International and NSW cricketer Lisa Sthalekar has been appointed to the General Executive of the Australian Cricketer’s Association (ACA), becoming the first woman to take a position in the association’s main governing body. As well as her long-time on-field career, she has been a member of the Women’s Executive for some time and spent the last eight years at Cricket NSW working in game development, including her current role as women’s Youth Programs Manager…

Some of Australia’s leading female technology professionals were acknowledged in the recent iAwards, the national information communication technologies (ICT) industry awards. Information security consultant Jo Stewart-Rattray was named Professional of the Year and strategic advisor Jane Treadwell received the industry’s Woman of the Year honour. Fifty-year technology veteran and women-in-IT pioneer Ann Moffatt was also inducted into the Pearcey Hall of Fame…

Fiona Simpson, an outspoken voice of NSW farmers’ campaign over mining access to agricultural land, became the first female President of the state’s Farmers’ Association in July. She took over the presidency with a winning 232 votes over incumbent Charles Armstrong’s 147 and attributed her win to the members’ appetite for organisational change…

Australian Antarctic expeditioners recently paid tribute to two pioneers (Phil and Nel Law) with a ceremony to inter their ashes at at Mawson Station. Dr Phillip Law was know as ‘Mr Antarctica’ for his numerous expeditions to the region. When his wife Nel visited him at Mawson Station in 1961 she became the first Australian woman to step onto the Antarctic continent – 62 years after Australia’s first man…

Fifteen year old Queenslander Ashleigh Barty is the new Wimbledon Junior Girls Champion, breaking a 31 year drought for Australia’s young tennis players and becoming the first Indigenous Australian to earn the title…

For the first time in its 160 year history, The New York Times has appointed a female Executive Editor. Jill Abramson will take over from incumbent Bill Keller in September. She has been at The TImes since 1997 and has been in its senior ranks since becoming managing editor in 2003 – the first woman to hold that post too…

Australia’s Matildas soccer team won its second Women’s World Cup match in Germany this week defeating Norway 2-1 and putting them into a quarter final match against Sweden….

Gina Rinehart’s $10.3 billion mining fortune has given her top ranking on BRW magazine’s ‘Rich 200′ list – the first time a woman has reached number one or that anyone on the list has breached the $10 billion mark…

Queensland Indigenous law academic Megan Davis is the first Indigenous Australian woman elected to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues being held in May. She is also a member of the Australian Government’s expert panel on the constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians…

Australian politics is one female leader short after Kristina Keneally stepped down from the NSW Labor leadership after the party’s election loss. She was one of four women state Premiers, a Prime Minister, Governor General and two state Governors in office at the time – an historic number of women in such leadership roles…