International Women’s Day continues to be an important point in the year for the industry to come together and reflect on where the gender equity conversation sits now. It’s a moment to take stock of what has shifted, what still needs attention and how those conversations are being carried forward in practical ways across workplaces and leadership.
As keynote speaker at this year’s Drinks Association International Women’s Day Lunch, Zara Seidler brings a perspective grounded in her own experience of navigating those conversations. Through her work, she sits close to the expectations, questions and realities shaping how gender equity is being discussed and understood today.
From access to participation
Zara’s perspective is shaped by working closely with audiences who have historically felt less confident engaging in public discourse, and by seeing what changes when access improves. Confidence grows. Participation grows. And the tone of conversations shifts with it.
“The majority of The Daily Aus audience is under the age of 35,” she explains. “We are speaking to a cohort that not many traditional media companies are. And in the long term that really benefits young women.
“Knowledge is power. It gives them the power to have the hard conversations in their lives that they perhaps hadn’t felt comfortable to have before. Whether it was about politics or the economy or culture or whatever it is, they now have those tools to engage with the world around them.”
That lens is part of what Zara will bring to the International Women’s Day Lunch this year. It moves the conversation beyond surface-level observations and into how people actually engage with the issues being discussed.
What matters about the room
Zara is clear that how these conversations are held matters just as much as what is said. And that starts with who is in the room.
“One thing that I feel very strongly about is that at International Women’s Day events, I want there to be a mixed audience,” she said.
“Women know what the problem is. Women are part of the solution,” she said. “But I think men need to be part of that solution as well.”
That perspective reflects how the conversation is now being approached across industries. Gender equity is no longer a standalone topic – it intersects with leadership, culture and decision-making more broadly. This is the approach that has shaped the work of the Drinks Association Embrace Difference Council in collaborating across industry.
Zara will share more of her perspective at the Drinks Association’s International Women’s Lunch, to be held on Friday, 6 March 2026, at Royal Randwick, Sydney.