ReNest – Journey to a Patriarchy Free Future

The Hen House Co-op is an Australian association that empowers female entrepreneurs and with that educates them to use their power in a world of patriarchy.

“When the Hen House was about two years old, we really started getting serious about what we wanted to do to shift the conditions for female founders, so we can close the gender and investment gap,” says Hen House founder Moira Were AM.

After intense and serious conversations at a board level, the decision was made to look deeply into a way to divest from patriarchy similarly to previously successful campaigns divesting from fossil fuels, tobacco and coals. As a result of that and a codesign process involving around 25 members, divestment club (named ReNest) was started, similar to the old-school investment clubs. 

The divestment club events, available initially to members of the Hen House but accessible to everyone via online or in-person events, dive deep into the conversation of issues such as superannuation gap, wage gap, investments, housing and finance and aim to support attendees with their financial literacy and understanding of where their money actually goes.

Hen House board member Nataliya Sard said, “We started the ReNest project on the back of unacceptable realities, such as less than 4% of Venture Capital going to female founders; women making up just over a third of all Australia Business operators; and yet companies that appointed female CEOs, increased their market value by 5%. It is our mission to change that around!”

The very first ReNest launch event took place just recently at Sparkke at the Whitmore and delved into the mysteries and unknowns of superannuation and retirement. Many women have superannuation funds but don’t actually know where the money goes, what the fees are and that they have multiple funds.

Moira says, “we discovered that the average Australian woman ends up with 47% less superannuation to retire on than the average Australian male and that is just mind-blowing.”

The Hen House partnered with Super Fierce, a fin tech that delivers long-term superannuation savings for women and their partners, to share their insights on creating independent wealth, educating our women and kids to have a financial plan and supporting female-run businesses. Super Fierce founder and CEO Trenna Probert shared that, “powering up a really fierce financial future for yourself and others doesn’t need to be as hard as you think it is.”

While this partnership between Super Fierce and the Hen House helps their members and event attendees to gain more literacy and knowledge in wealth-building, 10% of commission of everyone signing up with Super Fierce goes back to the Hen House and $100 go towards the GoGo Foundation that support women in their inclusive work program.

“There was an instant and sheer a-ha factor with attendees at the first event,” says Moira Were AM. “We sparked a curiosity and playfulness that people now want to explore and the Hen House is looking forward to more campaigns in the next year.”

The Hen House Co-op have stated this will be the first of many events and campaigns to start educating Australian women and men to invest and divest into a future both want, where there is gender equality, gender equity, the end of patriarchy and a much more productive non-colonial future.

“At our next ReNest event we will discuss the topic of investments, more specifically how we can allocate our investment capital in support of female-led businesses as our individual contribution to close the gender investment gap,” board member Nataliya Sard shared recently. 

Join the Hen House and become part of this campaign, divesting into a new future together and empowering female founders as a team. Watch the recording of the first ReNest event here and join as a member today on this link.