Motherhood and leadership are often discussed as separate milestones — yet for many women, they unfold at the same time.
For Medical Sphere’s Founder and CEO, Emily Galea, the past year has meant navigating both: growing a healthcare business while becoming a mother for the first time.
It’s an experience that reflects a broader shift across healthcare and business, where more women are balancing leadership, family, ambition, and purpose in increasingly complex ways.
To understand this experience in a broader context, we explored both Emily’s reflections and the wider data shaping motherhood and leadership in Australia today.
Women, Work and Motherhood: The Landscape Today
The average age of first-time mothers in Australia is now over 32, reflecting shifting career pathways and life planning. At the same time, women continue to form the backbone of healthcare, accounting for nearly 88% of employed nurses in Australia.
Yet leadership representation still tells a different story. Women remain under-represented in both surgery and executive leadership, making up only 16.7% of the active surgical workforce in Australia and New Zealand and around 22% of CEO positions in Australian organisations.
These figures speak to both progress and ongoing disparity- highlighting the resilience, ambition, and evolving role of women across healthcare and business.
Emily’s Perspective:
Like many women, I quickly realised that returning to work after having a child is no longer a distant decision, it’s shaped by cost-of-living pressures, personal goals, identity, and purpose. When I had my son, I didn’t step away from my business but like many women, I also felt that familiar pressure to “do it all.”
Since becoming a mother, several things have shifted in how I lead:
- I’ve become exceptionally intentional with time.
- My boundaries are clearer than ever.
- I value time more deeply, both professionally and personally.
- I trust my instinct more when making decisions.
- My perspective on what truly matters has shifted.
- I prioritise with greater confidence.
- I’ve learnt the importance of slowing down.
Looking Ahead
At Medical Sphere, we are proud to be a female-led and female-founded company. We understand that careers, family, leadership, and ambition rarely follow a straight path, particularly for women.
Our hope is to continue building a workplace where people feel supported to grow professionally while creating lives that feel meaningful outside of work too.
References:
- Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Annual Report 2024/25
- Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2025). Australia’s mothers and babies. AIHW, Australian Government. Retrieved from AIHW
- Workplace Gender Equality Agency (2025). Australia’s Gender Equality Scorecard. Retrieved: WGEA
- Journal of Women in Surgery, 2023. A 10-year review into Australia and New Zealand’s Women in Surgery