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2011/05 - More Opportunities to Climb to Top of Ladder

More Opportunities to Climb to Top of Ladder

May 21, 2011

Featured in CareerOne, The Advertsier by Cara Jenkins

Serina Pace, Principal Lawyer of Pace Lawyers and member of TEC, has made her mark in a tough, male dominated industry.

Over 10 years of hard work, determination and peer-support Ms. Pace has gone from a practitioner at a large corporate firm to the principal lawyer of her own firm with a dedicated team of professionals and a significant commercial client base.

While women make up half of Australia's total population, they represent only 12% of management positions in the private sector.

"It seems to me that male domination in law largely stems from the career choices and opportunities available to men and women decades ago. As the statistics show, this trend has been changing and I dare say in another 5-10 years the industry should further approach parity," Serina said.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 58% of women are active in the workforce, 57% of whom are in the public service, 30% are small business owners and 36% in senior executive positions. This trend is expected to continue as more women than men are educated at secondary schools and enter into tertiary studies.

"It can be intimidating stepping into the world on your own, particularly in a world that is still dominated by men. No client has raised my gender as an issue, but people still expect a man to be heading up a team of 10 (and growing) commercial and corporate lawyers," Ms Pace said.

Ms Pace attributes her success to following business strategies not tailored specifically for women, but those followed by the best business leaders, whatever their gender.

"Of course hard work and dedication are a part of success. But there comes a point where you can't do anymore yourself; you need some outside perspective to help you get to the next level," Ms Pace said.

As a member of Australia's leading chief executive organisation, The Executive Connection (TEC), Ms Pace enjoys an advantage in fulfilling her potential.

"TEC membership has allowed me to gain inspiration and support from my peers in similar roles of leadership.

"When I find out a business icon is a TEC member and has been for many years, such as Anthony Paech from Beerenberg, I find it encouraging that everyone, no matter where they are now, needed help to get there, and still uses that support every day."