On March 8, people around the world will be celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD).
This year, UN Women Australia has chosen the theme March Forward as its official theme for International Women’s Day 2025. In their announcement, they noted that it is 30 years since the United Nation’s Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action for achieving gender equality:
“Since 1995, women have broken barriers, reshaped policies, and ignited powerful movements worldwide. But despite these advances, millions of women and girls still face systemic inequalities, rising violence, and economic disparities that hold them back from reaching their full potential.” – UN Women Australia
Helen Reddy’s pioneering feminist anthem I Am Woman was released in 1972, the year I was born. In my formative teenage years, and thanks to an inspiring teacher who believed education meant understanding your place in the world, this song was the gateway to my education in feminism and women’s rights.
For the last decade I have worked in the disability sector. I have come to understand the impact of intersectionality of disability and women’s rights on access to basic human rights, employment, equality, and independence.
In Australia, 21.8% of females experience disability, a similar prevalence to males (ABS’ Disability, Ageing and Carers, Australia). When I reflect on what March Forward means to me, my mind turns to some of the women with disability I admire and whose work has delivered change and progress in disability, especially for women.
The Advocate: Naomi Curry
Naomi is the Chair of Community Disability Alliance Hunter (CDAH)
Naomi has been an advocate for people with disability, particularly in relation to their experience in healthcare settings and in self-determination, choice and control in support services. She is a peer mentor at CDAH and leads from the front to empower people with disability to find their own voice and to use it for change. Her interview ahead of the Count Women In @ Count Us In Festival 2023 highlights her advocacy work. She was elected as Chair of CDAH in 2024.
The Leader: Kimberly Lewis
Kimberly is the General Manager of Prelude Australia.
Leading one of the Hunter’s early intervention services, Kimberly brings visibility to the lived experience of disability and the importance of gender equity. Her passionate defence of the opportunity for children and young people, and their families, to have access to early intervention services is critical in a period of uncertainty for the sector.
Kimberley Lewis (source: LinkedIn)
The Emerging Leader: Claire Bertholli
Claire is the Youth Development Officer at Women With Disability Australia (WWDA).
Claire graduated in social sciences, sociology and anthropology, bringing this academic framework to her lived experience of being a wheelchair user with a physical disability, to influence social and community change. She also takes that experience into other forums including in her role as a member of the Youth Committee of the Committee for the Hunter.
The Journalist: Nas Campanella
Nas is currently the ABC’s national disability affairs reporter.
Nas has been a journalist with the ABC since 2011 working as a regional reporter before joining triple j, where she worked for seven years as a newsreader, reporter and senior producer. She now has a national profile as disability affairs reporter and has projects with ABC International Development for people living with disability across the Pacific.
In 2018, Nas established a working group made up of ABC employees who have a lived experience of disability, initially to provide support for the Regional Storyteller Scholarship program. Local woman Catherine Mahony was the 2019 ABC Regional Storyteller Scholarship winner and produced a produced a five-part ABC Radio series called A Fine Line.
The power and determination of Nas Campanella was the title of an ABC Conversations episode in October 2024.
The Friend: Vicki Woods
Vicki is a prominent Hunter businesswoman, civic leader and philanthropist.
Former owner and managing director of multi-award winning Bushrangers Bar & Brasserie, Vicki is a leader in the Hunter hospitality industry, serving as Chair for the Restaurant & Catering Industry Association (RCIA) Newcastle Hunter and Vice President of the State Board of RCIA. She served two terms as Deputy Mayor of Maitland City Council and held a seat on Council for nine years. She has held key roles on numerous boards and committees, is an MS Ambassador, an MS Peer Support worker, a member of the HMRI Ambassador Network and a Director of Elder Abuse Action Australia (EAAA). She is also one of my dearest friends.
Vicki Woods (source: msplus.org.au)
The Colleagues: The Women of Castle
It is impossible to single out the amazing women at Castle who take their lived experience of disability and focus it into our work in NDIS and Disability Employment Services.
During the month of March, our Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn channels will feature female employee, participant and community partners, and celebrate their contribution to inclusion and equality.
Happy International Women’s Day!
On March 8, I celebrate and honour these incredible women for the work they do every day to March Forward. They set the standard for people like you and I to aspire to.