Ita Buttrose salutes Business Chicks
Ita Buttrose is not only one of Australia's highest profile businesswomen, she is someone that I think most women would love to sit down and have a coffee with, me included. Starting her career as a coffee girl for Women's Weekly with no grand plan and no real aspirations, Ita Buttrose was the first to do many things other women before her had not done. She was the first woman to be appointed to the News Limited Board and was the Editor for Cleo magazine, the first offshoot for the Packer empire.
This morning she was the keynote speaker at Business Chicks, a networking event founded by entrepreneur Emma Isaacs. As I sat at a table hosted by PWC and next to two inspirational women; Melissa Bridge (founder of GXY Search) and former Jimmy Choo CFO and now an executive at PWC, Chelsie Harris, I was interested in what Ita had to say. Having not watched the telemovie about her life, Paper Giants, I was aptly impressed by her wit, self-depreciating mannerisms and intelligence.
This morning she was the keynote speaker at Business Chicks, a networking event founded by entrepreneur Emma Isaacs. As I sat at a table hosted by PWC and next to two inspirational women; Melissa Bridge (founder of GXY Search) and former Jimmy Choo CFO and now an executive at PWC, Chelsie Harris, I was interested in what Ita had to say. Having not watched the telemovie about her life, Paper Giants, I was aptly impressed by her wit, self-depreciating mannerisms and intelligence.
"I am proud of my achievements and being able to set an example for women. I was the first woman to be appointed to the News Limited Board and the first woman to be appointed to Packer's Consolidated Press Board," she said, not in a self-promoting way, but in a 'sharing' of experiences type of way.
She went on to say that, "any person who doesn't believe that there is a glass ceiling, hasn't climbed high enough yet". It was the only point that I didn't quite agree with her on and given that she spoke for a good hour, that's not bad going.
The reason I am not 100 percent in agreeance is because I can't say that I personally ever felt that I wasn't given opportunities because I am a female. Sure, during any career you will meet people that judge you because they are a chauvinist, but are people not judged still because they come from different parts of the world or because they have different beliefs. Perhaps their clothing isn't the same as everyone else.
I am not a believer that Boards should have 50 percent representation by females. No board should discriminate whether someone is a male or a female. The best person for the job should always get the job - not because of race, colour or gender.
Ita was very knowledgeable on statistics relating to women like; 27% of women leave corporate jobs to start a small business, girls out-perform boys at school, more women than men graduate with a Bachelor and women are only the minority in Engineering and IT. Not bad odds!
Ita strikes me as a determined woman, capable of anything. "I've always believed in myself and whenever I have encountered opposition, I was more determined than ever to succeed," she said.
Role models like this exist. I would say that Emma Isaacs is as much a role model as any, even though she is considerably younger. She is not only professional, talented and very entrepreneurial, but she is also from all accounts a good person. Her business supports charities and she does for thousands of women, what many before her were unable to do - and that is provide a forum for women to get together, share ideas and be inspired.
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comments ( 2 )
priscilla
31 Aug 2012I agree that boards should not have 50 percent female representation. It kind of stems from a 'wanting to get even' mindset, the best person should always get the job.
ReplyDavid Livingstone
24 Aug 2012Hi Melissah,
ReplyAlways enjoy your work. In this case, I'm 100% in agreement (dump "agreeance", please :-) with Ita. My 50+ years of business experience, which was not one year repeated 50 times, has demonstrated to me that Ita is right on the money.
Even now, the corporate world remains an "old boys' club" at the very top. The only comfort here is that many of these non-infrastructure corporations are having their market-share eroded by online competitors - a sector dominated by women who are often stay-at-home mums.
Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
David