Name: Imogen McDonald
Community/State: Inverell, New South Wales
School: Inverell High School
Age/Grade: 15 Years, Year 10
“Life is a roadtrip with twists and turns. How can we support one another to navigate the road to gender equality?”
You’re strolling through busy streets on a Saturday morning. Look to your right, there’s an airline advertisement. The pilot is male, the cabin crew members are all female. Nothing surprising? We are confronted with these gender stereotypes every day. We’re mentally digesting them, storing them away as jigsaw pieces that assemble to form larger gender-based stereotypes that we’re all under affected by. If we delve deeper and look into workplaces, we would find that the females are most likely paid 15.3% less than men, and many men are battling mental illnesses and feel they can’t speak up about it because of preconceived ideas that if they did they wouldn’t be ‘manly’. We need to start supporting people in relation to gender equality to push down these pre-conceived ideologies and barriers we’ve created as a society. I believe education and working together is key in supporting each other in relation to gender equality.
I propose we involve members of the community in workshops and talks that would aim to teach everyone, especially young people, the people of our future about gender equality. If we begin to teach this to young people they will grow up already having the skills and knowledge of gender equality and how to support each other. We need to bring a diverse range of people together, people of all genders, as gender isn’t purely defined as female and male, and gender equality is as much of an issue for men as women.
If we are open about these issues, others will follow and feel encouraged and inspired to speak out about gender equality, realise what equality is and that it is their basic, fundamental right and therefore support each other in doing so. Without support, gender equality isn’t achievable, and without education, support isn’t achievable.
If we can light a spark for passion in just a few individuals through workshops and talks, there is no doubt we can learn to support each other on our path to gender equality. It would breed unity, strength and support and create tight bonds between communities (especially rural communities) to support one another.
Growing up in a rural area, gender equality is an extremely prevalent issue that lights a burning passion within me. It can be an even more pushing issue in rural areas as gender-based stereotypes are often amplified here, due to the isolation from mainstream society and a lack of necessary support.
We are already capable of making this change, we just need to help each other in realising it.