International Women’s Day and my mum

This is my mum and this is what International Women’s Day means to me.

My mum taught me that it was normal for a woman to have a job.

She taught me it was normal for a woman to have a profession.

She taught me it was normal for a woman to run her own business.

She taught me it was normal for a woman to head up a department at a major hospital.

She taught me that women can have their place alongside men, by being a living example of it.

But what I didn’t see was the struggle, prejudice, gender bias, glass ceiling, misogyny and sexism that she had to face every day in her working life.

However, I did see those struggles in her everyday life.

She faced ostracisation, resentment and even anger from men because she was a woman who knew what she wanted.

She was confident, capable, smart, independent and worked hard.

She also loved camping, 4-wheel driving and fishing, one time coming second in a major fishing comp in Broome, which rattled the cages of a few men!

My mum taught me that women could do anything a man can do, to the point where the idea of the woman staying at home doing the domestic duties was alien to me.

My mum taught me that gender shouldn’t define your role in life.

I hope International Women’s Day inspires all young people to be who they want and to take their place in the world.

I long to see a world were women and men can be equal.

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