Councillor Josephine Bartley recently spoke at the Women in Public Sector Summit in Auckland. The popular national conference encouraged participation from women moving towards a leadership role in the public sector who had also likely experienced a range of barriers to their progression.
The summit focused on intersectionality; the complex, cumulative way in which race, gender, gender identity, ability/disability and other issues combine and how that impacts women’s leadership journeys.
"I took a moment to reflect on how different parts of my identity have shaped my experiences, in both good and bad ways," Councillor Bartley says.
“When asked to speak at the summit I wasn’t 100% sure of what intersectionality was, so I took a moment to reflect on how different parts of my identity have shaped my experiences, in both good and bad ways.
“I was humbled and grateful for the opportunity to speak about my own struggles and what I learnt as a result, and it was incredibly interesting to hear about the experiences of others whose mix of intersectionality is quite different to my own.
“Though we are moving in the right direction, we can and should be doing more to eliminate discrimination for every person. I will continue to do my very best for every person I represent and strongly believe that when we look after the most vulnerable in our society we all benefit.”
Further summits will be held in Wellington and Auckland in 2019. Visit women.govt.nz/womeninpublicsector for more information.
