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Corporate leader Sam Mostyn to lead top women’s lobby group

Sue Morphet passes the baton to a new CEW president and calls on government ensure women have an equal choice on work.

Sam Mostyn. Picture: David Geraghty, The Australian.
Sam Mostyn. Picture: David Geraghty, The Australian.

One of Australia’s best-known corporate leaders, Sam Mostyn, has been appointed president of the powerful advocacy body, Chief Executive Women.

Ms Mostyn, who chairs Citigroup and sits on the Mirvac board, will succeed Sue Morphet at a time when CEW is pushing the federal government for better childcare and more jobs stimulus in female-dominated sectors.

Ms Mostyn, who has been outspoken on issues of corporate reputation, sustainability and diversity, was the first female AFL commissioner and is a director of the Sydney Swans. From November 16, she will lead an organisation that boasts membership of 650 of the most senior women in Australian business.

CEW has campaigned strongly on childcare during COVID-19 with Ms Morphet, who is a former chief executive and sits on several boards, seizing the opportunity to argue that women are being held back from full-time jobs because of the costs of care.

But the pandemic has challenged the organisation, which on Friday confirmed that its annual dinner — arguably one of the hottest tickets in corporate Australia — will not go ahead this year. The major fundraiser usually attracts more than 1000 people including many of the top male CEOs to a Sydney venue, but this year the dinner will be held as on online event on November 26 with Macquarie Group CEO Shemara Wikramanayake as speaker.

In an interview on Friday, Ms Morphet maintained the pressure, saying governments “bragged” about the increased number of women in the workforce, yet the statistics showed there had been little change in women’s full-time participation in the past four decades.

In 1978, 26.3 per cent of women were in full-time jobs, compared with 30.1 per cent in 2019. Full-time male participation fell in this period, largely because of structural changes in the economy, from 71.5 per cent to 52.5 per cent. Ms Morphet said the statistics showed affordable childcare was essential to give women equal choice about how they worked.

“At the moment childcare is viewed as welfare,” Ms Morphet said. “But it should be viewed as an enabler which allows us to capitalise on the talent of women.”

She said CEW, which was formed 35 years ago when a handful of women set up what was initially a networking group, now had a unique voice, with women who had reached senior leadership roles across a diverse area of Australia.

“They can see biases, they can see disadvantage and lack of diversity of thought and that things are not being viewed through a gender lens,” Ms Morphet said.

“Many women can see the problems, but this organisation has got women who have the capability to influence the conversation.”

She said that women and men entered the workforce with equal levels of aspiration but in their 20s, the differences between them expanded, with men taking off and women dropping back.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/leadership/corporate-leader-sam-mostyn-to-lead-top-womens-lobby-group/news-story/155955166ed89046ad5d1ba3f09dd761