I was staying in a hotel in Melbourne recently, on the 10th floor. I got into the lift in the morning and had obviously picked the all-stations-to-breakfast service, stopping at every floor. A businessman got in at level nine and then another got in at level eight, then another and another until we were nine businessmen and a musician all crammed in and hungry. All I could think was where were the women? The lift looked like a gentlemen’s club.

Women have been on my mind a lot of late with all the allegations of sexual misconduct made both in the US and Australia. Men have only got away with this stuff because the system has allowed them to get away with it, and guess what, they made the system and they run it. A recent Sydney Morning Herald article reported that there are just 11 female CEOs on the ASX 200, and 41 of the nation’s largest companies don’t have a single woman on their executive leadership.

Of the six Australian state symphony orchestras, only two have a female CEO (Sophie Galaise at Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and Emma Dunch who is newly appointed at the Sydney Symphony) and only one has...