The first ever Women's Strategy is being compiled for New South Wales and Novocastrian women will be playing a big part.
Minister for Women Tanya Davies hosted a workshop with more than 50 Newcastle women who had the opportunity to put their ideas for NSW's first ever Women's Strategy and discuss the challenges they face within the community.
The aim of discussions today is to help the government understand what social and economic issues are affecting Novocastrian women and see what they can do to resolve them.
"I know that growing up there there were challenges around just access for the community, public access and challenges ensuring that there were greater opportunities for women to get into and stimulating an interest in interesting and challenging careers and job opportunities," said Minister Davies.Minister Davies was keen to open up the conversation and put forward the message that gender equality isn't only an issue for women, it's a social and economic issue which affects everyone in the community.
Research has shown that at a purely basic economic level, society does so much better when women are at the very epicentre of decision making with a business or community. The Women's Strategy will also aim to encourage and spur other sectors and industries to lead the way for women because there is so much more that can be done.
"There's already a lot of evidence out there particularly in the corporate world that where a board has a presence of women at that key decision making level that the company or business does significantly better in terms of overall staff morale but also through their financial achievements," said Minister Davies.
