YEAR 11 Swan Hill College student Dekoda Barber is excited to represent her community in Canberra next month after being announced as a winner in the Country to Canberra’s 2024 leadership competition.
Driven and passionate about the representation of women in leadership roles, Ms Barber entered her essay answering the competition’s prompt – You can’t be what you can’t see. How do women and non-binary leaders in your community inspire you to make change?
Ms Barber’s essay touched on the impact of women and non-binary people’s actions in regional communities where there is a strong expectation to uphold gendered norms.
“I didn’t tell anyone I entered the competition, but I’m feeling really grateful to be a winner,” she said.
“I was speaking to a woman and she told me she was very inspired after reading the essay and I was really moved by that.”
Ms Barber will be among 14 other rural women and non-binary winners in the country going on an all expenses paid five-day trip to Canberra to receive leadership training and meet with activists, chief executives and politicians in Parliament House.
She said gendered stereotypes remain prevalent in regional areas like Swan Hill, which she wants to change.
“I feel like there can be a little bit of hostility when women are coming into leadership positions,” she said.
“Even at school some boys would say stuff in PE like girls can’t lead the team.
“And it really frustrates me because girls are equally as equipped with leadership skills, if not more, because of their maternal and feminine instincts allowing them to have those empathy skills.”
Ms Barber who is a school house captain, was previously junior school captain, and has recently been elected to be school captain next year.
She said stepping out of comfort zones can inspire other people around her and create a “ripple effect” of change.
“You don’t have to be this loud voice in a room, but stepping out and making yourself heard, making suggestions and actually raising your hand to jump on board any opportunity you can reach is a great start,” she said.
“The more you start stepping out of your comfort zone, other people will see that, and might think ‘I could do that’ or ‘that could be me running that event, or being president of this club’.”
Miss Barber credits the women in her life for creating their own ripple effects to inspire her, with her essay mentioning Swan Hill College Principal De Rosewarne as a leader she looks up to.
“I have a lot of aunties and they’re very strong women,” she said.
“I’m very lucky that I have a family that is predominantly women.
“In my family, I also have little siblings who I want to be a role model for.”
As she gets ready to tackle her final year of school next year, Ms Barber said she hopes to continue her studies in university after finishing high school.
“I’ve always loved English, and I’m also interested in law, politics and education,” she said.
“But ultimately, I would love to come back and help the community and be a known voice that the community has.”
