AS today is International Women’s Day, PHOEBE DOYLE spoke to some of the leaders in our local schools to get their thoughts on what the day means to them and how they are going to #BreakTheBias.
At Swan Hill Secondary College, school leaders Sophie Kelly, Abbey Delmenico and Sarah Scott think that when it comes to breaking the bias, people need to change their perceptions of traditional gender roles.
Abbey: “I was the only girl in my Year 9 PE class, and it was good being with all the boys, but whenever I got a grade better than them, they always assumed it was another boy and didn’t think it was me.” .
Sophie: “Sometimes boys are sort of more expected to drop out and do an apprenticeship or whatever, whereas if a girl dropped out to do an apprenticeship it would be different, viewed differently.”
Sarah: “We ourselves have sort of progressed to the point where we correct ourselves, like if you think it’s weird that they are dropping out to become a tradie because they are a girl, you sort of correct yourself to think, why shouldn’t they be able to do that?”
For Mary Mackillop College principal Michelle Haeusler, International Women’s Day is about women empowering each other.
“There is too much negativity in the world, so we need to really keep saying all the great things about each other and building each other up,” she said.
Under Ms Haeusler’s guidance, Mary Mackillop College captains Georgia Craig-Neal and Ruby Scott believe International Women’s Day is about recognising women and the different roles they have in society.
“I love being a girl in a leadership role and sort of inspiring younger girls that they can do it too,” Georgia said.
Ruby agreed.
“I want to show people that boys aren’t the ones in charge all the time,” she said.
Ms Haeusler believes it is important for young women in leadership roles to continue to aspire once they finish school.
“We often see, particularly in schools, girls and women are really keen to be in leadership positions, we actually fill leadership positions with a lot more girls than boys,” she said.
“Then once they get into their 20s and 30s, that is when they have to grapple with motherhood and those sorts of things, often those sorts of things can be seen as that’s your job and the leadership part of it has to be put to the side, so I think that it is really important that girls like Ruby and Georgia see that you can still do it.”
For more information on International Women’s Day, visit internationalwomensday.com
