BPW works to raise the status of women and encourages women to become well informed and active at local, national and international levels.

Membership in BPW provides opportunities for business and professional women to network, access mentors, develop skillsets and participate in forums to discuss issues of concern with likeminded and diverse women.

BPW is an international organisation that educates and informs women, undertaking research and projects aimed at making a positive difference for women. BPW lobbies governments at all levels including at the United Nations, where it holds Special Category Status, on current and emerging issues of importance to women.

To find out more go to the official WEB Site of BPW Australia and revisit often as more information and services become available:   http://www.bpw.com.au/index.htm

CURRENT PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN BY BPW AUSTRALIA

BPWA FERTILITY PROJECT

In 2006, BPW South Australia received funding under the Office For Women, Women’s Leadership and Development Programme Grants, to conduct a national project focussed on raising women's awareness about how their fertility declines with age.
This project aims to devise a program of public education to ensure that women are fully informed of the lifestyle and age related factors that will impinge on their fertility, allowing them to make informed choices about their fertility and family formation.

For more details go to:  http://www.bpw.com.au/Projects/fertility.htm

S4W

Security4Women (S4W) is one of four National Women's Secretariats funded by the Office for Women, Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA).  

The role of the National Secretariats is to

• Work collaboratively to provide informed and representative advice to government on policy issues, development and implementation relevant to the diverse views and circumstances of women;
• Represent the diverse views of women through consultation with the women's sector, their own constituencies and other groups and organisations relevant to women's concerns;
• Act as a conduit for the exchange information between government and the women's sector;
• Undertake specific policy analysis on individual areas of organisational expertise and concern;
• Undertake and maintain effective governance structures to fulfil the roles and responsibilities of national secretariats

BPW Australia is the lead agent for the Security4Women Secretariat and signs the Contract which currently runs through to 2009. We have a BPW member on the S4W Board, and provide administrative support through our Administrative Office.

The Security4Women secretariat investigates the economic well being of Australian women in order to build knowledge with which we can influence policy and legislation. This aim comes from our belief that long-term economic well being is a high priority for Australian women - it empowers women to make choices and live independently. It enriches all aspects of their lives including education, health, work opportunities, personal safety and security.

S4W engages with Australian women to identify and evaluate the issues they face and establish those of primary importance. The outcomes from our research and surveys contribute to national policy reform relevant to the economic well being for women. In consultation with other stakeholders S4W is working to enhance and improve results for women where need is indicated.

Following the completion of a major research project early in 2004 S4W issued a Summary Paper, "What Women Want" which outlines the results of the national survey and research findings. It identifies the varying factors that enhance or hinder women’s ability to seek or choose pathways to acquire economic sustainability. The "What Women Want" survey results demonstrated that women, irrespective of age, education and socio-economic status, were remarkably consistent in their choices for policy direction. In order, the three most highly preferred economic measures to improve women’s wellbeing were:

• Work arrangements that help balance family and other responsibilities
• Affordable education and training for all ages
• Equality of male and female wages and salaries

S4W built on this research in 2004 with the launch of two concurrent projects; "Lifelong Learning – Work related education and training" and "Women, Saving and Superannuation".

For more details go to:  http://www.bpw.com.au/Projects/s4w.htm

WOMEN ON BOARDS

Women on Boards are the leading online network for women seeking directorships on Australian boards. It evolved from the need for our boards to look like the society they serve, and for women to share equally in decision making in industry, government, education, health, sport and religion. WOB has a network of 3,000 professional women and recently launched a subscription model to enable it to increase its services, widen its already impressive networks and actively promote women onto boards.

For more details go to:  http://www.bpw.com.au/Projects/womenonboards.htm

MENTORING

Mentoring is on our agenda, globally.

An international mentoring taskforce has been formed and in conjunction an Australian taskforce has been formed to ensure that Australian Clubs have assistance to embrace this concept.

Mentoring is clearly a methodology we can engage in as individuals, in Clubs, and that enables us to make a difference.

The Australian taskforce believes strongly in what its membership has to offer – the quality of women who belong to BPW can make a significant difference purely by sharing experience. By sharing, we can grow.

We know and respect Clubs, as their own entities, with their own tremendous capabilities and as a result have provided a package that we believe will stimulate thought and action.

A “Welcome to Mentoring” Package has been provided to each BPW club throughout Australia. This package provides a brief overview of where mentoring fits with BPW, a little background information for you to share with your members and guests, what we believe the expectations are of Clubs, followed by selected material for Clubs to consider.

The main objective is that Clubs start thinking about mentoring and ultimately start their own mentoring programme. The BPW Australia Mentoring Taskforce requests all clubs ensure the feedback form (at end of package) is completed and returned to the Australian taskforce – your feedback is critical for continuous improvement.

For more details go to:  http://www.bpw.com.au/Projects/mentoring.htm

BPW GLOBAL PEACE WILLAGE

Australian Business and Professional Women support the work of BPW Sri Lanka in creating the world's first self-sufficient Global Peace Village for over 150 families from the 500,000 displaced people that daily require feeding and shelter by the Sri Lankan government.

President BPW Sri Lanka, Mrs. Janaki Gunawardena has a vision that this will be the first of many such villages supported by the generosity of BPW. The village in Illukpitiya is on a very fertile plain, with four large derelict reservoirs (tanks). These are to be restored to provide agricultural water.

The overall aim is to provide clean water, homes, a sustainable income and irrigation for families to take them out of poverty forever.150 acres of land is available for a livestock farm and a cow, seedlings and seed has been given to each family. Presently they are housed in makeshift shelters or in refugee camps living from day to day not knowing what the future holds for them in an insecure environment which is the ideal breeding ground for vice and corruption. It is an urgent priority that some action is initiated to move from this dangerous trend and use this precious human resource for the development of the world.

So far 30 houses have been built already each on 40 perches of land that is titled to the recipient family. The village community centre is now built and medical clinics are held there every 3-4 months. Children walk to another village nearby to attend school. In one house was observed a baby, who lay on the floor under a net cover, rather reminiscent of something Australians put over sandwiches to protect from the flies. The house was spotless, the building was 2 roomed, with a bed and 7 big sacks of rice in the corner, the kitchen is under the main roof and lots of pots and pans were hanging out to dry. The house has a garden with vegetables and very small fruit trees, a toilet and a shack were further away. Most of the houses people have been living in are not of this standard. Many did have red brick walls, however most were plant roofs without water or toilets.

For more details go to:  http://www.bpw.com.au/Projects/peacevillage.htm

PROJECT FIVE-O

Project Five-O is concerned with vocational training and other educational projects for women and girls in developing countries and countries in transition). It is a cooperative project undertaken jointly by

• Business and Professional Women International,
• International Council of Women,
• International Federation of University Women,
• Soroptimist International and
• Zonta International.

The purpose of Project Five-O is to use the skills and expertise of the members of the participating organisations to provide training courses in income-generating skills, including employment and working skills, marketing and small business operations, accompanied by training in health, nutrition, hygiene, child care and literacy.

For more details go to:   http://www.bpw.com.au/Projects/project50.htm

YOUNG BPW

Young BPW is a focus group within BPW for women aged 35 years and under. It aims to empower women through mentoring, networking and professional development. Young BPW was established in 1985 and has grown to become a truly international network with hundreds of women around the world.

For more details go to:   http://www.bpw.com.au/YoungBPW/index.htm