Speakers
Tacko Ndiaye - Melbourne International Women's Day Breakfast and Brisbane International Women's Day Breakfast
Tacko Ndiaye is a gender equality advocate working with the Africa Section of UNIFEM. Between 2001 and 2004, Tacko was a staff member of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa where she was involved in the development and piloting of the African Gender and Development Index. Over the years, she has been striving to make long lasting change in the lives of poor and marginalised women.
Thérèse Rein - Brisbane International Women's Day Breakfast and Sydney International Women's Day Breakfast
Between 2001 and 2003, Tacko was a member of the Steering Committee of the International Gender and Trade Network (IGTN), a global network that gathers gender specialists to provide technical information on gender and trade issues to women's groups, non-governmental organisations, social movements and governments. Tacko also worked extensively with the Women in Development Network in Europe (WIDE) which specialises in policy advocacy in trade and development cooperation from a gender perspective.
After starting her own company which aimed to assist people with disabilities return to, or enter the workforce she has been a successful business owner for over twenty years. Her professional success has led her to promote greater self-employment and entrepreneurship amongst women. As wife of the Honorable Kevin Rudd, Prime Minister of Australia, she has drawn attention to a number of issues including child abuse and neglect and maternal mortality. Ms Rein is very committed to achieving gender equality and we are thrilled that she will be joining us for International Women’s Day.
Dr Hamidah Marican - Canberra International Women's Day Lunch and Perth International Women's Day Breakfast
Dr Hamidah Marican has been the Executive Director of the Malaysian organisation, Sisters in Islam (SIS) since July 2009. Prior to joining SIS she worked in a number of International Corporations that included Intel, Shell and BP, working in the areas of Organisational Development and Diversity. Her early involvement with Diversity and Inclusion in Asia has made her a much sought after resource and speaker at many international and local conferences. She champions the development of under-represented groups such as women in the workplace. She was instrumental in setting up Asia Regional Diversity and Inclusion Network. She has been a speaker, facilitator and moderator at a number of women's conferences organised by the Malaysian Women's Ministry, UAE and the United States and has facilitated group discussions at the OIC. She has ben featured as an inspiring woman in many local women's magazines and appears on local TV networks where she participates in dialogues on culture and gender. In the early 1980's she worked part-time with the RTM where she produced and delivered the program "Women's World" where she highlighted news, views and insights on women. On a personal level, she comes from a cross cultural background and was born and raised in Malaysia. She shares a very close relationship with her 17-year-old daughter from whom she continues to learn 'Generation Y Traits'.
Sisters in Islam is based in Malaysia and has been campaigning for two decades to promote the rights of women within the framework of Islam. SIS works on family law at the grassroots level in Malaysia and acts as conveners for a major effort called the Global Movement for Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family or MUSAWAH. The basis of their work is that justice and equality are core Islamic principles and that Muslim laws have been adapted constantly over 1.400 years in response to changing and social and political contexts and therefore in view of the current social context of our lives, there should be on-going law reform. They are currently undertaking a nationwide research on the economic and emotional "cost" of polygamy. At the global level, through MUSAWAH, we will be exploring the impact of "qiwamah" or the concept of guardianship on women and children's lives.
Sally Sara - Adelaide International Women's Day Breakfast
Sally Sara is an award winning foreign correspondent with the ABC. She has reported from more than 30 countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sierra Leone.
At the age of 29, Sally was the first woman to be appointed as the ABC's Africa Correspondent. She spend five years travelling and reporting across the continent. Her first book, GOGO MAMA told the stories of 12 African women. It debuted on the national best seller list and was nominated for best non-fiction book in the Walkley Awards.
In 2007, Sally was awarded the International Women's Media Foundation's Fellowship for human rights journalists. She spent nine months in the United States, undertaking studies and reporting for the Boston Globe and The New York Times.
In 2008, Sally broke to glass ceiling again and was the first woman appointed as the ABC's South Asia Correspondent. She is currently based in the Indian capital, New Delhi.
Sally has won a UN Media Peace Prize, has been names South Australian Young Journalist of the Year, Queensland Journalist of the Year and is a four time finalist in the Walkley Awards.
When she's not reporting, Sally enjoys running. She won a silver medal at the Australian Masters Athletics Championships in 2007. Sally is from Port Broughton on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula and at the age of eight, was the first girl to play for the Port Broughton Football Club.
Sharhnaz Rafi - Townsville International Women's Day Breakfast
UNIFEM Australia Peace Scholar, Sharnaz Rafi, will be travelling to Townsville to speak at the North Queensland IWD Breakfast. Sharnaz has been studying a Masters of Law at the University of Technology for the past eighteen months. Sharnaz hopes to return to Afghanistan and use her Masters of Laws to assist in implementing community projects that target orphans, the education of girls and women economical independence.
