From the Principal 

Count Her In  'Invest in women: Accelerate progress”

It is that time of year when our attention turns to the importance of women and the necessity for them to have greater representation in all facets of society.  The 2024 UN theme for International Womens’ Day is ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’.  This theme may cause some to pose the question, why?  Why invest in women? What societal benefit would such an investment have? The investment in girls and young women, typically begins with decisions concerning their primary and secondary education.  Should parents send their daughter to an all-girls or co-educational school.  Whilst this decision chiefly depends on the individual child, research from multiple sources including the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) concludes that wholistically girls perform better in a single-sex or girls-only school environment, noting more positive attitudes and experiences in the areas of motivation, attendance, tertiary aspirations and even an increase in the likelihood of studying STEM courses, than would occur if the  female student attended a co-educational environment.  In addition, graduates from all-girls schools are more confident, have increased engagement in their local community and possess stronger leaderships skills. 

Following the school years, additional investment in women, enhancing their intellect, experience and leadership skills, leads to positive outcomes and progress for broader society.  When appointed to positions of leadership or influence, women characteristically use their impact and any financial gain and share it amongst members of their family and wider community.  This means not only is the individual woman gaining from the investment, so to, are the women and men around them.  It is this ‘pay it forward’ effect that accelerates progress not just for women but for all.  It is also in the corporate and government sectors, when women have the key responsibility of decision making and problem solving, that their strength to lean into a more interpersonal approach, compared with the more task-oriented focus of men, leads to more innovative solutions, increased results, profits and ultimately accelerates progress as described by Associate Professor Winny Shen from York University in Toronto.  

Over the last two weeks I have presented badges to the junior and senior school leaders.  At these assemblies, I challenged these students to think carefully about their contribution and role as a leader.  Posing the question, what does leadership mean for you? What type of leader do you aspire to be? As young women, I encouraged the students to use this leadership opportunity to make positive change. To assist, support and encourage their sisterhood, their school, and the wider community.  What can they do to pay forward the opportunity they have been given and in their own small, but significant way to accelerate progress.  

On this International Women’s Day, not only should we be acknowledging women and their success, but we should also be finding additional ways to invest, encourage, support and develop the female leaders of tomorrow. It is these women who will work to ensure progress is accelerated for all.  

Ms Kylie McCullah

Principal