International Women’s Day

Pictured (left to right): Gemma Hodgetts, General Manager, HWQld; Dr Robyn Littlewood, Chief Executive, HWQld; Dr Mellissa Naidoo, Group Chief Medical Officer and Head of Clinical Innovation, nib Group; Dr Jeannette Young PSM, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer; Haylene Grogan, Chief Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Officer, Queensland Health: and Dr Alex Markwell, Chair, Queensland Clinical Senate, Queensland Health.

Earlier in March we celebrated International Women’s Day with a gathering of almost 50 female and male Queensland leaders, to recognise and celebrate the contribution of women and girls from all our communities, and celebrate our Queenslandhers.

We were honoured to have in attendance as invited speakers: Dr Jeannette Young PSM, Queensland’s Chief Health Officer; Dr Mellissa Naidoo, Group Chief Medical Officer and Head of Clinical Innovation, nib Group; and Kerrie Richards, CEO, Merino Country, whose story was profiled in our recent Queenslandher campaign.

Watch the video wrapping up the International Women’s Day gathering

Speakers talked about what leadership looked like for them these past 12 months, with Jillian Whiting as our master of ceremonies for the event, and facilitating a discussion on how we can best support women in leadership both personally and professionally.

Hosted at QPAC, it was a conversation that reflected the values of kindness, authenticity, love and support, with insights from discussions informing the development of a future Health and Wellbeing Queensland Women’s Strategy.

We plan to continue to acknowledge International Women’s Day annually. Not only was it a valuable opportunity to hear from strong inspiring speakers, but friendships and connections were made between those who attended and our very generous supporters of the event—thank you everyone!

We look forward to sharing more about our emerging women’s wellbeing program of work over the next few months. There were many positive outcomes that came from our recent event, and harnessing this momentum is a priority as we work to ensure we contribute to the growing appetite for supportive, collaborative and equitable opportunities for all Queenslandhers.