FEMALE INSPIRATION

It was interesting to see all the media yesterday focus on International Women's Day. There were the accolades to women who deserve them ( Princess Diana, Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson etc )  and reading these accolades led to a very interesting discussion with my husband.

My husband is one of seven but is the only boy. He has grown up surrounded by women and is the father of two daughters himself. I was interested in which women he finds inspirational and I have to say his answers impressed me as they were not whom I thought he would choose.

His choices:

1. MalalaYousafzai- a Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest-ever Nobel Prize laureate. 
2. Julie Bishop -  Australian minister for foreign affairs



Dr Fiona Wood

3. Fiona Wood - Plastic surgeon specialising in burns victims 

This conversation obviously got me thinking about the women who had left a lasting impact on my life. I came up with a totally different list.

1. A nun at my school in Malta (name long forgotten) who taught my class about the importance of helping others and who made a big deal of us when my friends and I raised a tiny amount of money for a local orphanage. We would have been about seven and she brought the local priest in to compliment us.
2. A girl at the first school I attended in Sydney who sniggered at my intelligent answer to a teacher's question and fired in me a desire to do well always. She thought I was a dumb migrant. I thought she was dumb full stop.
3. My first piano teacher, a lady by the name of Pam Veary, who taught me to appreciate music.
4. My maths and Italian teachers at school - Jocelyn Quirke and Marina Chenaux - who also taught me to strive high and to " do as they said and not necessarily as they did".
5. My final teaching practicum supervisor Ms Hardacre who told me I would be a good teacher but not to burn out. ( she must have had a magic ball).

But there are other images that come to mind which remind me of the reality that my life is indeed one of privilege and one which requires service to others.

1. The women who worked in a carpet factory I visited in Tunisia . One caught my eye and smiled and when her supervisor wasn't watching I handed her some money. I have never seen money disappear down someone's shirt front so quickly.
2. A young 12 year old girl I met in Bali in 2010 who  melted my heart. She studied hard in the mornings and helped her parents selling postcards in the afternoon. I wish I had the ability to find her again.
3. Nina, a Balinese beauty therapist who despite her simple life, still reaches out and gives what she can to a young mother less girl in her village.
4. The homeless girl in Perth city. She looks like she's on drugs but she was also hungry and I cant stand seeing hungry kids. I bought her breakfast and she devoured it. Why do we have this problem in Perth?Why are our kids hungry?
5. +Ernie Dingo's mother who visited my classroom many years ago. She was one of the most mesmerising women I have ever met and she had my rowdy bunch of indigenous girls under control with one look. Moral of the story - family and keeping tabs on each other.

So, there you have it. That's my take on International women's day.  While we may give accolades to people who rightly deserve them, its important to remember there is so much more to be done in this world, where women are concerned.

Till next time...xxx

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