International Women's Day

To celebrate, acknowledge, and learn from International Women’s Day 2021, we asked the Women of BSE, what does the day mean to them?

To me, IWD is an incredible opportunity to spread awareness about the many barriers women face on a day-to-day basis and to create progressive change to smash the glass ceiling. IWT is a gentle reminder to look on, in awe, at the brilliant, intelligent and enormously capable women that add unparalleled value to my life and be appreciative of how far we’ve come in our strivings for a better balance. However, it is also an opportunity to truly understand how much further we need to progress to create a world that I would be happy for not just my (future) daughters, but for any girls to grow and flourish in. IWT to me, in a word: respect, progression, balance.
— Amelia Fraser, National Strategic Partnerships Coordinator
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It is the one day in the year where we proudly and loudly champion and applaud the women we live with and work with while also inspiring others to join us.
— Siti Mustaffa, Mechanical Engineer
The opportunity of highlighting and showing women’s achievement and value in engineering and construction industries.
— Maggie Xia, Senior Mechanical Engineer
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It’s a day to acknowledge women that promote our rights for equality everyday, determined to give all women a voice to be reckoned with, whether it be women in the highest of career positions to those volunteering their time to improve another’s life. We stand together in strength and stand proud.
— Nicki Fraser, Director, National Finance Manager
A day to acknowledge the contribution of women and a focus (through the theme) for further improvement. It’s a day I find challenging, to celebrate women, while feeling the frustration of there being so far to go to provide unbiased and equal opportunities for women and men to break stereotypes of what their career (even lives) must look like. Hopeful of a inclusive supportive workplaces for everyone.
— Jessica Chesser, National Operations Manager
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We took the opportunity and followed up by asking for their go-to approach to #choosetochallenge and call out gender bias and inequality ?

  • Always act with dignity and tenacity, if others devalue us we should never lower our standards to suit theirs

  • Have a reasonable discussion with someone who has gender bias and argue logically why women are able to achieve the same things as men

  • Accepting that not everyone is going to like you for calling out inequality, and needing to be okay with that; once you've overcome that hurdle, #choosingtochallenge inequality is a lot more seamless

  • Depends on the audience/ context... often gently asking someone to explain why XYZ is appropriate/ funny often prompts them to reflect.

  • A simple, strong 'No' can be helpful as an indicator that a discussion point is final and not a negotiation point

  • A honest, private chat is sometimes useful

  • I prefer to let my work do the talking - I strive to communicate in a professional manner with clients and colleagues and let my engineering design prove my skills and knowledge

You can read more about this years #choosetochallenge theme, and the important work here: https://www.internationalwomensday.com/.