On #IWD2020 I pay homage to the women that have gone before me to fight for my rights as a woman. I make a promise to those women and to the women that come after me to keep fighting for gender equality. I also urge everyone to enact the suffragette’s motto of “Deeds Not Words”. Because an equal world is an enabled world.
Significant Women
On this important day for women and girls, I also honour and pay homage to the “significant” women in my life.
- I start with the woman who changed my life, forever. My wife Rhonda. You’ve helped me be the best version of myself I could be, believed in my crazy idea that I can change the world for women & girls, held me up, picked me up and walked proudly and lovingly beside me for nearly 20 years. You are a woman worth celebrating every single day.
- My mum Veronica who gave me life and taught me about inclusion and equality before they were everyday corporate words.
- My sisters, Helen & Nicole who are f*cking strong women with many characteristics and traits that I continue to admire and aspire to.
- My aunties Sue & Yvonne feisty role models who helped shaped me and my views on the world.
- My beloved Nana, Kath, who taught me that loving, giving, feisty and frank women are the linchpin of families and society and that there is no one size fits all when it comes to feminism.
- My daughter Kelsey, my nieces Kyra, Rachel & Alexandra. You and the women that come after you are the reason I do what I do.
Deeds Not Words
This picture was taken in London recently at the statue of Millicent Garrett Fawcett, 50yr leader of the women’s #suffrage movement. This was part of a walking feminist tour of London where I learned more about the women who fought for my right to vote, and much more. I can only hope to have a fraction of the impact on women and girls that she and the other suffragettes did.
My rallying call to action is to get shit done for gender equality. Because its the modern-day version of the Suffragettes motto “Deeds Not Words” and it is way beyond time for an equal and enabled world.
Michelle’s vision and mission are to help create a gender-equal world where the lives of women and girls in workplaces, sport, politics and society are as valued and respected as boys and men. She does this by providing expert advice, guidance and support to people and organisations in sport and business who are committed to creating gender-balanced and inclusive workplaces. She lives by the motto “Get Shit Done!”
