As the world celebrates International Women’s Day, Tasmania’s energy businesses are uniting to empower women struggling with unemployment and financial security.

TasNetworks, Aurora Energy and Hydro Tasmania are all backing the Empower Hour initiative of Dress for Success (nothing like a little friendly competition for a great cause), and collectively have already raised over $4000.

Dress for Success is an international organisation operating in 25 countries and opened its Hobart boutique in 2019. Dress for Success empowers women by providing a network of support, professional clothing and the development tools to help women thrive in work and life. They have supported more than 250 women in Tasmania to achieve employment and financial independence. 

The Empower Hour campaign is a pay-it-forwards fundraiser where you can donate an hour of your pay to go directly to helping Tassie women gain employment and financial stability.

Dress for Success CEO, Amanda French, said that funds raised in Tasmania would go directly into service delivery to access the suite of programs that they offer.

“Dress for Success services are about much more than simply a new outfit or resume. Our purpose is to offer long-lasting solutions to enable women to break down the barriers to achieve success.

"Women have been most impacted by unemployment as a result of the global pandemic, due to their representation in lower paid roles in the tourism, hospitality and retail sectors."

“We make a significant contribution to building resilience in families and communities. The true impact of our services can be found in the increased capacity and self-sufficiency of our clients,” Amanda said.

Hydro Tasmania Executive General Manager, People, Culture and Engagement, Ruth Groom, said that it was so important to accelerate change and give women the opportunity to succeed.

“Dress for Success is such an inspiring initiative that supports women to achieve and thrive. Hydro Tasmania is proud to back Empower Hour and we’ll be matching all employee donations up to $10,000,” Ruth said.

Aurora CEO Rebecca Kardos agreed saying, “We think that there’s no better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than to empower a Tasmanian woman on her path to financial independence.”

“That’s why Aurora is getting behind this campaign to support Tassie women in making this transition.”

TasNetworks’ General Manager – People, Culture and Community, Renee Anderson, reflected that IWD is our chance to celebrate and reflect on our commitment to better represent women in all areas of our business. 

“It reminds us that having women ‘at the table’ is important, but creating the systems and structures for women to genuinely have a voice and input into decisions is even more powerful. 

“For me, it’s about removing barriers so that girls and women of all ages can do whatever job they want, in whatever industry they want.”

The Empower Hour campaign runs through March and donations can be made here.

Ends.