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Gender and Cultural Diversity Matters |
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Page 3 of 4
A Good Place to Be
Has Sandra always been able to blend her passions so beautifully with
her business roles? At the moment, she confesses to being blessed and
in the very lucky situation of only doing things she feels passionate
about "because life is too short." This was always part of her career
plan, especially since leaving corporate life as a publishing executive
in 1993 (with Time Magazine in Australia). It's really only been in the
last eight years or so that she's had the luxury of not having to do
things she doesn't want to.
Sandra's career began almost by accident, when she found herself in her
mid-twenties on her own and with a couple of kids to support. She
realised that the only way forward was to forge a pathway for herself.
She had short hand and typing skills and was working as a secretary in
Brisbane. Her break came when she was offered a job selling time on
television stations.
It was exciting and fun, but she quickly learned that as a career,
television was an absolute dead end for women. "In fact, the bloke I
worked for then told me that it didn't matter how long I stayed or how
good I was he'd never promote a woman. No one could say that to you
now, but he said it in a very matter of fact way. I think it'd be true
to say that I lost my temper!"
Since her early television days, Sandra has spent the bulk of her
career in print media and publishing, working for John Fairfax in
Australia and starting up Matilda Publications Inc. in New York during
the late eighties with business partner Dr Anne Summers. Together, they
raised US $20 million on Wall Street in the space of six weeks - an
experience that Sandra describes as the single most nerve-racking thing
she has ever done. New York, however, remains one of her favourite
cities, and the Matilda project an important milestone in her corporate
life.
'Generations' of Women?
Sandra, of course, is now back in Australia and after spending three
years with Time Magazine she's continuing to do work that she loves as
an independent company director. "I never imagined ending up at this
place when I was a girl or even when I started down a fairly
conventional path for women in my day, married at eighteen with my
first child at twenty," she says. Indeed, as mentor to a number of
young women starting out in their professional lives, Sandra has one
important piece of advice: always take responsibility for your own
economic security.
"Although I'm loath to give advice to young women unless they ask for
it, I always say to them to plan for your financial well-being from the
very first pay cheque. Whatever else happens is a bonus". So, perhaps
the situation is frighteningly similar for women today and women in the
past? Sandra prefers not to place too much purchase on the much widely
used metaphor of 'generations' of women, but rather to underscore the
commonalties of experiences that contemporary women share. The fact is
that for many women there is a real break from the work force, whether
it's for child rearing or looking after someone (a parent or relative).
Sandra adds: "If my figures are right, the average length of time that
a woman is out of the work force is around seven years. And although
men might change their career direction a number of times, it's very
few who would be out of the workforce for anywhere near such a length
of time."
How can business support better transitions for working women? Some
organisations have begun to introduce a family-friendly view to work
policy, with strategies in place that encourage women to return to work
from maternity leave. As Sandra tells us, "One of them is a client.
They have invested around a quarter of a million into such a strategy
and have basically doubled the return rate of women and saved something
like two million dollars in training."
There are other good case studies, but overall Sandra maintains that
work and family transitions remain problematic for many contemporary
women.
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