Malala Yousafzai, Michelle Obama, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Geta Thunberg and Jacinda Ardern are all courageous women famous for driving change not only in their own communities but across the globe. The change these women compelled was in urban environments. Imagine, just imagine what women in rural communities could achieve if they had access to the same resources and opportunities as those in our cities.

Rural women drive change in their communities, however the change they promote is often restricted by their location. Political and government offices located in metropolitan areas are often inaccessible for those in the country. Women who have driven change beyond their communities have been forced to move to the cities in order to carry out their work, often leaving behind their families and ultimately losing connection with their communities.

The courage women have to drive change is not a rarity, it is simply inaccessible and requires sacrifice.

The drive I want to change is to open new opportunities to men and women in rural areas alike. Equal representation across rural and urban communities I believe is just as important as equal representation between men and women in politics. How can the government fight for a community they don’t understand? How can politicians fight for change when they are not aware of the problems? The role of rural women in driving change should be more than to simply raise awareness of these challenges.

Chanceline Kakule, born in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Kakule, 2017) moved to Australia as a refugee when she was 11 and later to Mount Gambier where I attended school with her. Over the years she has promoted change in my community through her organisation E-raced focusing on “minimising racism one story at a time,” (Kakule, 2021). Her advocacy has gained recognition from Heywire, Mount Gambier’s MP, Troy Bell (Bell, 2019) and awarded her as South Australia’s Youth Ambassador Network Representative.

While Chanceline has proven her courage can drive change and overcome obstacles, I can’t help but wonder if there might be more women driving change in our community if Mount Gambier was an urban city.

As a rural woman, the change I want to promote is to increase the representation of male and female politicians in rural communities. As a society we have unlocked new potential when it comes to social networking that allows effective communication online. Moving forward from COVID-19, these distance networking tools should be utilised and put in practice in the political sector. The need for physical presence in political offices is no longer necessary for state level politicians, so why is it a requirement? I believe State and National level politicians can work more effectively in regional Australia, online and from their own homes. To ensure equal representation between urban and rural areas in Australian government, we must have representatives in all communities.