PRESS RELEASE
AUSTRALIAN WOMEN RECOGNISED FOR THEIR LEADERSHIP ON INTERNATIONAL
WOMEN’S DAY
Dr Jill Tomlinson is the Winner of the Australian virtual Centre for
Leadership for Women (CLW)’s 2009 national Leadership Achievement for
Women Award.
The medical community is undergoing
rapid gender change – in the course of a generation women have gone from
comprising a small minority of medical graduates to making up over 50%
of each graduating year. Despite this women remain under-represented in
senior leadership positions. With the vision to empower medical women,
providing doctors and medical students with leadership skills and
improved networking and mentoring opportunities, Dr Jill Tomlinson
designed a project under the auspices of the Australian Federation of
Medical Women (AFMW) to foster communication, networking, respect,
leadership ability and opportunities among medical women. Successfully
gaining funding, Dr Tomlinson awarded twenty-two AFMW Leadership
Scholarships totalling $15,000 to medical women to attend the Medical
Women’s International Association (MWIA) Western Pacific Regional
Congress in
This, and Dr Tomlinson’s other leadership initiatives for medical women is being recognised by CLW’s 2009 Leadership Achievement for Women Award launched in 2005, aiming to honour women in the community who use their own initiative to create and implement projects for the benefit of the community and in collaboration with the community.
This year, CLW also
recognizes the leadership achievements of Julie Gale, Founder of
Kids Free 2B Kids,
who
is raising awareness about the issue
of the early sexualisation of children in advertising and the media by
creating a sustained public debate to shift perceptions that this issue
is about the mental health of children and young teens. Together with
Finalist Julie Gale, Stephanie Taylor, a learning and development
professional is being recognised for developing the L&D Professionals
Forum so that professionals could network, be exposed to the latest
industry trends and participate in professional development
opportunities within the Sydney CBD.
Winning the Short-listed category for the Award are the following women:
·
Kath Mazzella for her
vision to bring professionals and health consumers together for the
betterment of Gynaecological/Sexual issues
·
Melissa Hughes for
creating an
ongoing support group where women could come with their children and
partners to seek help, validation and normalisation of their roles as
parents and be assisted by
qualified therapists
·
Dr
Cathy Kezelman for addressing the needs of more than two million adults
surviving child abuse in the Australian community and raising the issues
of adult survivors in the public arena so that attitudes of the shame
and stigma change in the community
·
Margaret Hardy for developing the
Significant Women of the Central
Coast books to record women’s stories so that others can learn from
their involvement and be inspired by their achievements and life story
·
Lynne Schulz for
raising awareness about the problems faced by multiple birth loss
families and creating a supportive environment for surviving multiple
birth children
·
Justine Kelly for
developing a website and e-zine to promote labels and designers that are
innovative and create eco friendly fashion and for also building
partnerships with designers and producers in less developed countries
Highly
Commended for the Award are Stacey Irving and Terania Shanahan,
co-founders of
AWARE, an organisation
dedicated to raising awareness in the local community about global
humanitarian issues, promoting equality and sustainable development.
Together with Diann Rodgers-Healey, Founder of CLW, the
Panel of Judges
for the
2009 Awards were Filmmaker and writer,
CLW’s 2009 Leadership Achievement
Award for Women was proudly sponsored by ANZ, Australia Post, Avril
Henry Pty Ltd and Living Now Magazine.
Their financial support of
these Awards particularly in the current economic climate is testament
to the significance of these Awards for women in the Australian
community.
More details of these
women leaders and the Award can be accessed at
www.leadershipforwomen.com.au
Contact: Diann Rodgers-Healey
Founder, CLW