Source: UN Women Australia, IWD 2025
Today is day two of our International Women’s Day campaign, and we are excited to feature our Director of Finance, Systems & Project Management Office, Natalie Sharp alongside Ella Bancroft, Indigenous change-maker, artist, storyteller and founder of ‘The Returning’.
While one reflects on how industries need to embrace flexible policies to retain highly skilled female talents, another equally as important dynamic is explored; around spirituality, where feminine energy can shape mother-centred societies and workplaces.
Natalie Sharp, Director of Finance, Systems & Project Management Office
How do you think we need to march forward to unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind?
Change happens when equality is embedded as the standard, not treated as an exception. To move forward, we need to address unconscious bias, continue to support family-friendly policies and ensure our industry genuinely reflects the diversity of the broader community. It’s also important that policies like flexible working and parental leave support everyone—not just women.
When these policies are inclusive, they benefit all women, including those whose partners also need workplace flexibility to share responsibilities at home.
How can we empower the next generation to be catalysts for lasting change?
We can empower the next generation by leading by example and equipping them with the confidence and tools to challenge the status quo. Mentorship, visibility, and real opportunities for involvement and leadership are key. It’s essential to normalise women in STEM from an early age, ensuring that young girls see clear pathways for themselves in traditionally male-dominated fields. But just as importantly, boys need to see this as the norm too. When young boys grow up seeing women in STEM as equals, it helps break down outdated stereotypes. It fosters a more inclusive culture where talent and capability—not gender—define success. When girls see women ahead of them actively participating and thriving, they’ll know they can do the same.
In our industry, how do we close the gap to achieve gender equality?
Closing the gender gap in our industry requires more than just hiring more women—we need to focus on retention, career progression, and leadership pathways. This means fostering workplaces where women feel valued and supported, addressing the “confidence gap” that can hold women back from speaking up or advancing, and ensuring that strong, family-friendly policies are in place. We can’t afford to lose highly skilled professionals simply because they struggle to balance work and family responsibilities.
But the change has to start earlier. We need to support the next generation—girls who may feel discouraged from continuing with STEM subjects in school. As an industry, we must actively engage with schools, providing mentorship and visibility to a diverse range of students so they feel encouraged to pursue careers in STEM. The more diverse our industry becomes, the better the outcomes will be—not just for businesses, but for the broader community.
What are some of your own experiences in the industry?
When I was in Year 12, I told my friend’s dad I wanted to study engineering at uni. His immediate response was, “But you can’t do that—you’re a girl.” Fast forward to a few decades later, that same friend still loves reminding him just how wrong he was. Thankfully, I can’t imagine anyone saying something like that to my own daughter today.
I’ve been fortunate to have incredible mentors throughout my education and career, and for the most part, I haven’t felt that being a woman was a significant barrier in this industry. However, there have been moments where it was clear that gender played a role in how I was perceived or included. I hope that these moments continue to become less common as workplaces evolve, bad behaviours are called out, and true inclusion becomes the norm.
Sequana has been a workplace where I feel genuinely supported—both in my career and balancing personal commitments. The company’s commitment to family-friendly policies has been especially meaningful to me. Looking back, I know that if I had access to these kinds of policies when my children were young, it would have made a huge difference to my family life. It’s encouraging to be part of a workplace that truly values flexibility and recognises that supporting employees beyond work leads to better outcomes for everyone.
Past policies, I’ve had opportunities to grow professionally—whether through mentorship, leadership roles, or contributing to meaningful projects that drive real change in communities. Being part of a workplace that invests in both my development and well-being makes Sequana not just a great place to work, but a place where I feel motivated and valued.
Ella Bancroft, Indigenous change-maker, artist, storyteller and founder of ‘The Returning’
What does “March Forward: For ALL Women and Girls” mean to you?
In my understanding, we have moved into grandmother time here on the East Coast in the dreaming.
The changing of the tides from a more masculine-run society to a return of the feminine energy and this is why so much of our work at The Returning is about creating mother-centered societies and workspaces that accommodate women and mothers. This is a call out for a unified story as women, that we cannot have freedom until we have collective liberation for all women. All women, mean women in all countries, globally, from all socio-economic backgrounds, religions and sexualities. We have to come together to feel and see our unified story as women who have all suffered under the dominant oppressive patriarchal systems, some more than others, yes but we all still feel the pains of living in a world that truly does not value us or our biology.
How do you think we need to march forward to unlock equal rights, power and opportunities for all and a feminist future where no one is left behind
This is a big topic, for me, it’s about redefining our values and beliefs as a society and returning to a more women, mother and family-centred society. At The Returning, we are an all-women, mostly mothers and mostly mob team. We have bleed days for our women, flexible hours to fit into parenting commitments and care models that encourage rest for self and community. Our programs accommodate children and are family-friendly, allowing our mothers to bring their children to work when we go out on Country. The feminist future requires all of us to look with compassion, to care for our communities, to teach our brothers and fathers and sons to care for women, to change the narrative so that we respect all women, especially our elders and build our businesses so that we cater to women needs. Working together as women in business is another powerful way to bring our gifts to the capitalist system and still get remunerated.
How can we empower the next generation to be catalysts for lasting change?
When we redefine values and beliefs we challenge colonial capitalism’s ideas of gender roles. Unfortunately, Australian culture thrives on misogyny. Abolishing or rejecting this culture and taking up more ancient practices in our lineage could help to shift mindsets.
When we move to more women-centred societies, we celebrate our young women in female leadership roles, we do not silence them, we lift them up, we have more collective decision-making and prioritise community and family care, we focus on compassion and cooperation and prioritise our female elders as the knowledge holders and wisdom keepers. We return to celebrating our kids when their achievements are based on these core values. Women are natural-born communicators, organisers and managers, they have initiative and ambition, and we have to cultivate that in our young women and celebrate them in those areas where they thrive.
What are some of your own experiences?
Women are disproportionately represented in the care economy. Before the economic system became about money and slavery, we were bound by the care economy, bound by our obligations to family, country, community (this includes our more than human kin) and self. Women hold up the care economy in both paid and unpaid roles. This can significantly impact women, especially if they choose to look after their elders, children, nieces, nephews or communities. Before colonial capitalist times, we were celebrated for our ability to be the biggest contributors to the economy, the care economy. Women spend much more time in unpaid carer roles than men and that can mean that we become time-poor, unable to look after ourselves, or prosper in the same way men do. Women can often sacrifice their employment or education to take up these unpaid care roles to care for their loved ones.
Learn more about Ella Bancroft and her work here.
© Ella Bancroft’s headshot by Kiri hance
