The Talk
SPEAKING THE UNSPOKEN AND EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED!
EXCLUSIVE BY SANDRA LOGIUDICE, READY MEDIA GROUP
LIBBY WALSH Australian & NZ Director Roxy-Pacific Holdings
Walsh, Australian and NZ Managing Director of Roxy-Pacific. “When you don’t, you almost feel you have to explain your decision to stay home.” Ms. Walsh is a proud mother of 3 daughters and partner to husband Joseph. For 7 years Libby was ‘home’ with her children who were born in close succession, before joining Roxy-Pacific in 2015. She joined the group as a Development Manager working on Sydney and Melbourne development projects across a range of sectors including residential, commercial & hotels. In 2019 she took on the role of Director – Australia NZ, around the time when COVID hit. Roxy-Pacific Holdings is a renowned, property and hospitality group with more than 50 years of experience and expertise and operations across the Asia-Pacific region and has been in Australia since 2014. Commencing her career as a Consulting Engineer for Wood & Grieve Engineers (now Stantec), Libby holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Western Australia (UWA) as well as a Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance and Investment (Major in Property Investment) from FINSIA. “There is much being done to help women return to the workforce.”
Last month the Albanese Government announced that $15.84 million would be invested to boost women’s workforce participation and their representation in leadership positions. The ‘Supported Returner Program’ and the ‘Project Return’ program are examples of resources to help ‘return to work’, and of course, there is the Fair Work Act 2009 which provides flexible entitlements to encourage work and family balance and non-discrimination. We are making progress. However, this read is not about gender parity. It is about the expectations and pressures that many women feel to return to work soon after having a family. In many cases there is a ‘need’ and in some cases a ‘want’. Then there are also those who choose to take on the primary carer role in isolation at certain points of their journey rather than respond to emails at 2am whilst feeding and rocking the bassinet with one foot. “There is often an unspoken expectation that as an individual you should want to go straight back to work after you have children,” says Libby
10 –Summer 2022/2023
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