NARELLE COULTER
A BUSINESS breakfast in Dandenong to celebrate International Women’s Day was reminded that there is still a large disparity in the opportunities faced by women in 2014.
The first guest speaker at Friday’s Women In Business event Halinka Panzera is highly educated, owns a market research company, has written a successful book and is an award winning global thought leader.
In contrast, second guest speaker, former Dandenong Magistrate Lesley Fleming, spoke of the scourge of family violence which, she said, was the “great growth area” in the south east.
The statistics, she said, were “devastating”.
“In my court in Dandenong, I always feel like it’s my court, we dealt with 400 applications for intervention orders a month and the applicants were generally females.
“There is a huge challenge for our community in how we stop it.”
Ms Fleming said there had been “wonderful changes” in the way family violence was managed by law enforcement authorities and the courts.
“Police no longer view it as a domestic. Now police go to the door and remove violent men or women from the house. They have far greater power.”
However, there are cases that fall through the cracks, such as the Noble Park mother murdered in her driveway late last year. She had previously applied for an intervention order in Dandenong Magistrates’ Court.
Ms Fleming said when she heard of the woman’s fate she immediately headed to the court to go through her files to see if the victim had come into contact with the court, and if so was there need for a review of the court’s interaction with the family.
Ms Fleming spent six years at Dandenong Magistrates’ Court and “loved it”. She recently left Dandenong to work in Melbourne Children’s Court.
“It’s such a dynamic community, its rich in manufacturing and I hope that continues and it is also rich culturally and multiculturally, there is so much energy and drive here.”
She praised the State Government’s Revitalising Dandenong intitiative saying the Lonsdale Street was now “gorgeous”.
“I think (the main street) it’s reflected in the tone of the place. You now see students walking through town and you can feel the engery, the buzz and the potential. It’s very exciting.”
“I feel proud of the place whenever I’m here.”
She said it was important that the justice system reflected the community it served.
“We don’t have any Asian magistrates I don’t know if ther are any young women there who want to study law, but I will mentor you. Just ring me.
Halinka Panzera spoke about her career life cycle and encouraged women to think of themselves as a brand.
She said the building block of a successful brand was eduction which “doesn’t need to always be formal school, hard knocks also applies” and that mothers should not underestimate their skills.
A mother herself, Ms Panzera said mothers possessed, for example, great logistic skills.
“It took three women supporting me just to be here today, which is a lot more than I’d need for any other meeting.”
She encouraged women not to be shy about getting more qualifications — whether you are young or old, climbing the corporate ladder or a stay-at- home mum to “celebrate the fact that you have that experience”.
She said women should think about their credibility in the workplace, which includes how you present yourself, your “packaging”.
“Credibitily is really important, how you present your packaging, what you’re wearing, how you fix your hair, is long, dare I say it, your skirt too short. All of those things build an extension of who you are. Be aware of the environment you work in. Are you stting on the shelves in David Jones or in Target?”
Ms Panzera urged women to embrace change and “be brave”.
“Be prepared to design a new model. The thing women bring to the table is that women actually do things differently and that’s a good thing.”
