IWD lunch celebrates strong women, scholarship winners
Eight International Women's Day scholarships were awarded, with Jana Pittman the inspiring guest speaker at the 21st Illawarra IWD lunch at Wollongong Entertainment Centre
“This event is not just a lunch, it is a movement.”
The chairperson of International Women’s Day Illawarra, Vicki Tiegs, gave a passionate rally cry, addressing the 970 who attended the 21st annual lunch at the Wollongong Entertainment Centre on Friday.
Vicki praised the strong women who have made and continue to make their mark in this region. “God knows the Illawarra has always punched above its weight,” she said.
With the 2026 International Women’s Day theme, ‘Balancing the Scales’, Vicki said it was both timely and confronting.
“It challenges us to look honestly at where power, opportunity and resources still sit, and where they do not. While progress has been made, equality remains uneven, fragile and far too slow. The scales are still tipped.”
Vicki said while IWD is a time for celebration, it is also a call to action.
“It is a reminder that progress does not happen by default. It happens when people show up, speak up, and back it with resources, influence and resolve.“
Vicki told the big crowd it was impossible in such dark times globally to ignore what’s happening. “Conflict disproportionately impacts women and children.
“Women are negotiating pregnancy without medical care, girls are losing access to education, and the social fabric which affects family life is being torn apart.
“While we are fortunate to be able to gather here safely in the Illawarra, our responsibility doesn’t stop at our shoreline.”
In an afternoon chock full of highlights, eight IWD Scholarships were awarded to women from a range of fields to support their work and help further their personal, professional and community aspirations.
This year’s winners were: Lynelle Johnson, social innovator and founder of EClass Outboards; social justice lawyer Claudia Robinson; elite Australian skateboarder Felicity Turner; teacher and arts advocate Isabelle Tannous; First Nations cultural educator, Laylah Thomas-Moylan; cancer researcher Ashna Kumar; science student Bianca Tasevski; and artist Rachael Young.
There was a special musical performance by the Arcadians Theatre Group, who gave a sneak preview of their newest show, Well-behaved Women.
Jana Pittman shared her journey
The event's special guest speaker, former Olympian Jana Pittman, shared her roller-coaster life which has taken her from the highs of winning world titles in the 400m hurdles to the massive disappointments she suffered at three Olympic Games.
Jana spoke of her special bond with Olympic icon Cathy Freeman, “an extraordinarily beautiful mentor", and the injuries which ended her gold medal Olympic dreams in Athens, Beijing and London.
After all the highs and lows of being an elite Australian athlete, Jana said she has found a job she loves – working in women’s health. This has partly come about through her own personal experiences: six children, four miscarriages and suffering cervical cancer.
Overcoming your fear
Her strong IWD message was about the need to show resilience and to overcome fear. Jana shared stories of her fear when competing on the track and, later in life, her fear when sitting her medical exams.
Jana failed at the first attempt but with her mother's not so gentle encouragement, she got through and went on to win the University Medal in Medicine.
“There’s never a time in life that you can’t change the way you look at fear,” Jana said. “I’m not asking you on International Women’s Day to change yourself. I’m asking you to be brave. Don’t be blocked by fear.”
Jana said she was now in her happy place. “Last week I birthed 11 babies. To date, I’ve delivered 307 little babies.”
She recalled “the hardest day of my life”.
She had helped deliver twins, two beautiful baby boys. They both seemed to be healthy and doing well, But a couple of days after the birth, one of the boys passed away. Jana was mortified, questioning if there was something she had done wrong.
Jana said the scariest thing she’s ever done was meet the grieving mother, not knowing how she would react.
She was so relieved when the mother, recognising how the loss had impacted Jana, responded by saying, “Thank you for giving me a couple of days with my son.”
Jana Pittman completed a Masters of Reproductive Medicine in 2020 and has initiated her PhD in Obstetrics, focusing on aspects of uterus transplantation. She is also an Ambassador for the Australian Cervical Cancer Foundation.
