Be bold, be heard: A year of empowerment

AN INNOVATIVE school program designed to foster confidence in Geelong’s young women and encourage them to speak up at school and within their community has held its final event for the year.

On Tuesday, students from 15 public secondary schools across the Geelong region gathered at GMHBA stadium to celebrate their achievements over the year-long Be Bold Be Heard program.

Divided into four sessions across the year, the program gives participants the opportunity to engage with students from other schools, hear from community leaders and devise a range of actions to instigate transformative change within their classrooms and colleges.

This week’s session provided students with an opportunity to share in the success of these initiatives with racism, homophobia, staff professionalism, gender quality and teaching methodologies key focal points for this year’s Be Bold Be Heard cohort.

Special guest speakers resilience coach Justine Martin, Queenscliff Football Netball Club president Ali Waight and civil engineer Jenny Robertson were also in attendance, and shared insights about their motivations and challenges.

Ms Martin spoke about the persistent hardships she has faced and overcome throughout her life to become the award-winning businesswoman she is today, and urged the young women in the room to keep pushing forward.

“Don’t let anyone ever tell you that you can’t do something because I’m the first person to show that you can,” she said.

Ms Robinson shared how the lack of female representation in her field of work initially kept her from putting her hand up for a management role.

“We can make it happen,” she said.

“We just need the support of the people around us, and we need the faith and determination.”

Meanwhile, Ms Waight touched on her journey to become Queenscliff FNC’s first female president, which saw her topple misconceptions that the position was “not a place for women”.

She noted that gender inequality can come from both men and women and sometimes women are not as supportive of each other as they could be.

“If we can just get behind each other…really support each other and cheer each other and push each other to reach our goals, we would be unstoppable,” Ms Waight said.

“A lot of times, it’s us holding us back.”

She encouraged the young female attendees to find strong and passionate mentors they can call on, and to in turn, strive to play that role for others.

“Be the best teammate that you can be. Be the best friend that you can be. Be the best role model that you can be, whether that’s in sport or at school or any other path in life.”

Led by assistant principal of the middle years at North Geelong Secondary College Brad Headlam, the Be Bold Be Heard program was launched in 2018 with the goal of addressing the gender gap that exists between students.

Mr Headlam said feedback from participating students suggested this gap was continuing to decline and the aim was to continuing expanding the impact of the program throughout the region.