Dr Jana Pittman was the keynote speaker at the Drinks Association’s annual International Women’s Day Lunch this year.
More than 400 people from the drinks industry gathered at Randwick for the annual celebration of women, joining the call for the advancement of gender equity.
Guest speaker, Dr Pittman - our most energetic presenter to date - spoke about a need for all genders to come together in order to achieve equity and how important it has been throughout her life to challenge the status quo.
"We are talking all the time about equal, equal, equal, equal. Absolutely. We want gender equality . But for our women to meet that gender parity and to be similar in the workplace, they actually possibly need a little bit more help in certain areas, be it mentorship, be it funding, be it confidence to be equitable to the other wonderful men in our lives," said Pittman.
This year the industry panel was replaced with a series of videos celebrating the efforts of those who bring the Embrace Difference Council to life and profiling what some Drinks Association member companies are doing to drive gender equity further forward.
In her piece to camera, Embrace Difference Council Chair, Sandra Gibbs, said, “IWD is important to me as it purposefully creates conversations. Some of them are challenging and some are celebratory. It really doesn’t matter - what matters is that someone, somewhere will do something different as a result of the discussions we have today. And they will contribute to the shift that needs to be made to achieve gender equity.
“To be able to work with passionate people from different companies - with the goal of making the industry a better place to work is a humbling opportunity for me.
“I can see the change happening and if I can make this Industry better for the people who will be in it in years to come, then I’ve done my job. “
AVL, Bacardi, Lion, TWE, Campari and Moët Hennessy all featured in the video presentations discussing the initiatives they have enacted within their workplaces, including pay equity, gender targets in teams and mentoring programs which have been established to guarantee a strong pipeline of female talent into the future. These leadership and mentoring programs are leading to structural change. It’s very exciting. (Links to the videos are below.)
TWE’s Commercial Manager, Angela Burgum, was recognised for her outstanding contribution to driving diversity and inclusion in the drinks industry.
It is the first time that this recognition has been afforded to anyone on the Embrace Difference Council.
Gibbs said, “I’m really pleased to be giving his inaugural award to the longest serving member of the Embrace Difference Council. Angela works tirelessly every year on the scorecard which has driven immense change in the industry.
“Angela has been an exceptional contributor to the Council over the years, working to drive change and invoke action from members. She’s a great role model and just generally a great human who we are lucky to have on the council.”
Campari’s Stephanie Shedden did an excellent job as MC on the day and the charity partner at this year’s lunch was the Katrina Dawson Foundation established with the mission of 'finding, funding and mentoring inspiring young women'.
You can watch the IWD Videos here, here and here.
Photography by Belinda Rolland