International Women’s Day

Madeline and I were offered the great opportunity to attend the International Women’s Day conference held at the NSW Parliament House. We met inspiring women MPs, community leaders and entrepreneurs who shared detailed stories about their life experiences and provided advice on how to tackle challenges in order to attain our aspirations and achieve our goals.

We heard from three women who worked in a variety of fields, but particularly in male-dominated occupations. Renita Lee: Senior Manager Capital Works Program, Natasha Akib: founder of Digital StoryTellers and Vanessa Harcourt: executive chef at the Parliament House  The speakers emphasised the importance of female-representation in these workforces and talked about their own personal experiences. They inspired us to break stereotypical gender norms and to not be afraid to work in male-dominated workforces such as engineering and construction. Afterwards, we were taken to the Legislative Assembly Chamber and personally, I found it very dry. Once we left, we then went to the Legislative Council Chamber and had the opportunity to sit in the actual chamber and discuss what we had learnt throughout the conference. Overall, it was an amazing experience and I am very thankful for being chosen to represent Fort Street 😀

Chelsea Hoang Year 11