Monday, May 2nd, 2016 #MEAAMedia #womeninmedia News
MEAA Online

At the Victorian launch of Women In Media (l-r): national convenor Tracey Spicer, MEAA regional director for Victoria and Tasmania Carolyn Dunbar, national patron Caroline Jones and MC Heather Ewart.

Women working in all areas of the Victorian media are set to benefit from the unparalleled networking, mentoring and advocacy expertise of MEAA’s Women In Media (WiM) initiative, following the launch of the local branch last week.

The Melbourne kick-off event was held on April 28 in central Melbourne and was graced with the presence of the initiative’s national patron Caroline Jones, as well as local and interstate media personalities such as Tracey Spicer, MC Heather Ewart, Adele Ferguson and many more.

Caroline Jones, who was the first woman host of the ABC’s flagship current affairs program Four Corners, spoke about the struggles she had gaining recognition and parity with men in a male-dominated media workforce in the late-1960s and how she could have benefitted from having an older and more experienced woman as a mentor in the early days of her career.

The WiM initiative will see the launch of a local mentoring program to draw together senior industry figures to offer women in the early stages of their career support, advice and the benefit of their experience.

The Victorian chapter introduced its first six formal mentorships at the launch event and applications are now invited from potential mentees. More details are available on the Women In Media website.

The mentors are: Joanna Werner (executive producer, Werner Film Productions), Josephine Cafagna (director, Cafagna Communications), Jill Baker (executive editor, Sunday Herald Sun), Libby Price (editor, Benalla Ensign), Amanda Place (corporate communications director at The Florey Institute) and Laurel Irving (journalist, 7News Melbourne).

“This was founded by women to help other women in the media, to mentor them and provide them with career support,” committee member Jane Canaway said. “We aim to create a nurturing environment to help women get to the next step of their career, as well as offering a forum to discuss matters affecting the whole industry, and specifically the women who are part of it.”

Since launching in Sydney in 2013, WiM has expanded to include branches in Queensland, Far North Queensland, Canberra and South Australia.

The Victorian launch couldn’t come at a better time, with MEAA research (based on a landmark survey of women working in Australian media) pointing to a blokey culture that rewards ‘mates of merit’, tolerates sexual harassment and abuse, pays lip service to work-family balance and perpetuates the gender pay gap.

The Victorian organising committee includes industry professionals from a broad base, including Karen Percy (ABC), Jane Canaway (Fairfax Media), Gay Alcorn (Guardian Australia), Alana Schetzer (The Age), Belinda Hawkins (ABC), Bree-Anne Sykes (freelance TV), Sue Ahearn (communications consultant), Isabelle Oderberg (editor, Red Cross Australia), and Walkley award-winning Emma Field (The Weekly Times).

View a photo gallery from the Victorian launch here.