone – on behalf of MFE.
- What a great collaborative event where we were able to connect and network with other amazing wāhine across the Public Service. Our chair, Tricia Sampson was given the privilege to MC this event and came away inspired after talking with our speakers. A key message was that we are a sisterhood, look after your sisters, even when in competition with them. Take time for yourself, balance matters, which means you matter. Mahi tahi teamwork - we are better together – on behalf of Arahanga Wāhine, MBIE’s Women’s Network.
- It was wonderful to hear Minister Allan talking about the importance of being a leader who lifts others up and Rachel talking about how to overcome the challenges posed by limited access to leadership development. As a collective, we may need to actively find and share the information and experiences we need – on behalf of DoC.