Lady May served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She held the position of Home Secretary from 2010 to 2016 in the Cameron Government and has been the Member of Parliament for Maidenhead in Berkshire since 1997.

At her first visit to Australia, guests were treated to Lady May’s impassioned speech lauding Australia’s relationship with the United Kingdom, and her ongoing backing of women in politics and business.

Lady May spoke of her visit to the MCG and laying a wreath at the Shrine of Remembrance, evoking the joint historical sacrifices of the UK and Australia and moves to strengthen our ties through the AUKUS agreement and post-Brexit free-trade deals.

“We may be geographically thousands of miles apart but we are two nations who share principles and values in democracy in equality in the rule of law and freedom,” Lady May said.

“We are two nations who need to continue to put forward those values on the world stage.”

As the co-founder of Women2Win, a mentoring and advocacy group founded in 2005 to address the need for more female Conservative women in Parliament and in public life, Lady May champions importance of committing to identifying, training and mentoring female candidates for business and office.

With COVID-19 recovery at the fore, she noted workplace adjustments have led to positives, such as increased flexibility and global communications, but has also seen drawbacks for women, with many forced to pull out of careers while home schooling children throughout the pandemic.

“Flexibility has to be used properly to not have unintended consequences,” Lady May said.

“What nation wouldn’t want to use the talents of the whole of its population?”

Any business, government or political party, if comprised only of homogenous genders, races or educational backgrounds, will struggle to succeed, Lady May added.

“Diversity is a positive in business and politics and leads to better decisions.”

With younger generations increasingly scrutinising company approaches to mental health and culture, a company not invested in diversity will lose out on future talent – and customers.

Subsequently, gender equality will improve outcomes and a business’ bottom line, Lady May emphasised.

However, equality should not be seen as a box-ticking exercise. Roles for women should comprise a “corporate pipeline” into a variety of roles and experience to facilitate leadership capabilities.

Companies here should ask themselves what they can do to encourage women in the workplace, foster leadership aspirations, and not inadvertently discriminate against women, Lady May said.

“A different skillset is not the wrong skillset. It still gets results – or better results.”

With Victorian Chamber President Karyn Sobels’ introductory speech revealing Australia performs poorly in gender diversity relative to comparable nations, Lady May encouraged its political and business leaders to commit to change.

“Why don’t you make it your goal to ensure that Australia is a trailblazer on ensuring there are women in the workplace, women in business and women playing their full role to the benefit of your businesses, society and your economy,” Lady May concluded.