Australian High Commission celebrates International Women’s Day 2015
The Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, H.E. Mr Rod Smith, hosted a luncheon at the Australian High Commission on 12 March to celebrate International Women's Day.
The event, themed “Women in Business”, was attended by more than 80 guests from business, government, politics, arts, education, civil society and media. The event provided an opportunity to celebrate women’s achievements and to reaffirm Australia's commitment to the empowerment of women both in Australia and around the world.
The guest speaker was Ms Nicola Wakefield Evans, a trailblazing businesswoman based in Sydney. Ms Wakefield Evans is a non-executive director of Lend Lease, Macquarie Group, Toll Holdings and BUPA Australia and New Zealand. In her address, Ms Wakefield Evans spoke about her diverse career and how she had benefited from working in Asia.
In his welcome remarks, Mr Smith said promoting women's empowerment and gender equality was a key priority for Australia's foreign policy and discussed the importance of having male champions for change. He noted that the empowerment of women and girls was highly effective in achieving higher economic growth and better living standards among the millions of people in developing countries in this region.
Guests were given copies of Empowering Women, which tells the extraordinary stories of strong women who have been supported by Australia's foreign policy, economic diplomacy and development programs. Guests also received a small gift sponsored by Australian-run company Aesop.
In conjunction with this year’s Women's Day celebration, Australian Prime Minister, the Hon. Tony Abbott, pledged his commitment to the global campaign “He for She”, an initiative by UN Women.
The campaign calls on men to pledge their solidarity with women and become advocates for gender equality. By pledging their support, men commit to take action against all forms of violence and discrimination faced by women and girls, and acknowledge that gender equality is not only a women's issue that requires the engagement of both genders to address.
The Australian High Commission invites you to view a video message by the Ambassador for Women and Girls, Ms Natasha Stott Despoja AM.
Please log on to http://www.heforshe.org/ to pledge your commitment to the global campaign “He for She”.
