Julie Ann Guivarra forges her own path to the halls of Parliament House

A James Cook University graduate is blazing a trail for Indigenous women

FROM the halls of James Cook University to the halls of Parliament House, Julie Ann Guivarra has fearlessly pursued a diplomatic career to become the first Indigenous officer of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to be promoted into the Senior Executive Service.

Ms Guivarra was one of 20 James Cook University graduates honoured recently at its Outstanding Alumni Awards, where she received the Chancellor’s Outstanding Alumnus Award.

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Ms Guivarra, who is both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, is a trailblazer of the highest accord: she was the first in her family to go to university, the first Indigenous person to serve in the highest ranks in the department, and since 2018, the first Indigenous woman to represent Australia as an ambassador after being posted to Spain.

Julie Ann Guivarra.

As the first person in her family to undertake tertiary education, Ms Guivarra said it was the strength of relationships with her grandparents that gave her the courage to believe she truly could do anything.

“They were both influential people in my life and always there and present and encouraged us into seeking education,” Ms Guivarra said.

“Even though my father hadn’t had a lot of formal education either he was certainly the same and I do credit my family for supporting me through my education.

“I have said to people you can see the power of education and what it can do in a few short generations because education is such a powerful enabling tool.”

In a move that proved visual representation matters, Ms Guivarra was appointed as Gender Equality Ambassador on International Women’s Day in March 2020.

As of December 2020, there were only 22 countries with women serving as heads of state and/or government worldwide.

According to the Aboriginal Gender Study – conducted by the Aboriginal Health Council South Australia in 2019, the “impacts of public policy are often gendered, and have the potential to either perpetuate inequality or advance gender equity”.

Julie Ann Guivarra

Ms Guivarra said she was acutely aware of the responsibility her role had to ensure gender equality and empowerment of women and girls was a “key focus of Australia’s diplomatic, development, and regional security efforts”.

“It’s always important to realise that no country has completely achieved gender equality, gender parity every year so I think coming from the perspective that we’re not there as opposed to lecturing another country,” she said.

“Education of young women is part of my core business and of course you want to set a positive example but really what you want is to be considered very quickly as commonplace (holding a leadership role) and not something that is unique.”

The World Economic Forum’s latest Global Gender Gap Report found it would take an estimated 95 years to reach equality globally.

Julie Ann Guivarra (right)

“In the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade we’ve had a Women in Leadership strategy since 2015 and there’s now a lot of strong women role models in foreign policy,” she said.

“It is designed to make sure when we were advocating we reflected the values we promote in the world and when it was introduced we had about 27 per cent that were female whereas now we have 40 per cent.”

Acknowledging she is one of few women who have opened the door for future generations to walk in behind her, Ms Guivarra said she drew inspiration from young girls and women who will plot their own careers in years to come.

“I am very much in awe of my own daughter, all those things of drawing on internal courage and resolve so to reflect on myself; I think there’s so much to be said for intergenerational learning,” she said.

“The importance of girls having a voice on issues and that’s a really great thing that its considered a normal thing.”

Originally published as Julie Ann Guivarra forges her own path to the halls of Parliament House