Young women are pivotal in societies across rural Australia. As inequality and sexism is reduced, and women are becoming the leaders of the agriculture industry, rural women have increasingly more power to bring change to rural Australia. However, despite progress in the past few decades, there are still many issues present in today’s society that rural women face daily, like isolation or lack of internet, childcare and access to proper mental health services. I hope that as a result of the skills that I learn from the Country to Canberra, I can try to find solutions for these and other challenges, and create long-lasting positive changes in the lives of rural women. This chance is one of the things that makes me so excited about the program and its future, as hopefully as a result of it, us rural girls will be able to make our country homes a better place

One of the issues that I feel is important in rural communities is suicide prevention. Suicide is such a confronting issue however as statistics show it must be addressed in rural communities. Unfortunately, I have had experiences with this as one of my closest friends attempted to take her own life recently, and so this is an issue close to my heart. In my experiences, these events can occur due to the strain of drought, urbanisation and the isolation of rural communities. These feelings of being all alone could be prevented easily if the proper support systems are put into place and warning signs are not ignored.
A group of Rural women who are making a difference in mental health awareness are the ‘Do it for Dolly’ founders. ‘Do it for Dolly’ is an organisation started by rural teenage girls and Dolly’s parents, who in their grieving communities, founded a charity in response to the suicide of their best friend/daughter. It focuses on bullying and suicide prevention across the country, but more specifically in country areas. Largely, campaigns for this charity were organised through social media, creating awareness across Australia, that resulted in ‘Do it for Dolly Day’- An event that these women lead across Australia.
These rural women are an example of how courage and leadership can lead to widespread change for the better; how teenage girls with a united voice can make a large impact, in their own ways, in rural communities.

Women, as said by the United Nations, are the invisible backbone of rural communities, and have the power to inspire each other to create change. Another example of this is the ‘Sober in the Country’ charity, that focuses on changing the presumptions about substance abuse in country areas. After almost losing her life to alcohol addiction, Shanna Whan had the resilience and dedication to create this organisation and try to change the rural attitudes towards saying no to alcohol. She shows girls across Australia the power they have to change communities and join together in the modern world using tools like social media and telecommunications.

I am so inspired by these women and others like senator Susan McDonald who continue to strive to make rural Australia a better place, whether this is through the way they bring attention to issues of the outback or how they empower others in hard times like drought, addiction or losing someone you love. They demonstrate to rural women across the country that we have the power to improve our communities if only we have the courage and leadership to wield it.