Presented at the Australian Local Womens Association Conference.

1. Imposter syndrome: Why it afflicts women and what we need to do about it
Marcia Doheny
Director, Legal and Governance
City of Sydney
October 2014

2. What is the imposter syndrome?
A psychological phenomenon in which people are unable to internalize their accomplishments. Despite external evidence of their competence, those with the syndrome remain convinced that they are frauds and do not deserve the success they have achieved.
Proof of success is dismissed as luck, timing, or as a result of deceiving others into thinking they are more intelligent and competent than they believe themselves to be.
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3. Cheryl Sandberg – CEO of Facebook
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“Every time I was called on in class, I was sure I was about to embarrass myself. Every time I took a test, I was sure that it had gone badly. And every time I didn’t embarrass myself – or even excelled - I believed I had fooled everyone yet again. One day the jig would be up”.

4. Gail Kelly – CEO of Westpac
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“It’s been trouble for me all my life, the sense of gosh, I’m not good enough, I’m not adequate. I’m not going to do this well. I might fail, what happens if I fail?”

5. Nova Maree Peris
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"In order to play 100 games, you've first got to play one game. You've got to take the small steps to climb the mountain. I climbed mountains in two different sports. I find in politics, you have to move the mountains that are put in front of you - and that is possible. Stone by stone, you can move a mountain."
“…at the end of the day, I have the ability to pick myself up, dust the dirt off and keep going.”

6. Women in Law
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Percentage of women in Australia practising Law:
•1986 - 17 per cent Australian Institute of Criminology (May 2009) http://www.aic.gov.au/media_library/publications/proceedings/16/anleu.pdf
•2014 - 46 per cent The College of Law (March 2014) http://www.collaw.edu.au/insights/encouraging-gender-diversity-legal-profession/

7. Mount York, Blue Mountains NSW History of men’s achievements
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8. What about women’s achievement?
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9. Starting out
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11. Women in law
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12. Fitting in to the culture
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13. Women in law
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City of Sydney - Legal Services Team

14. Women in law
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15. City of Sydney
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Monica Barone - CEO City of Sydney
Clover Moore - The Lord Mayor of Sydney

16. Women in local government
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•Approximately 200,000 elected members and employees in local government. Around half of all employees are women and yet:
- Women represent less than 30 per cent of councillors and elected members;
- Only 20 per cent of women are employed as senior executives; and
- Only seven per cent of CEOs are women.
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (2014) http://www.dpmc.gov.au/women/priorities/womens_leadership/increasing-leadership.cfm

17. Women in ASX companies
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Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2012)
https://www.wgea.gov.au/lead/2012-australian-census-women-leadership
The 2012 Australian Census of Women in Leadership
•The 2012 Census found that despite an acceleration in the progress for women on the boards of ASX 200 companies, there had been negligible progress for females in executive ranks over the past decade.
•Less than one in 10 executives of ASX 200 (9.7%) and ASX 500 (9.2%) companies are women.
•Only 12 ASX 500 companies had a female CEO.

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Get on with it and don’t underestimate yourselves!

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Take the lead to make our workplaces flexible and supportive!

20. Tips
•How you show up matters
•Work hard
•At least act as though you believe in yourself and never put yourself down
•It’s not your life, it’s just your job – manage your emotions and lighten up!
•Don’t try to reach perfection – it’s not going to happen!
•Smile – be happy!
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21. Mount York, Blue Mountains NSW
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22. Questions
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