Virginia Bourke is a lawyer and consultant in private practice. She is the Chair of the Board of Mercy Health, a national health and aged care provider employing 10,000 people. She is also Chair of St John Ambulance Victoria and a Director of the Mater Group, Catholic Health Australia, Caritas Australia and St John Ambulance Australia. In July 2022 Virginia will take up an appointment as Pro-Chancellor of Australian Catholic University.
Q : Virginia, thanks for speaking with me about International Women’s Day this year. Could you tell us a little about your journey and how you have come to senior leadership roles in your career? Did you have women role models that assisted you along the way?
A: My career started very conventionally as a lawyer in a Melbourne firm but has certainly not followed a linear path! I have worked in a range of management roles in the private sector. At one stage I returned to study as a mature aged student to follow my passion for English literature, and eventually returned to the law establishing my own legal practice when my three children were young. The work flexibility now readily available to parents was not a feature of my early career and I really shaped my work arrangements around the demands of raising a family.
My current leadership and governance roles had their genesis in the many school and parish committees with which I was involved as my children were growing up. My first board position was with a women’s community service organisation at that time, Wellsprings for Women, which had been founded by an extraordinary Presentation Sister, Sr Ann Halpin pvbm. In the short time that I knew Ann, I was struck by her warmth, her ability to draw people into her work and to galvanise them.
This formative experience of governance was followed with an invitation to join the board of Mercy Health, a wonderful opportunity to join a highly skilled, professional and committed board. In the world of Mercy, there are no shortage of female role models. I have benefitted and learnt so much over the last 14 years from working with Sr Kath Tierney rsm, Sr Helen Monkivitch rsm and Sr Eileen Ann Daffy rsm –visionary women who have provided me with sage advice and great encouragement.
At Mercy Health, I have also been inspired by some extraordinary women such as Professor Sue Walker AO, maternal foetal medicine sub-specialist and Dr Kathy McMahon, paediatrician. Their passion for their clinical work, research and education and their commitment to their patients and colleagues is inspiring to me.
As my governance experience broadened and my professional network deepened, I have been invited to take on other non-executive director roles in the not-for-profit sector. In each role I have forged great lasting friendships with my female peers who remain a constant source of support, advice and encouragement.
In large part my career has been shaped by my philosophy that it’s important to take up opportunities for leadership when they are offered, even if the timing doesn’t appear perfect and especially if the opportunity arises in a field where women have been under-represented.
Q: International Women’s Day is an important day in our calendars, both to celebrate women’s achievements and also to remember for many women in the world that they do not enjoy the rights or equality that we are fortunate to have in Australia. What are your thoughts on empowering women in those situations?
A: Through my role with Caritas Australia, I have come to understand that programs to support women and girls must prioritise subsidiarity with a focus on empowering women at a local level to lead change and to be part of the decision making on issues that affect their lives. It is this approach which will lead to improvement in areas such as nutrition, health and education outcomes and responses to sexual and gender-based violence or early marriage, all factors which, if unaddressed, contribute to poverty and marginalisation.
Q. The theme for this IWD is to #BreakTheBias. What is your response to this theme, are there instances of bias that you see in our society and what do you think we can all do to break the bias?
A: For me, breaking the bias is to continue to seek equality for women. It is a matter of justice, of basic human rights and it’s a basic Christian tenet – treat others as you would wish to be treated yourself.
In politics, government, churches, and media, gender equality still seems so elusive. In some industries, women are still not paid as much as men when they’re doing the same work. It’s staggering to me that there is still so far to go. Gender equality in boardrooms outside the not-for-profit sector is low. ASX 200 boards have hit 30% female representation, but the tier below that is far below 30%.
I think that much can still be done in the workplace. I know from my own experience and from a growing body of research that a gender diverse workforce and Board drives better results in your organisation across all measures. Not just financial measures (a 10% increase in gender diversity gives you a 7% increase in market value) but, for example, in health organisations there will be better patient and resident outcomes and staff engagement.
The value of gender diverse workforces is that they are attractive to employees – you attract more talented workers - and top female candidates prefer gender diverse work environments. They also foster the exchange of diverse ideas fostering more innovation and greater creativity. Gender diverse workforces are more likely to have had some common experiences with their customers or clients and this is increasingly important as we seen a shift in organisational responsiveness to the people we serve.
Just as powerful as these systemic workplace barriers (in fact, probably more powerful) are deeply held beliefs, stories and assumptions which flow through our community. These reflect culturally embedded ideas, often presented as ‘common sense’ yet many long since scientifically and sociologically discounted, about the proper roles of men and women, of mothers and fathers. They rely on binary understandings which position men as strong/powerful and women as weak/subservient – this is turn limits the power and roles of both women and men.
Responding to this more insidious form of bias is important. We can’t be complacent about the power of these stories and assumptions. I think it’s important to be active in calling out misogyny and casual sexism when you see it in the media, in advertising and especially in conversation. I also think it’s imperative that we don’t buy into gender stereotypes about the kind of work we do. It’s really important that jobs in sectors currently dominated by women (such as health and aged care) – are equally open to men. And that unpaid caring work is shared around too.
For me, breaking down stereotypes about who should do the work of caring is the critical thing in advancing the cause of women’s equality. I firmly believe that caring for others is not the biological imperative of women. The burden of caring continues to fall on women disproportionately – men are certainly spending more time on childcare than their fathers did, however, as women have entered the workforce and work more paid hours, their time spend on caring for children has actually increased.
Q: What are your thoughts on women in the Church in 2022? Are you seeing opportunities for women’s leadership that may not have been there in the past?
A: There are certainly more opportunities for women’s leadership in the agencies of the Church (many of which have a long history through female religious congregations of leadership by women and many also have civil governance obligations which foster gender inclusivity.) While there is some improvement in the appointment of women to leadership roles in parishes and dioceses (for example, the role of Chancellor in a diocese is filled by women in some cases), the fact is that the Church remains a male hierarchical organisation. This is a source of great sadness and alienation for many women and men in the Church.
I am hopeful that the upcoming Second Assembly of the Plenary Council will address the issue of women in the Church in a direct manner. There are certainly interesting proposals afoot in relation to women preaching, gender-inclusive governance practices and interest in consideration of a female diaconate. Any steps by the Church in the direction of women’s equality would be a source of hope for many of us.