On the 7th of March both school captains Shelby Edmonds and Chiara Ferra were fortunate to be a part of the International Women’s Day Breakfast thanks to Ms Knight!

With an early start to the morning, we arrived at the RACV Club to celebrate International Women’s Day with Monash University. The Arts, Law and Business Faculties organised a great event with amazing hosts and inspiring guest speakers.

International Women's Day (March 8) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women. The 2023 theme was #EmbraceEquity, aiming to forge harmony and unity, and to drive success for all.

Our first speaker of the day was the Hon. Harriet Shing, who is a member of the Legislative Council for Victoria. She is the Minister for Water, Regional Development, Commonwealth Games Legacy and Equality. Harriet’s main focus throughout her speech emphasised our need to ‘lean into the conversation’. Here at EMC we celebrate diversity and integrate equality into the foundations of our school community, but we can always do more to integrate equity into our lives. By leaning into the conversation, we can influence the next generation to implement the values we are learning today. For students, that might be having conversations with your friends when comments are made that don’t support a safe and equitable environment. For parents, it might be talking with your child about ways we can be more aware of our influence on our environment. For teachers, it may be implementing classroom standards that ensure all students feel supported in all their endeavours.

There was a striking comment during Harriet’s speech and that was ‘be provocative’. This means that you want to be deliberate when having a conversation and showing strong intent. Women’s equality isn’t a topic that could be improved but a real issue across the globe. Be aware of it and be provocative in your support. Be deliberate with your conversation and be strong with your intent. This isn’t just applicable when discussing hard topics but in everyday life. Whoever you are, be confident in your voice.

Next was Bedi Othow, human resource professional and strong advocate for inclusion within the workplace. Bedi highlighted that we must observe inequity and difference within our environment in order to improve equality. She noted that culture and ethnicity is also a barrier that can sometimes impact individuals in everyday life. Her company DivTal focuses on diverse talent, introducing companies to individuals who hold talent that may not have been recognised due to inequity. Bedi emphasised her commitment to eradicating unconscious bias, encouraging companies and individuals alike to have conscious inclusion. For students, that may be ensuring you are including everyone in your recess activities and not leaving anyone out. For parents, this may be ensuring conversations in the workplace are not held unless all concerned individuals are present, guaranteeing that all aspects of your company or organisation are represented. For teachers, this may mean being aware of students and their individuality, and learning to embrace these differences as something that makes us all unique.

A final note that we found very inspiring was that we shouldn’t focus on breaking the glass ceiling. Whether that be the limitations of gender inequality or the stereotypes of our society, we should focus on creating our own ceiling instead. Each and every one of us has the opportunity to do great things in our own right, and this doesn’t have to be characterised by others, their opinions or longstanding traditions. May you be aware of the imposed ‘glass ceiling’ in order to have conversations about it to support change but do not be restricted by it, do not be afraid of its boundaries. Set your own. Your only limit is the moon and the stars.

Finally we had Kylie Watson-Wheeler speak for us as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of The Walt Disney Company Australia and New Zealand, and the President of the Western Bulldogs. Kylie exposed the relevance of gender equality in our modern society through Disney+’s recent series Fearless. The series explores the induction of the AFLW and what this has meant for women throughout Australia. The AFL Women’s league was only introduced in 2017, highlighting that despite our growth, Australia still has areas prominent with inequity. The series shows the determination of women to compete in a sport they love and the drive they exhibit when fighting for the equal opportunity to be included.

The underlying theme here is that passion and drive are unstoppable. While the AFL was a male only sport, these women made their own ceiling, remained strong and fought for equality. And while, in some respect, it isn’t a value anyone should have to fight for, you cannot underestimate the true power of your own passion. And that is what we felt from Kylie’s speech. Focus on your passions, in your career, in your studies, in your sport or hobby, because where you have drive and determination, you can do incredible things.

It was an experience we both thoroughly enjoyed and we would like to emphasise to all of you that gender equality is something we can all improve. We urge you to recognise inequity, to be aware of our societal norms and lean into conversations when conflict arises. At the end of the day, equality is about ensuring that each and every one of us feel supported, know that we all have the opportunity to achieve, and that we are safe to feel unique in our society.

We wish you all a wonderful day and if you have any questions, talk to your home group teacher. They are always there to support you!

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