Michelle Redfern at the Women In Wool conference.
FEMALE executives in the wool industry having difficulties with conservative male-dominated boards need to initially lean on their network before leaving, according to a leading advocate for women’s advancement.
Michell Redfern told Sheep Central at the 2026 Women in Wool conference in Ballarat that female leaders need to first turn to networks like the WIW with like-minded women to offset any toxicity in their situation.
Ms Redfern said female leaders also have to deal with “the crumb maidens who feed from the table of patriarchy.”
Should these women find male sponsors?
Ms Redfern said the second priority in these situations is to have someone who can help the female leader navigate the dynamics.
“Who is the person with the most positional power that can help me navigate it?
She said in these situations, men have to do most lot of the “heavy lifting” on behalf of their female leaders.
“Because they have power in their gender and power in their position, so they are typically the ones who can advocate most strongly.
“If you or I were standing talking to a board to advocate for Bianca (Heaney) you would be believed more than me,” she said.
“The mindset (toward Michelle) would be she’s just looking after her because she’s in the ‘girls’ club.”
Gender dynamics skills needed
Ms Redfern said navigating difficult leadership dynamics for women might include some coaching “to dial it down or dial it up.”
“But it has got to be someone who is really skilled in gender dynamics,” she said.
“It’s not just a coach, because a lot of coaches don’t know how to coach executive women, because they don’t know what they are going through – they’ve actually got to find their cheer squad.”
This would then involve sharing experiences and strategies, she said, “so they’ve got that camaraderie and tactical support.”
“Then they find that person in positional power to give them that advice about strategically navigating, and honestly, it might be, ‘you know what, you are not going to win this war, find something else,” Ms Redfern said.
“Sometimes you’ve got to say, ‘lose the battle, win the war’, and it might be ‘you know what, it might be difficult, but I reckon I can outstay these old boys’.
Ms Redfern said she is currently coaching a woman to maintain her equilibrium and dua dévouee (dedication) while staying in a difficult position.
“That’s the conversation, how do I maintain my resilience in the face of diversity?
“It’s multi-pronged, that would be my advice.”
Women In Wool founder Bianca Heaney said when she set up Women In Wool she received negative comments that it would be all about women.
“I said no it’s not, I want men to be involved; we’ve got to work together, we’ve got work together for the future of wool.”
Ms Redfern said men need to be in environments where they are in a minority, so they can learn what it feels like and to hear the lived experience of women in the business.
In her conference presentation, Ms Redfern said mentoring has been “done to death” and what is needed are more sponsors of women into leadership roles.
I am not at all sure the issue Ms Redfern is addressing is really a male/female problem. I think the “problem” needs more careful analysis. There could be people of a certain type of personality that find their way to positions of power and then gather other similar types around them, excluding difference. The wool industry is particularly bad, but there have been, and are many females, and men too, who have found a way through all this and made significant contributions.