Ensemble meets some of TE’s incredible women on International Women’s Day 2022.

HOURI TAPIKI – THEATRE ROYAL SYDNEY
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
International Women’s Day is a day to recognise and celebrate the incredible women who have made a difference to the world. It is an opportunity to provide more visibility and awareness of their achievements which help inspire the future generations.

What woman has positively impacted you in your career? What’s one lesson she taught you?
I would have to say my mother. From a young age, she has taught me what it means to be resilient and strong. She worked so incredibly hard and sacrificed so much to build a foundation and future for my brother and I after moving to Australia from a war-torn Lebanon almost 40 years ago. The one lesson she has taught me is to work hard and never be afraid to take on new challenges.

What gender-specific challenges, stereotypes, or barriers have you had to overcome during your career?
At one stage in my career, I worked for the Australian Rugby Union for almost nine years. This was at a time where it was mostly run and led by men. I walked into the role with an almost naïve approach where I expected to be treated as an equal based on my skills and experience and not judged by my gender. Unfortunately, this was definitely not the case. With confidence in my abilities, I pushed several boundaries and gained the respect and recognition of my male peers. By the time I left, there were many more women in managerial roles and a much better balance within the Organisation.

CAROLINE SUTCLIFFE – TE HEAD OFFICE
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
I think every day should be Women’s Day! But really, I think it is a day for us to honour those women in our lives who have inspired us and done remarkable things – often having to overcome inequality, and fight a little bit harder, to achieve them. There is still work to be done, but I have two daughters, and on International Women’s Day, we spend time talking about the women who have fought and pioneered to make the world a fairer and better place for us.

What woman has positively impacted you in your career? What’s one lesson she taught you?
Without a doubt, it’s been Rosemary. Rosemary is such a powerful advocate for women in the workplace, she fights for female representation on boards, is incredibly supportive of working mums (like me!) and has always fought passionately for gender equality. I’ve learnt so much from working with Rosemary, but I think one of the most important lessons is to stay focused on your ambitions and goals, have an idea of where you want to go how you will get there. Don’t let perceived barriers or the noise of others distract you.  

What’s your International Women’s Day message?
I love this quote from Coco Chanel which is a mantra in our house: “A girl should be two things: Who and what she wants.”

SARAH CANT – TRAFALGAR THEATRE PRODUCTIONS
What does International Women’s Day mean to you?
My daughter was born on International Women’s Day last year! I was thrilled she chose that day to arrive and am loving raising a little, sassy, independent woman of the future!

What gender-specific challenges, stereotypes, or barriers have you had to overcome during your career?
As a new mum I am currently navigating the challenge of coming back to work and finding a way to be a good parent and a good General Manager at the same time! Despite huge progress in shared parental leave, the affects of having a child on women’s careers are still huge and I’m passionate about finding a way that working life can be flexible to accommodate family life whilst still being successful in an industry which works long and antisocial hours.

How has TE helped you to achieve this?/What are the benefits of working for TE?
TE have been so supportive of my career encouraging me to push myself to progress into new roles. Most recently being open to flexible working…it’s early days for me but I hope that this can become a model that can work for others too! I think it’s important to work for a company with women in such key senior roles as TE does, which serves as a great example to the rest of the company.