When we become mothers, we can often be surprised at the changes that it creates in our lives and this episode is a great reminder of that. Tania Domett is an all-round legend and champion of mothers. She is an entrepreneur and as well as running Cogo a research agency she founded 10 years ago she is also a co-founder of Project Gender - a feminist innovation studio delivering radical change through insights research, campaigns, and products and services. Project Gender was recently instrumental in getting a National Women’s Health Strategy into legislation and now policy – after hearing from thousands of women across NZ about their challenges accessing healthcare and partnering with health professionals on a massive campaign.

This episode was recorded before the pre-election policy announcements on paid parental leave (I feel like they must have heard our conversation) - bring it on!

In our conversation, Tania shares her story and her experience of becoming a mother as well as solutions to smashing the motherhood penalty.

• How being a late bloomer is a beautiful thing – Tania’s first office job was at age 38. 
• The joining of forces with Angela Mayer to create Project Gender to bring a gender lens to the 2020 election - You Choose 2020. They advocated for a National Women’s Health Strategy and now it is a formal policy. 
• Saying yes to everything. Putting yourself out there. Even if it means hiding in the loos during networking events. 
• How Motherhood is vastly different from Fatherhood. 
• How a feminist can so easily become a 1950’s housewife when you become a mother.  
• Why smashing the system needs part time roles that are seen as leadership roles and men need to be the targets for flexible working. 
• Measuring the right things to close the gender gap – how many men taking flexible roles, how many men taking parental leave, etc
• How on-site childcare and school holiday programmes help you by not hiding your identity as a working parent.
• How Paid Parental Leave for all parents helps to destabilise the gender norm of women as caregivers and men as providers. We are one of 3 countries in the world that do not have paid partner leave. If we had this – we would dismantle barriers right at the beginning of your family. 
• Hope is not a strategy – action is! 

Connect with Emma

This podcast was funded by Works for Everyone, a business based in NZ and operating globally that supports working parents to stay in the leadership pipeline through coaching, workshops, and advocacy.  

Your host, Emma Mclean, is a mother of three teenagers, an Executive Coach and the Founder of Works for Everyone. Following a successful 25-year career in corporate marketing, Emma launched her business in 2019 to put a care wrap around working parents at the hardest time in their career. She is an ACC certified coach with the International Coaching Federation, the recipient of the 2022 Jaguar/Viva She Sets the Pace Community Grant, alumni of the 2021 NZ Leadership Programme, and a Swiftie (a lifelong Taylor Swift fan). 

To work with Emma or enquire about speaking – emma@worksforeveryone.co.nz 

www.worksforeveryone.co.nz

https://www.instagram.com/worksforeveryone/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-mclean-9176217/