The UN calls gender equality the goal that makes all sixteen other development goals possible. Right now, it's the one under organised attack.
This episode was recorded live in a room full of 100 Women members, some of whom have been here since the very first year in 2014. Alison Terry has spent her career at the intersection of governance, advocacy and action: Chair of UN Women Australia, director on listed and private boards, and co-leader of the Mentor Walks program in Western Australia. She joined 100 Women as a member in 2024, and this conversation is partly about why someone with that many demands on her time and energy chooses collective giving.
Host Alicia Curtis and Alison cover the reality behind gender equity work in 2026: the pushback on language and reproductive rights at this year's Commission on the Status of Women in New York, the immediate on-the-ground cost of foreign aid cuts, and the $5.4 trillion of intergenerational wealth expected to change hands in Australia over the next two decades, much of it decided by women. Alison also shares the early-career moment she has never let go of, when a senior manager quietly crossed her name off a leadership program because she was pregnant.
IN THIS EPISODE
- Why SDG 5 (gender equality) underpins progress on poverty, health, education and climate, with concrete examples from girls' education and climate leadership
- Being the first female manager at Holden to take maternity leave, and getting to write the rules that followed
- The difference between mentors and sponsors, and why women need both
- Co-founding Mentor Walks in Perth in 2019, and why women-for-women walking mentorship works differently
- What actually happened at the 70th Commission on the Status of Women: gender apartheid called out, and the organised pushback on the shared communique
- Why UN Women Australia fundraises for global operations rather than domestic projects, and the safety-net gap that explains it
- The real-world impact of aid cuts on fragile, women-led organisations, and what gets cut first
- Collective giving, the $5.4 trillion wealth transfer, and why giving circles are mostly women
- Male allyship done well: the Bystander and Same Side campaigns, and appointing a man to the UN Women board
GUEST
Alison Terry, Chair of UN Women Australia. She has held senior roles at Fortescue Metals Group and General Motors Holden, sits as a director on numerous listed and private boards, and co-leads the national Mentor Walks program. She joined 100 Women as a member in 2024.
HOST
Alicia Curtis, Co-Founder of 100 Women. Alicia founded 100 Women to support both local and international projects, and here guides a live-audience conversation with long-standing members in the room.
ABOUT 100 WOMEN
100 Women is a national giving community with a global reach. Members across Australia contribute from $300 a year. Together, that becomes $200,000 or more each year, granted directly to grassroots organisations supporting women and girls in health, education, safety, and economic opportunity, here in Australia and around the world. Every member gets a vote on where the money goes. Since 2014, 100 Women has funded 49 projects and gifted more than $1.69 million to women and girls in need.
SUPPORT CONNECT WITH US
We acknowledge that this podcast is recorded on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar in Boorloo (Perth), Western Australia. We pay our respects to Noongar Elders past and present, and acknowledge their continuing connection to land, waters, culture and community. We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have cared for and shared knowledge on this Country for tens of thousands of years, and that these connections remain strong today.Community Kind is produced by Linette Devigan.
Hosted by Alicia Curtis and Karen Brittain.
Filmed and edited by Olivia Spear, Silver Key Films.
Recorded at The Pod @ Kaizen West, Perth.