Name: Holly Weldon
Community/State: Rosedale, Queensland
School: Rosedale State School
Age/Grade: 16 Years, Year 10
“Life is a roadtrip with twists and turns. How can we support one another to navigate the road to gender equality?”
Society tries to categorise everything, tries to put us all in boxes but humans never do well with restrictions. Women are supposed to be all glitz and glam, while men are all muscle and hard work. Bit by bit, this generation, the future of this world, is steadily breaking free from these ancient stereotypes based on narrow-minded thinking.
Challenging stereotypes can be seen everywhere now, with men more aware of their personal appearance, women in science and stay at home dads. Genders are becoming more equal than ever in such an unforgiving society. For example, the gender pay gap has been a largely debated topic over the years and according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, Australia’s national gender pay gap is 14.6%, which is the lowest it has been in twenty years; it had previously been between 15% and 19%.
As a woman hoping to pursue a career in science, a male dominated field, I am more than grateful for the overwhelming support I receive from my family and teachers. There are countless times I have heard stories of unseen sexism and inequality in science based careers but all of the women courageous enough to come forward are all strong, intelligent and resilient enough to not let it bring them down as they have support from those that matter.
Rallying together and supporting each other is the only way to reach total equality, which can be seen throughout powerful historic events. This is evident in the inspiring story of Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani women’s rights activist.
Malala started blogging about her views on the education of women in Pakistan from a young age and was wholeheartedly supported by her father and the many who shared her views. All that was needed was that initial person, who was brave enough to stand up for what they believed in and a historical moment was born. Even a Taliban ordered hit couldn’t stop Malala. So why should we let gender stereotypes stop us?
In order to support each other on the road to gender equality, we need to be able to accept and encourage everyone to pursue and fight for what it is they love and believe is right. We as a society are already headed in the right direction to equality. Men and women alike, breaking free from stereotypes and navigating the road together, we’ll be there in no time.