Women in Super

What a fantastic end to the WIS End of Year events with WIS VIC's Annual Christmas Luncheon last week at the Melbourne Town Hall. Attendees heard from Jacqui Cooper who shared her story of resilience to become the most successful Australian in her field. Jacqui highlighted the importance of building a toolbox to support yourself through challenging times and valuing your own opinion of your achievements rather than looking to a scoreboard. It was incredibly moving and there were laughs as well as tears throughout the audience. We were delighted to honour Louise Davidson AM and Fiona Reynolds with life membership of Women in Super. This acknowledges their significant contribution over many decades. Louise and Fiona were joined by our only other life members - Anne-Marie O’Loghlin and Catherine Wood AM. We are so grateful for the commitment and work these women have had to make WIS who we are today. Thank you to Amber Morgan from Northern Trust for providing the Vote of Thanks as the Platinum Sponsor, and for their generous donation of $3000 to this year's national charity Friends with Dignity Ltd. Thank you to this year's sponsors, without whom this event would not be possible: Platinum: Northern Trust Gold: MUFG Pension & Market Services, Marlo, AIA Australia and Iress Silver: Superware, Avocado Consulting, Desda Group , SustainRecruit, Tecala Group and Amazon Web Services (AWS) A huge congratulations to the WIS VIC Christmas Committee and WIS VIC Committee for their work this year. Our Committees are all volunteers, and without their time, expertise and passion, WIS would not exist. Erin Quinn Melanie Munro Elisha Bellingham Melissa Bodycoat Melissa Divaris Blair Fenech Emma Higgs Laura Judge Natalie Lister Jessica Pomeroy Pamela Reptis Karen Shen Thakshi Wijesundara Rufimy Khoo Katrina Waghorne Elizabeth Paligora Ruchika Wali Dianne Ghosn Jennifer Shields

What a lovely way for the WIS ACT committee to end the year and farewell outgoing Board Member Sue Field. It was great to see some familiar faces from over the years - special shout-out to long-term supporter, Leeanne Turner for making the trip from Melbourne. Our ACT Committee have worked hard to build this small but strong network over the years, and are taking a well-deserved break in the new year to recalibrate. We can't wait to see what the new iteration has in store for our Canberra-based members. Luna Hsiao Leanne Green Julie Peters

This year's WIS NSW End of Year luncheon had an additional treat on the menu - the secret sauce to an epic retirement! In what was another successful event (with over 420 guests in attendance), keynote speaker, Bec Wilson, redefined and reimagined what modern ageing can be, by exploring the six key pillars from her latest book - time, financial confidence, health, happiness and fulfilment, travel, and your home as you age.   Joined by Aware Super CEO, Deanne Stewart, the Q&A discussion took audience members down a path into the future, talking about practical advice, strategies, and all the possibilities of what can be achieved in retirement by using all the right tools to plan ahead. The key take out - retirement isn't the beginning of the end… rather it's your prime time waiting to happen! Thanks, once again, to our incredible sponsors for support this event:  Platinum sponsor: First Sentier Investors Gold sponsors: TAL Australia, Natixis Investment Managers, State Street Silver sponsors: Iress, MSCI Inc., Citi and SS&C Technologies Charmayne Connelly Lata McNulty Dena Brockie Jane Couchman Larissa Davis Miriam Herold, Morgan (Nowicki) Houston Jorjet Issavi Natalie Kalouche Anastasia Polites Angelica Tziotis

Women in Super thanks outgoing board members Sue Field, Lata McNulty, Tasha Naige and Jeannene O'Day for their contributions over many years. WIS board members donate a significant amount of time and energy in service to our members and purpose of advocating for a fairer super system . We are grateful for their support and commitment. We wish Sue, Lata, Tasha and Jeannene luck in their future endeavours and are sure they will continue to support WIS for many years to come.

An estimated 21% of adults have experienced partner violence or abuse since the age of 15, and more specifically, 16% of women have experienced what is known as partner economic abuse. Economic abuse is a form of domestic and family violence that involves the control of a partner or ex-partner’s money and finances (as well as the things that money can buy), in a way that threatens their economic security and potential for self-sufficiency. The impact of economic abuse makes the idea of leaving insurmountable for some - without money, there is nowhere to go. And once they have successfully left, rebuilding life is extremely challenging, forcing many women to start again from scratch, with large amounts of debt and poor credit ratings, affecting their long-term economic stability. This Economic Abuse Awareness Day we urge the finance sector to embrace the role it plays in protecting women against financial abuse, by making it harder to inflict harm.

Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.    Far from improving, violence against women in Australia is getting worse. Sherele Moody's Femicide Watch has recorded 86 Australian women lost to violence so far in 2024, with 15 Australian women killed in the last three weeks.    As we have discussed at both our National Road Show and our Threads of Inequality Conference this year, violence against women takes many forms. The UN defines it as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” This affects women at all stages of their life, including education, employment, and opportunities. Some women and girls, such as those in vulnerable situations or humanitarian crises, migrants, LGTBI, indigenous people or those with disabilities, face greater risk.Violence against women continues to be an obstacle to achieving equality, development, peace as well as to the fulfillment of women and girls’ human rights.   In marking this day, the UN are calling for robust responses, holding perpetrators accountable, and accelerating action through well-resourced national strategies and increased funding to women’s rights movements.   Women in Super has always encouraged and assisted super and financial services to embrace the role it plays in protecting women against abuse - including financial, by making it harder to inflict harm.

Wonderful to be back at the ASFA Conference again this year with our Networking Breakfast. This morning, a captivated audience benefited from the insights of Deloitte partner, Sruthi Srikanthan talking to her report Remaking the Norm. Followed by a conversation facilitated by WIS CEO Jo Kowalczyk with Sruthi and ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty. Sruthi unpacked how gender equality could deliver economic benefit of $128b over the next decade through driving increased productivity and labour force participation. A big thank-you to Deloitte for supporting this important conversation. You can read Remaking the Norm here: https://lnkd.in/gnjZhSg4

WIS' end of year events have kicked off early in Brisbane! What an enjoyable night at the WIS QLD End of Year Trivia event last week! The WIS QLD team are so proud to have raised more than $1,000 for charity Friends with Dignity with our raffles on the night. Well done to the winning trivia team… the ME Bank team!! Thank you to our members and sponsors for a fantastic year and we look forward to seeing you all again at our events in 2025. Thank you to Vincents for your venue and sponsorship. Michelle Ingram Ann Janssen Sara Bradford Renee Davidson Karla Harvey Kim Heironymus Deline Jacovides CFP® Jaspreet Kaur Anne Kemp Emily Monk Katherine Noonan Mailene Wheeler

Attention WIS VIC members and supporters, it's the day you've all been waiting for: the countdown is on for the WIS VIC Annual Christmas Luncheon. This sought after opportunity to come together with the industry's best and brightest to celebrate another successful year. This year, VIC will be joined by champion aerial skiier, Jacqui Cooper. Jacqui Cooper represented Australia in the sport of aerial skiing for over 20 years. Spotted on a trampoline in Melbourne at age 16 she was quickly recruited with a vision for her to be a World Champion 10 years later. With a detailed plan in place and unwavering commitment from Jacqui she became a World Champion; and in the decade that followed, Jacqui Cooper dominated and revolutionised her sport. Jacqui Cooper's story is one of triumph, tragedy, defeat and success. It’s a story that makes you believe in the strength of the human spirit. Her passion, persistence and unwavering dedication to a sport that is brutal and cruel, is absolutely inspiring. Jacqui takes you on a journey – a journey that lasts 21 years in her sport. As well as being entertained and inspired, your audience will be left with a lasting impression that “success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.” Tickets for this luncheon are selling like hotcakes so jump onto our website to register: https://lnkd.in/gWiDNVT2 Erin Quinn Melanie Munro Elisha Bellingham Melissa Bodycoat Melissa Divaris Blair Fenech Emma Higgs Laura Judge Natalie Lister JessicaPamela Reptis Karen Shen Thakshi Wijesundara Rufimy Khoo Katrina Waghorne Elizabeth Paligora Ruchika Wali Dianne Ghosn Jennifer Shields

WIS CEO Jo Kowalczyk is speaking at the ASFA | The Voice of Super Conference next week! Joining MetLife's Lina Saliba, Professor Rod Baber and Mayflower Consulting's Sarah Penn for an open discussion about the impact of menopause and the need for systemic and workplace change. See you there!