While she insists it is not due to the demands of her family, her hectic life must have played a part in her decision. As Westpac and Coles Myer director, Ms Helen Lynch, said yesterday, one can admire Ms Livingstone's decision in a way, yet feel depressed that Australian women have not gone as far as fast as they believed possible 30 years ago, when Germaine Greer unleashed The Female Eunuch . I'm a firm believer in strategic discontinuities. She took the top job at Cochlear in 1994, a year before it was floated by Pacific Dunlop and at the same time as her youngest child was born. With her departure, the title of the most senior businesswoman in Australia might fall to an American, Ms Colleen Arnold, managing director of IBM Global Services, a joint venture between IBM, Lend Lease and Telstra.
Women see success in broader directions than just their career.
As well, there was a shortage of role models and when it came to boards, women were usually last on.