Australian Women in Leadership – Visionaries and Pioneers

Julia Gillard was Australia’s first female Prime Minister to undertake the most important leadership role as the head of this nation from 2010 – 2013.  According to Wikipedia, she was also Australia’s 27^th Prime Minister.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics Australian influential business women have been paving the way for other women to take on leadership roles from as early as the 1700’s.

The Pioneers

One of those women was the successful business woman Mary Reibey who was sent from England as a convict.  She arrived in Australia in the late 1700s. During the 1800’s Mary went on to become a respected businesswoman in Sydney.

In 1921, Edith Cowan was elected as the first woman to Any Australian Parliament in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly as member for West Perth.  She concentrated on fighting to improve conditions for women, children, families, the poor, the under-educated and the elderly.

In 1943 the first two women were elected to Federal Parliament. Dorothy Tangney won a Senate position to represent Western Australia, and Dame Enid Lyons was elected to the House of Representatives in the seat of Darwin, Tasmania in 1943.

Ita Buttrose was editor and chief within some of Australia’s top magazines and newspapers during the 1970’s – 1980’s.

Gail Kelly became Australia’s first woman CEO of St George Bank in 2002.  According to an online article titled, “The CEO who gave birth to triplets” by THE AGE published in 2005, “The day they announced Gail Kelly’s appointment as chief executive officer of St George Bank the value of its shares soared by $97 million.”

These women started out with a vision and their determination passionately pursue their dreams saw them achieve their goals.

“The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.” Helen Keller

One of J. Oswald Sanders most famous quotes, “Vision involves optimism and hope. The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” ― J. Oswald Sanders, Spiritual Leadership/Spiritual Discipleship/Spiritual Maturity Set

Main image courtesy of : www.freedigitalphotos.net /stockimages

Second Image: “Ita Buttrose 2014” by Eva Rinaldi – http://www.flickr.com/photos/evarinaldiphotography/14217631558/. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ita_Buttrose_2014.jpg#/media/File:Ita_Buttrose_2014.jpg

Third Image: “Dorothy Tangney 1940s” by Broothorn Studios – National Library of Australia. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dorothy_Tangney_1940s.jpg#/media/File:Dorothy_Tangney_1940s.jpg