Women need to be more selfish

The guest speaker at the Soroptimist International Barossa Valley annual International Women’s Day Breakfast, Ms Fiona McIntosh, international best selling author, claims not enough women are being selfish.

Fiona believes that women are putting a lot of effort into their home and work life, but don’t treat themselves as often as they should.

She gave a stirring speech about following her passion as a writer later in her life and was now doing what she loved, which she encouraged all attendees at the event to do.

The SIBV breakfast was held at the Vine Inn Community Hotel, Nuriootpa on March 3.

A 160 women attended the event, including one lucky male attendee, Mr Stephan Knoll MP, Member for Schubert.

The breakfast event was in conjunction with International Women’s Day on March 8.

The SIBV event was the biggest breakfast yet, with many women put on a waiting list to attend.

Jayne Pfeiffer, SIBV president, said she couldn’t be more happy with the feedback from the event and is pleased with the money they raised.

“The breakfast was fantastic. The amount of women that have told me how amazing it was… We have finished on a big high. It’s still going now.”

The proceeds, around $2,500 but still to be finalised, from the event will be split between the Young Carers’ Scholarship and Soroptimist International President’s Appeal 2015-2017 Educate to Lead – Nepal.

The Educate to Lead appeal in Nepal supports four projects with a focus on improving the lives of women and girls through education, empowerment and enabling opportunities.

Meredith Stewart, SIBV member, said, “This [event] is about the empowerment of women and children. If you educate a women, you empower a community.”

Meredith said Fiona was a great option to speak at this year’s event since “her books touch our hearts.”

For the full story see this week’s edition of The Leader.