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Karen Foster has achieved great success in her career, but she says there is a long way to go for society to move past “deeply entrenched” views that women are lesser than men.

The o2 Media owner and Commerce Warrnambool president said gender equality was critical to addressing high levels of family violence, and women were still viewed as “the weaker sex”.

“It may not be overt, but I can tell you from my own experience that it’s there,” Ms Foster said. “During my own career, I have experienced sexist jokes, condescending and patronising remarks, assumptions that women will make the cups of tea or clean up after a meeting.”

She said attitudes were improving, but society still had a long way to reach true equality.

“The intolerable remarks about women that we heard from Donald Trump during his campaign are evidence of just how far we have to go,” Ms Foster said.

Ms Foster said society needed to call out inequality more often and create an environment where women were seen as leaders.

​“There was, and still is, to a degree, an implicit belief that women are either tough and aggressive and not very likeable, or they’re soft and weak and irrelevant,” Ms Foster said.

Wannon Water chair Jacinta Ermacora said the organisation had prioritised gender equality in part after implementing Taking A Stand – a program encouraging businesses to address the attitudes and behaviours that contribute to violence against women.

The organisation has introduced domestic violence leave, created two contact officers for family violence support within the workforce, reviewed how the company interacts with people who might be experiencing domestic violence, introduced flexible working hours and participated in the White Ribbon program.

Ms Ermacora described the efforts as “a start”.

“I would say that we are on the journey together but not yet in any way down the path,” she said.

Ms Ermacora said the organisation would be happy to serve as a model for others, and she hopes times are changing.

“I hope my grandchildren will one day say to me, ‘did there used to be only men playing AFL?’” the former Warrnambool mayor said.

Corangamite Shire mayor Jo Beard said it was positive the council made history this month for having the equal highest number of women councillors in the state.

She said women had earned their places through skill and merit, and it sent a message to young girls that they could achieve anything they aimed for.

“When we are making decisions for the whole of community, it’s important we have the whole of the community represented,” Cr Beard said.