Want to smash the pay gap? Here’s why it requires collaboration

18/11/2016 0 Comments read Features, Gender, Human Resource

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 18 November 2016 (HRM): Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Director Libby Lyons argues the pay gap is cause for concern – for men and women. “Too often, the phrase gender equality is code for women’s equality, but men have their own challenges in the workplace that we need to address as well,” she says.

Elizabeth (Libby) Lyons has been director of the WGEA for just over a year now, so it’s a good time to take stock, particularly given the recent figures showing the gender pay gap hasn’t altered much and is currently at 16.2 per cent. But Lyons is a pragmatist.

“The pay gap has hovered between 15 and 19 per cent for the past two decades. We need to be realistic; it’s not going to change overnight. My focus is on working with employers to create a sustainable momentum for change,” she says.

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From Kannada rock to Sufi gospel: India puts its soft power on show in Australia

08/11/2016 0 Comments read Arts, Entertainment & Lifestyle, Features

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 08.11.2016 (Scroll.in): Cultural diplomacy is putting a positive spin to the India-Australia bilateral relationship and also enriching the Australian economy.

The first ever Confluence Festival of India in Australia, touted as one of the largest ever foreign cultural festivals to be organised in the continent country, rolled out 25 productions showcased over 70 different events at iconic landmarks across seven cities.

For decades, India’s soft power potential has remained largely untapped, but the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Government has been focusing on raising India’s profile in the international arena through cultural diplomacy. Indian High Commissioner to Australia, Mr Navdeep Suri, strongly believes that “India is a super power when it comes to soft power and Prime Minister Modi has been adroit in recognising the potential of yoga and cultural diplomacy in raising India’s profile around the world”.

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Joining the dots

15/10/2016 2 Comments read Indigenous, Travel

By Neena Bhandari

The colours and lines of Aboriginal art in Australia’s outback take the author back to the deserts of her birthplace in Rajasthan.

Uluru (Australia), 15 October 2016 (The Hindu): In the grainy red sand, Anangu Aboriginal artist Sarah Dalby, 42, glides her fingers to draw a collection of symbols to demonstrate how the Aborigines have been passing knowledge about their land, culture and traditions from one generation to the next. It is a warm spring afternoon in Yulara, the resort town in Australia’s Red Centre desert, and I am in the town square for a 90-minute Maruku Arts dot painting workshop.

Dalby draws concentric circles, linking them with lines to depict a journey from one place to another. She then etches crescent-like shapes, representing men and women squatting on the ground, and envelopes them with more symbols that embody desert flora and fauna. Continue reading →