Name: Erin McGuigan
Community/State: Mortlake, Victoria
School: Mortlake college
Age/Grade: 17 Years, Year 12
“Life is a roadtrip with twists and turns. How can we support one another to navigate the road to gender equality?”
I believe I am a woman, capable of power and change. I also believe, that in striving for an academically driven path to achievement, I am utterly hindered by discrimination. I am destined to be standardised in the eyes of those in power to be ‘less than’, as those in power are predominantly male. Males that have been taught to look at me in such a way that disadvantages me in aiming to rise within my generation and change the future of young girls like myself who are currently destined for this judgment.
I believe the key in changing this sadly conventional future is to begin with education. We should be focussing on shaping the mentalities of our future leaders to be free of discrimination and bias. By implementing programs and concepts into our education system, we can influence our entire nation to be more accepting and supportive of each gender equally, and could ultimately break down this cultural barrier completely, resulting in a more progressive, dynamic country.
Equality is about fairness. About equal representation. So to say that women are severely unrepresented in political positions is simply devastating. Women are equally capable, and should be fairly represented in positions of leadership, as these are the role models that young girls look up to in our country. Girls can observe women striving within our government system, reaching a platform to work towards change in our country. Changes that open opportunities for growth and equality, such as working towards closing the wage gap, promoting equal gender representation in the workplace and abolishing discrimination and harassment in education and employment. I believe that the decisions regarding our nation should not be definitively reliant on those representing a gender that forms only half of our country.
By promoting tertiary and employment opportunities that females are unrepresented in, whether this be by working by example, or by making it known within the education system by funding programs and organisations to visit schools, and educate young girls on the need for equal representation of both genders in all fields, we will be forging pathways for other women and girls to follow, and quintessentially, be working towards gender equality.
I believe I am a woman, capable of power and change. I also believe that my country is capable of navigating a pathway to providing me with the opportunities and resources to achieve change, and amount to my greatest potential. To every woman’s greatest potential.