Name: Stephanie Lunn
Community/State: Moruya Heads, New South Wales
School: Moruya High School
Age/Grade: 16 Years, Year 11
Overcoming the odds – how can we push through barriers to achieve gender equality?
“Overcoming the odds – how can we push through barriers to achieve gender equality?”
At 16 years of age, I am fortunate enough to live in a world where everyone seems to have equal opportunities, regardless of gender. However, the societal norms and gender stereotypes lingering in our society from the past create a pronounced glass ceiling, preventing females from accessing opportunities and excelling. These issues compound, and too often girls believe they can’t do the things there male counterparts can, even though this is far from the truth. While asking people to stop perpetuating gender stereotypes, such as telling their sons they “throw like a girl” and their daughters “boys will be boys”, is a big step in the right direction, it won’t be enough to topple the deep-seated barriers to gender equality. No, I believe that the best way to achieve gender equality is to make incredible female role-models known, and to diversify media representation to help girls realise their full potential.
Having a positive role-model to look up to can change the course of one’s life. For me, the strong, independent witch Hermione Granger, from “Harry Potter”, has inspired me to be studious, and taught me that being a smart female is incredibly empowering. Similarly, the actor who portrays her, Emma Waston, uses her platform to empower women from all backgrounds and ethnicities, working to make the world a better place. These role-models have shown me how much potential I have, but I wouldn’t have known about them if it wasn’t for the media.
The media, in all its forms, has enormous power in its depictions of society. If every newsroom and movie showed only one gender from one race, many viewers wouldn’t see anyone to look up to that is the same as them. For example, the few women who helped coordinate the Apollo moon landing of 1969 didn’t have their achievements publicised, and, even though their stories are incredibly inspiring, little girls watching the moon landing wouldn’t have known of their fellow females who helped make it possible.
Changing a culture takes time, but breaking down the barriers to gender equality starts by not only creating equal opportunities, but, through publicising positive role models and diversifying media representation, by helping everyone realise their full potential.