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All about Australian Women
All about Australian Women
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This week we meet some of Pakistan’s trail-blazing fashionable female entrepreneurs, a woman with “minus zero” experience in tech who recently launched an online fashion brand, a tale of brave Iranian women who just can’t sit still and why you should man-up and ask why!
1. Building a fashion business in Pakistan
What does it take for a woman to start up a fashion label in Pakistan? A quick look into the background of some of the country’s greatest fashion designers indicates that a wealthy upbringing gives women a pretty big head start. However, five of the countries biggest home-grown fashion labels have female founders, and despite considerable financial and moral support from the upper echelons of society, these women’s achievements are vital to women all over Pakistan. After all, the more women we see running businesses, the more acceptable it will become for others to aspire and work towards similar positions. Check out this write-up on Pakistan’s five great female fashion gurus and find out more about them and how they are making a difference.
2. Techy fashion
Zelfa Olivier is one of the newest names in fashion, having recently established her online fashion brand and e-tailor Zelfa.net. This week Olivier spoke to The Next Woman Business Magazine about the challenges of working with technology for the first time, and how she overcame her insecurities to successfully get her brand off the ground. Read the article for some of her advice on building the confidence to start working with tech, despite claiming to have had “minus zero” knowledge of the industry.
3. Challenging news for female journalists
After Channel 10 suddenly fired Helen Kapalos from their news team in November 2012, Australian women became very aware of the kind of challenges female journalists face, as they get older. Despite such events, aspiring journalists shouldn’t lose hope. A brief look at some of the UK’s premier news networks reveal that many of their foreign correspondents, such as Channel 4’s Lindsey Hilsum, are still going strong and toughing it out without any question of premature retirement. Check out this brief piece on some of these inspirational ladies, and then have a look at how Kapalos’ career has developed since her days at Channel 10.
4. Man-up and ask why
Worried your male colleague might be standing between you and that promotion you’ve been working towards? While studies indicate that gender bias, conscious or unconscious, will mean he is more likely to get that job, attitudes are slowly changing. Studies by Jennifer Whelan, a research fellow at the Melbourne Business School, indicate that while many companies are hoping to promote women to bring more ‘feminine traits’ to the boardroom, the traits they are looking for are unlikely to be expressed in the women they employ. Why? Because women have been proven to perform jobs in much the same way as men do. So next time you miss out to a male colleague, man-up (ha!) and demand to know why. Read up on the facts here.
5. The parkour women of Iran
Iran has been making headlines this week, as their presidential election draws nearer. However, a surprising news article on the country’s female population caught our eye. The bullying culture and street violence women often encounter has inspired a surprisingly large amount of young women to take up parkour, a sport that requires participants to jump across roof tops and scale walls at high speeds. Despite negative responses from state authorities, the women insist that it is their right to use public spaces as they please, and so are fighting for their civil liberties while staying incredibly fit. Read more about it here.
