WFEA Welcomes New Chair

The team at Women for Election Australia is excited to announce that Helen Conway will be joining us as Chair of the Board from today. Not only is Helen an award-winning lawyer and an inductee of the Women’s Agenda Hall of Fame, she is also an expert in workplace gender equality.

Between 2011 and 2015, Helen was the CEO of the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), an agency with statutory responsibilities. During her term, Helen oversaw the seamless implementation of new legislation governing the Agency and led the development of its strategic and long-term agenda for driving gender equality in Australian workplaces. This included delivering world-leading gender benchmarking, conducting bold change campaigns and developing innovative educational resources.

And now she’s taking up the helm at Women for Election Australia.

“I’m delighted to take up the role of Chair of WFEA. We will not “move the dial” substantively and sustainably towards gender equality until we have women in leadership positions and part of the very important discussions and decisions.

“This is why the work of WFEA is so important in equipping women to seek office at all levels of government. I look forward to building on the legacy of outgoing Chair, Jenny Morris. We are at a pivotal point in the push for gender equality which must be seized.”

– Helen Conway

I would like to take this time to highlight the extraordinary work done by our Founder and Chair, Jenny Morris, to grow WFEA. It takes vision, persistence and grit to step into the unknown (just like running for election!) and I know Jenny takes enormous pride in seeing the women our organisation has inspired to engage in Australian politics. Jenny now moves into the Emeritus Chair role with WFEA, so she will still share with us her knowledge and skills.

While a change is happening at the helm, our mission is unchanged: to increase the number, influence and diversity of women in politics in Australia and engaging more women in the political process. We do this by providing the very best training and support for women to enter political life, run for office, support electoral campaigns and move up the ladder to higher elective and appointed office.

“If there is something that you passionately believe in that you want to see done, there is no better way of making that happen than going into politics.”

– Julia Gillard

Licia Heath
CEO
Women for Election Australia