Name: Ebony Williams
Community/State: Manjimup, Western Australia
School: Manjimup Senior High School
Age/Grade: 17 Years, Year 11
“Life is a roadtrip with twists and turns. How can we support one another to navigate the road to gender equality?”
Slowly, but surely, women are making stride in overcoming the prejudice that has been created against us. We have been seen for years the weaker gender, the gender that needs protection. Whether it be because of what the television needs the sell their show or what companies need for their products, it has happened for as long as the world can remember. It has been known that ‘sex sells’.
We cannot be treated as objects anymore. Did you know that half of women that are in the work force have or will be sexually harassed in the workplace? We also make up just over half of the population in Australia (50.7%) and just under half of the Australian working force as of 2017 (47.2%). So that’s 28.6% of our population being sexually harassed! How is this an acceptable number in a modern-day society?
The recent ‘Me too’ movement, has brought these outstanding, disgusting figures into the public light. The famous women that everyone would look up to reveal that they too have been harmed by this statistic. Men in leadership have been exposed and women have been in the spotlight by having a voice! This is a call to arms. We should have a voice. Speak up when you don’t feel confident or comfortable. You have a voice, use it people! What they are doing to make you feel uncomfortable is illegal and you will have people backing you! Don’t be afraid.
We are stronger than what we are made out to be. If we stick up for ourselves and stick together, we can do anything. We can change this gap in society. We can do it! If we get more women to take a stand against this terrible prejudice against us, we can do it. If we let women take a leadership role, whether it be in parliament, in schools or even in community groups, it gives us a voice. You can take this role. We all can take this role!
We need to be strong together. Back your friends when they want to pursue their dreams. Back them when they go for that leadership role, back them when they want to do something that a man would normally do. Just be there for each other and everything will be the way it should.
We can do it people! Own it.