Chancellor's Address: Women of Western Sydney Awards 2025

Chancellor Image for use on the News Centre.

The following address was delivered by Chancellor, Professor Jennifer Westacott AO, at the Women of Western Sydney Awards 2025 at the Parramatta City campus on Thursday, 6 March 2025.*

Thank you.

Can I thank Matilda for the acknowledgement of Country which we accept with grace and humility.

I too would like to acknowledge the Burramattagal People of the Darug Nation and pay my respects to Elders past and present.

I extend my respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are present today.

We come together to celebrate International Women's Day.

We use this moment to recognise the contribution women make to enriching our society each and every day.

I know some critics may ask – why do we need an International Women’s Day?

Well, we mark today because the progress we are making as a nation and as a region in advancing women is good … but not good enough.

It is also an important opportunity to pause and recognise the contribution that women have made over decades.

We reflect on how their courage, determination and combined actions have removed sometimes systemic discrimination for women in the pursuits of:

entering the workforce
advancing in their careers
owning businesses,
running businesses,
and running large organisations.

We also take time today to champion the incredible contributions women make to their communities, the arts, education, maths, sport, science and technology.

So, why wouldn’t we pause to acknowledge – and applaud – these endeavours and achievements?

But let’s start with why we must continually roll up our sleeves – together – to work to ensure women can get ahead in Western Sydney.

Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the data.

Women in Western Sydney earn on average four dollars less than men in Western Sydney.

Just seven per cent of women in Western Sydney are self-employed compared to 11 per cent of women in the Rest of Sydney.

Women in our region are on lower incomes, with more than one in four women earning less than $52,000 a year.

And the labour force participation rate for women in Western Sydney is 65 per cent compared to 76 per cent for women in the Rest of Sydney.

In our region, the lack of access to public transport and child care shortages make it harder to overcome the barriers to paid work.

But our 2024 report, Unlocking Women’s Potential highlighted the enormous gains that could be made if we addressed these issues.

If we were to close this 11-percentage point gap in labour force participation for Western Sydney women – we could see more than 80,000 women in the region getting jobs.

Closing this gap could also add 34 billion dollars to the NSW economy.

And it could add an extra 90,000 dollars on average into the pockets of women in Western Sydney each and every year.

And if we were to remove the structural barriers to women’s workforce participation across the entire country, Deloitte Access Economics estimates it would deliver:

an extra 128 billion dollars a year to the national economy
converting to 12,000 dollars extra a year per household, and
an extra 460,000 full-time jobs each and every year for the next 50 years.

Unlocking women’s workforce potential across the nation is about maximising the talents of 50 per cent of the population.

It’s fundamentally about lifting the living standards of all Australians.

To me, lifting women’s participation and advancement are hardcore economic issues.

So, how do we unleash that potential?

Well, we do it through things like great leadership.

One standout example of female philanthropic trailblazing in the corporate space is Harvey Norman chief executive officer Katie Page.

Katie exemplifies what it means to give back to the community.

Through a $7.9 million donation, we are delivering the Harvey Norman Young Women’s Leadership Academy at Auburn Girls High School.

This program is truly unique.

By engaging the community closely, this program increases the social, economic and educational participation of young women in our region.

This is a really practical initiative that needs your support to enable it to grow so it can continue creating and inspiring our next generation of female role-models and leaders.

We also unleash the potential of women by encouraging more to be entrepreneurs through wonderful and practical initiatives like Western Sydney University’s Launch Pad.

In the last two years alone, Launch Pad’s Ignition program has supported 46 female entrepreneurs.

Almost 50 per cent of the start-ups in the program are led by women.

And Launch Pad has distributed $75,000 in grant funding to help female entrepreneurs and side hustlers kickstart and grow their ventures.

It is a great example of how harnessing ideas, innovation and talent by matching entrepreneurs, creators and inventors with the right advice and pathways can dramatically change our region.

In fact, several of our nominations today are involved or connected to Launch Pad.

They include:

Mabel Joe who works there to mentor and help other entrepreneurs navigate the world of start-ups and connects people with the right advice.
Nandeeta Maharaj who is the force behind the social enterprise Goods 4 Good that enables people to give gifts with impact.
Lucy Lin who launched her Emerging Tech Unpacked podcast this time last year with a live podcast recording at Launch Pad.
And Iris Phan who won last year’s Launch Pad Ignition startup acceleration program for her pitch of an AI personal styling app.

But we are not just singling out entrepreneurs today.

We celebrate all those women who have been essential – and central – to the advancement of: