Maitland Woman of the Year awards 2022 go ahead Saturday

Hosted by the Women's Network Hunter and Member for Maitland, Jenny Aitchison, the awards night will kick off at 6.30pm at the Royal River Inn, Morpeth.

Ms Aitchison, who works with her team to choose the winner of Maitland Woman of the Year, said there were quite a number of nominations this year from people all across the community.

"Some of the nominations were just a shout out to someone who is doing an amazing thing, which was really nice," she said.

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Ms Aitchison said the award is to recognise someone's contribution to the community.

"The local Woman of the Year is a really important award because it's a great opportunity to recognise women in our community who have been contributing to the development of Maitland, and to community services," Ms Aitchison said.

"I think that women do a lot of the hard work in building communities, in making sure community services can operate and in supporting some of the most vulnerable in our community, so I think it's good to actually recognise these women because traditionally that hasn't always happened.

"I think International Women's Day is important because women are achieving in all spheres of life and we don't necessarily recognise that as much as we should, I think that's the big thing.

"The theme for this year is break the bias, and it's about ensuring when we're talking about people doing things we're not unconsciously forgetting about the contribution of over half of the community.

"I think that's the important thing, actually questioning the assumptions that we make, so if we look at jobs for example, do we just have a picture in our mind of what sort of person should be doing what sort of job? Does that limit opportunities for women? it's about asking those questions."

President at the Women's Network Hunter, Nada Vujat, said this year's International Women's Day theme "break the bias" is one of the network's core principals.

"There are areas in Australian society and particularly in our local area where we just see there's not a good balance," Ms Vujat said. "That focus and recognition is something we have to not take our eye off.

"Sometimes I hear from my female compatriots that we think we've made it, but I don't believe that's the case, I don't think you ever do. Life is a journey and there's always things that need attention."

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