For the first time, a new report quantifies the employment and educational impacts of domestic violence on Australian women.

Professor Anne Summers AO’s new report, The Cost of domestic violence to women’s employment and education, quantifies the financial impact on women for the first time.

This report builds on her groundbreaking previous report, The Choice: Violence or Poverty.

Professor Summers presented the grim findings that show the experience of domestic violence is responsible for women’s lower labour force participation rate, and for students dropping out of university without completing their degrees. Both have significant implications for women’s longer-term financial well-being.

In this session, Professor Summers and Jess Hill discussed the implications of these findings for women’s progress towards full equality, and what they mean for our continuing struggle to reduce domestic violence.

This event was hosted by the UTS Business School and Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. Watch a video recording of the event.

Speakers

Anne Summers AO is currently Professor of Domestic and Family Violence at the University of Technology of Sydney Business School. She has been awarded substantial funding by the Paul Ramsay Foundation and UTS to continue her innovative data-based research into domestic violence in Australia. Her report, The Choice: Violence or Poverty (2022), used previously unpublished ABS data to reveal the far greater prevalence of domestic violence than was previously known, and especially the shockingly high incidence among women who have become single mothers as a result. The report influenced the federal government to make changes in the 2023 federal budget to the payment system for single mothers, enabling these mothers to remain on the Parenting Payment until their youngest child reaches the age of 14.

Previously, Anne has advised Prime Ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, run the Office of the Status of Women, been Canberra Bureau Chief for the Australian Financial Review newspaper, been editor-in-chief of America’s leading feminist magazine Ms., editor of Good Weekend, chair of the Board of Greenpeace International and a Trustee of the Powerhouse Museum. She was appointed an officer of the Order of Australia for her services to journalism and to women in 1989; had her image on a postage stamp as an Australian Legend in 2011 and in 2017 was inducted into the Australian Media Hall of Fame.

Jess Hill has become one of Australia's most recognised and respected thinkers on gendered violence. In addition to her broadcast work - two highly acclaimed docuseries on SBS, a Quarterly Essay titled The Reckoning, and a podcast series on coercive control titled The Trap - she has spoken at almost 400 events to diverse audiences across the country. Her work has received multiple awards, including two Walkley Awards, an Amnesty International Award and the Stella Prize in 2020. In 2023, she was named the marie claire Changemaker of the Year and in 2024, she was awarded the NSW Premier’s Woman of Excellence.

Credits

Sound engineering by Alison Zhuang.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by Impact Studios.

Australians must change how we consume goods and services to reduce our environmental impact, but what can businesses do when consumers resist change? How can companies encourage more sustainable behavior while decarbonizing supply chains?

In this episode of Impact Talks at UTS, a panel of experts explores the challenges organizations face in driving this shift.

Speakers

Catherine King is the Chief Strategy Officer at Leo Burnett with over 20 years of advertising experience that focuses on the intersection of brand building, human behaviour, culture and influence. To develop this perspective, Catherine has held leadership positions with creative, consulting, strategic, PR and digital teams across both multinational and independent agencies in partnership with a broad range of brands that include Suncorp, Destination NSW, Diageo, Royal Caribbean, Sony, Microsoft and Nestle. In her role at Leo Burnett, Catherine leads an ongoing research study called "What good is doing good", affectionately known as the "Good Study", which aims to better understand the role that brands should and could play in the areas of public interest, encompassing human, social, environmental and financial impact.

Nicky Sparshott is an experienced CEO, Board Director, and Change Agent with 30 years of global experience working in leading blue-chip organizations such as Unilever, Coca-Cola, and Procter & Gamble. Most recently, she was the Global Chief Transformation at Unilever, designing and deliver value creating change initiatives across the enterprise with a focus on organisational design, performance culture & portfolio optimisation. Prior to this appointment, Nicky was CEO of Unilever Australia & New Zealand and Global CEO of luxury retailer, T2 Tea.

Nicky also serves on a few Boards - Chair of the University of Technology’s Industry Advisory Board; Chair of Global Sisters, Non-Executive Director for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), and NED on Moose Toys Advisory Board. She is known for building competitive advantage in business by being a force for good; simultaneously delivering economic, environmental and social outcomes and in 2022 was awarded CEO of the Year by CEO Magazine for consistent delivery of business outcomes whilst spearheading transformative ESG programs - bringing together profit & purpose.

Siobhan Toohill is a Sustainability advisor having established and led sustainability functions in listed finance and property over the past 20 years. As the first chief sustainability officer at a major Australian bank, she was responsible for Westpac’s sustainability strategy, as well as policy and action on climate change including net zero transition planning, natural capital and human rights. Siobhan has led a wide range of initiatives, including customer vulnerability (including problem gambling), Indigenous engagement, child safeguarding, strategic philanthropy and social impact and is currently a trusted advisor to business and government through a range of governance roles.

John Lydon is Co-Chair of Australian Climate Leaders’ Coalition, a member of the NSW Net Zero and Clean Economy Board, Chair of Generation Australia, and serves as an Industry Professor at the University of Technology, Sydney Business School. Previously he was the Managing Partner of McKinsey Australia & New Zealand, holding several roles across the global Firm. John also served as Economic Commissioner of Greater Cities Commission from 2021-2023.

Professor Martina Linnenluecke is an internationally recognised scholar who conducts research on the strategic and financial implications of corporate adaptation and resilience to global environmental change, with a specific focus on the impacts of climate change. Professor Linnenluecke is the Director of the UTS Centre for Climate Risk and Resilience where she leads an interdisciplinary team of experts undertaking work on climate adaptation and resilience, decarbonisation, sustainable finance, climate analytics, metrics, targets and disclosure, and well as climate policy responses.

Credits

Sound engineering by Alison Zhuang.

Impact Talks at UTS is produced by Impact Studios.