First-ever Women in Finance Network Lunch launches

The Women in Finance Network Lunch presents an opportunity for the financial services industry to converge, inspire, and connect with each other while recognising their achievements.

Run with support from principal partner Mortgage Choice (part of REA Group), this pioneering event is an initiative of ifa’s parent company, Momentum Media, and will be held on Friday, 22 March 2024, at Pier One, Sydney. Click here to book your tickets.

While International Women’s Day is an annual global holiday that shines a light on the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women across all spheres, it is also a call to action to accelerate women’s equality.

Inspiring inclusion

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “inspire inclusion”, to help others understand and value women’s inclusion to create a brighter future.

Similarly, the Women in Finance Network Lunch will facilitate discussions on how women’s participation in the financial services industry could increase, how this will help the industry prosper, and how women could position their businesses for growth.

This lunch is designed to be a burgeoning movement led by financial services professionals dedicated to championing transformative change in the industry and building a collaborative community.

This event is taking place at a time when the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) is sharpening its focus on women’s equality, having recently published the gender pay gaps for nearly 5,000 Australian private sector employers for the first time.

According to the WGEA data, the average base salary gender pay gap in the financial and insurance services industry in 2022–23 was 20.0 per cent, while the average total remuneration gender pay gap was 26.1 per cent.

The data also revealed that 88 per cent of employers in the industry have a policy for equal remuneration.

Furthermore, 81 per cent of employers undertook a payroll analysis while 71 per cent of employers took action as a result of this analysis.

The results have revealed that additional work is required to close the gender pay gap, and events like the Women in Finance Network Lunch is an important platform to initiate discussions and spark solutions.

The lunch is also being held at a time when the independent group Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce has recommended that financial literacy be taught in schools and banks develop financial products for women, among a range of other legislative changes.

Hear from award-winning professionals

Three distinguished speakers, who are also past winners of the prestigious Women in Finance Awards, will address the audience at the inaugural lunch.

The afternoon will begin with a stirring keynote address by Jo Hurley, general manager, growth, at Class, who will recount how she progressed in her career and offer tips for other women to succeed in their industries.

Hurley made history as the first recipient of the Woman of the Year award at the inaugural Women in Finance Awards in 2017, after being named Accountant of the Year and Innovator of the Year that evening.

Following this, two other Women in Finance Award winners will present a session followed by a Q&A segment.

Super Fierce founder and chief executive officer Trenna Probert (Thought Leader of the Year in 2023) and Grow My Money founder Pascale Helyar-Moray (Entrepreneur of the Year in 2020) will detail how they became entrepreneurs and built and grew their respective companies.

They will also focus on how women are leading the charge in financial services, and how to provide them with additional support while showcasing their talent in the industry.

The award winners will then highlight what it meant for them to receive national recognition at the Women in Finance Awards and how their victories bolstered their career and profile.

Thereafter, Probert and Helyar-Moray will answer the most burning questions presented by the audience.

Throughout the lunch event, attendees will have the opportunity to network with their colleagues and peers, while exchanging ideas with prominent women and leaders in the financial services industry.

The Women in Finance Network Lunch will be held on Friday, 22 March 2024, at Pier One, Sydney.

Click here to book your tickets and don’t miss out!

For more information, including agenda and speakers, click here.