Representing women worldwide

NATIONAL Council of Jewish Women of Australia (NCJWA) stalwart Robyn Lenn has this month been installed as the first Australian president of the International Council of Jewish Women (ICJW) at the organisation’s Quadrennial Convention in Prague.

Lenn, from Sydney, has been involved in the NCJWA in NSW and nationally for four decades, including a stint as national president from 2003-2007. She has been involved in the ICJW for more than two decades.

Speaking to The AJN this week, Lenn said she was “quite taken aback” on learning some 18 months ago that she had been put forward for the top role.

She seeks to continue the ICJW’s longstanding commitment to gender equality, improving women’s rights, and enabling empowerment for all women – not only Jewish women – around the world.

She singled out the priority of preventing gett (divorce document) refusal, and helping agunot (chained wives) – something both the NCJWA and the ICJW have been strongly focusing on in recent years.

Moreover, she plans to increase the organisation’s emphasis on the portrayal of women in the media.

“Within the work on women and gender balance, we’re really going to have a big push on work against sexual objectification of women,” she explained, noting that this will include everything from prints on clothing to images in magazines.

Over the course of her four-year term as president, Lenn will travel overseas to attend various events, and executive meetings, and to meet with ICJW affiliates all over the world.

She enthused that the NCJWA has traditionally worked closely with the ICJW. “We’ve been very closely associated with International Council for many years, including from the time of our founder [Dr Fanny Reading], who was the vice-president of International Council back in 1949,” Lenn said.

Although Lenn is the first Australian president, since that point, a number of members of the NCJWA have taken on roles in the ICJW simultaneously.

Eight women comprised the Australian delegation at the recent convention, which included a tour of Jewish Prague and a trip to Theresienstadt.

Lenn, who works as a piano examiner for the Australian Music Examination Board, said she is looking forward to fulfilling her new role. “I see women as important co-contributors to every aspect of the modern world, and in particular to building better relationships between Jewish and non-Jewish organisations and communities.”

PHOEBE ROTH

Robyn Lenn (fourth from right) with the Australian delegation to the ICJW convention.