Welcome to the adventure into International Women's Day (IWD) thought leadership for 2024: 

On International Women's Day, we reflect on women's impact on the world.

Consider the women on the forefront of pushing us towards Inclusion and Sustainability in Australia. Across Australia women like our first female Astronaut Katherine Bennell-Pegg, Professor Johanna Weaver, founding director of ANU Centre, Founder & CEO of Leadership HQ, and the LHQ Outstanding Leadership Award Sonia McDonald, all moved society towards a better Australian future. On a community level, mothers, aunts, sisters and colleagues all influenced our lives. Indeed, women have a phenomenal influence in the lives of every Australian.

Women played a vital role in directing an Australian sustainable future. Australia's first female astronaut in-training Katherine Bennell-Pegg played a pioneering role in tackling real-world space problems developing new knowledge to benefit society, environment and science. Working with various space projects including human spaceflight, debris removal, Earth observation and more, she opened doors to Australian scientists and engineers for space utilisation whilst showing Australians they can reach the stars.

Diversity and inclusion advocate Professor Johanna Weaver launched the Tech Policy Design Centre in 2021 to deliver practical tech policy development courses. This in turn empowers Australian public servants and technologists to become resilient towards technological risks such as misinformation.

Founder & CEO of Leadership HQ and the LHQ Outstanding Leadership Awards Sonia McDonald led leadership programs and awards to cultivate emerging women leaders who foster an environment of authenticity, curiosity, vulnerability, compassion and more.

These leaders develop innovative ideas which lead to successful businesses. Empowering women as leaders is integral in inspiring future generations of women to deliver for Australia. 

To conclude our reflection on IWD 2024:

Women are integral in shaping the attitudes, behaviours and environments of the future. Inspire Inclusion highlights the skills they bring with their consistent emphasis on Count Her In. The world has only ever been advanced by the empowerment of women.

Submited by Annie Huang

Further references:

Katherine Bennell-Pegg: https://www.space.gov.au/Katherine-Bennell-Pegg

Professor Johanna Weaver: https://womenlovetech.com/professor-johanna-weaver-an-australian-university-first-to-make-and-shape-our-tech-futureprofessor-johanna-weaver-an-australian-university-first-to-make-and-shape-our-tech-future/

Sonia McDonald: https://womenlovetech.com/7-female-business-leaders-talk-about-iwd-2024-the-theme/

Count Her In: https://womenlovetech.com/international-womens-day-2024-theme-revealed-count-her-in/