SCHOOL NEWS
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
On Wednesday 5 March the following students and I attended an International Women’s Day workshop at IBM’s headquarters in Southbank. Please find below reflections by six of the students who attended the event.
Kate Jobson
Head of Years 11 & 12
For me, diversity is not about race or gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation. It is about diversity of thought.
We had walked in on the workshop scheduled before ours, run by a short American man and his myriad of opinions. As the earliest arrivals, thrown into a corporate room filled with well-dressed adults, you can understand that our blue checked dresses turned more than one head. And once the booming voice with its over-enunciated ‘r’s’ had ceased - although to his credit he did have a novel and enlightening perspective on equality in the workplace - we were bombarded by curious women, each with their own advice on how to take the business world by storm.
In their wake came an enormous spread of goodies and discussions that left my head spinning. A unique opportunity whereby I conversed with my fellow young leaders on issues we faced yesterday, we face today, and what we hope to change tomorrow. It was truly inspiring to listen to women from across the city speak on their experiences, their dreams and the legacy they wished to leave behind. Thank you Ms Jobson and the IBM x CIC workshop for allowing me this experience.
Siena Nott, Year 12
On Wednesday 5 March, a group of determined Year 12 girls attended the IBM x Crazy Ideas College International Women's Day leadership workshop. After an early arrival that allowed us to join the back end of a discussion for IBM staff about women and the role they play in businesses, featuring one of the company's co-chairs; we indulged in a delicious spread of morning tea before the workshop began.
Once we sat down to get started, we were encouraged to create a 5-minute slam poem that included an inspirational woman we looked up to, a metaphor and various other phrases to do with leadership, before striking a pose at the end! Following this, each girl wandered around the room and chose two "I'm passionate about..." cards that resonated with them, which surrounded ideas of women and young girls in leadership. We then sat as a group and chose our top three cards before discussing our own experiences, and what we can do to further instil a change to make that card a reality. From this, we narrowed in on ourselves, focusing on which leadership style we each have and what we would like to become, and recognising as a collective a positive female influence and what attributes make her so amazing.
Overall, the workshop provided each of us with deep insight into the issues that whilst we know are present, aren't always addressed, and encouraged us to self-reflect on what we can do to improve leadership in ourselves and further our community.
Kayla Morgan, Year 12
Inspiring. Motivating. Guiding. These are some of the many qualities a leader should have. In celebration of International Women’s Day, I was fortunate enough to attend a leadership workshop run by IBM and Crazy Ideas College. Talking with women who worked at IBM about their experience with leadership highlighted the importance of diversity in leadership, as well as the obstacles that leaders can face during their career.
We learned that leaders aren’t necessarily good public speakers or bold risk takers, and that leadership can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. However, the best leaders are the best learners and will continuously seek to understand the world and people around them. This culminated in the last activity, where we got to explore our own personal leadership styles and how we can be leaders in our day to day lives.
Kate Parrish, Year 12
On Wednesday 5 March, myself along with a small group of girls had the absolute privilege to attend the IBM International Women's Day Leadership Workshop. As our group arrived early, we were given the opportunity to listen in on a Q and A, where they debunked the issues surrounding lack of female representation in corporate CEO positions, but more specifically in industries revolving around technology. I found myself surprisingly resonating with many parts of the dialogue, and whilst the idea of a corporate job doesn’t particularly intrigue me, it was interesting to understand more about the challenges which the industry faces in gaining more female representation.
We were then joined by the other schools for morning tea and the leadership workshop. Throughout the workshop we had the opportunity to debunk issues in society which we were most passionate about and discuss how we thought we would best be able to solve them. For our group, we discussed the importance of women being confident in taking up space and owning their achievements. This was something which we could all resonate with through things such as school grades and sports accomplishments. We felt that gaining this confidence is key in gaining more female representation in leadership. There were many other activities which we took part in such as reflecting on the qualities of inspiring female leaders as well as understanding our own leadership attributes and types.
Overall, the day was a huge success and we all definitely left feeling empowered. Thank you to Ms Jobson for organising such an incredible day!!
Shauna Enwright, Year 12
International Women’s Day is a celebration dedicated to empowering women for their achievements, raising awareness about gender discrimination and promoting gender equality. Most importantly, it encourages women to step out of their stereotype-based domains and pursue whatever interests them. Six McKinnon Year 12 women were thus invited to participate in an IWD leadership workshop run by Creative Ideas College at IBM.
The purpose of this workshop was to explore the meaning of leadership, especially for women around the world. We were implored to consider what made female leaders in our lives so notable, and examine how we can implement their qualities into our everyday leadership, as members of the school community, as daughters, as friends and as classmates. We explored our passions in the fields of leadership and woman empowerment, sharing why we find them important and how we can help actionize them.
It was a wonderful opportunity to exit our comfort zones and speak openly in front of other leaders but also work individually on discovering our leader archetype and what our ideal style of leadership looks like. In addition, we had the ability to network, learn and converse with female leaders from IBM, aspiring leaders from other schools, and inspiring women from CIC.
We were all very grateful to have been able to share this unique and valuable experience with each other, and we left the workshop feeling inspired and more confident in our ability to make a difference.
Afroditi Ioannidou, Year 12
In celebration of the International Women's Day, IBM (a multinational technology company) partnered with Crazy Ideas College to facilitate an interactive workshop for women’s leadership. To break the ice, we were prompted to create a poem highlighting key qualities of a leader, incorporating a powerful woman as an example, and ending with a playful or cheesy action/phrase to finish. While this small activity may not have seemed much at the time, it was the first step to the deep and open conversation that followed.
This wasn’t your typical Leadership 101 workshop - it was a personal exploration of how we, as individuals, could grow into better leaders. It provided a key opportunity for self-reflection, prompting us to evaluate our strengths, acknowledge areas for improvement and consider our impact. The session was guided by personal questions: What am I passionate about? What current problems concern me the most? What can I do to spark change? What type of leader am I?
Unlike workshops I have participated in before, Crazy Ideas College created an environment that fostered organic discussion, rather than information simply being delivered to us. The prompts and activities led to ideas full of gusto that we could share amongst us as student leaders, exchanging perspectives and collaborating on ideas to further develop what leadership as a woman is and can be. Rather than focusing on solving all the world’s problems in one afternoon, the workshop supported us in reflecting on our values, beliefs and ambitions and how these can apply to leadership.
Overall, I was left with a stronger sense of self, enlightened by the diverse ideas explored by both the presenter and fellow students. I am looking forward to applying these insights to different aspects of my life. Happy International Women’s Day.
Susana O’Leary, Year 12