Arnold Bloch Leibler hosted clients, colleagues and friends for its annual International Women’s Day event on Thursday 9 March with special guest speaker, Alex Blackwell, in conversation with litigation partner Teresa Ward.
Alex Blackwell is a former captain of the Australian women’s cricket team, commentator and social justice advocate. This year’s event marked a return to an entirely in-person audience after a couple of years of the event being held virtually due to COVID-19.
In her conversation with Teresa, we were reminded by Alex that both men’s and women’s cricket have had long histories and play an important role in setting and modelling community values and expectation. Despite the fact that women cricketers have been ambassadors for Australia since the early 20th century, women’s cricket has not been widely recognised until recently.
Alex provided some insight into how her leadership skills have developed over her career and how to lead with authenticity. Alex shared the importance to her of challenging remarks that may reveal conscious or unconscious bias but in a way that does so with respect, seeking to make the most of an opportunity to educate others rather than create an unproductive conversation. Women in the workplace often encounter difficult situations like this and we were all able to take confidence from how a seasoned advocate like Alex would handle the situation.
Alex also spoke about the challenges she has faced in her career as an Australian cricketer as an LGBTQIA+ person. Alex was the first Australian cricketer to speak publicly about her sexuality and it was inspiring to hear Alex talk about the reasons why this was so important to her and why she continues to be a fierce advocate for the inclusion and celebration of LGBTQIA+ persons, in particular trans women, in cricket. The involvement of trans women in sport is a current topic of debate in the media and Alex’s views on this complex topic, and how she thinks sport can take a leadership role in promoting inclusion, were thought provoking and insightful.
It was a pleasure to have Alex speak at the firm’s International Women’s Day event this year. Thank you to Alex, the ABL’s Women’s Network and all involved in facilitating the event.
