#ChooseToChallenge- Michaela Rees
Every day we make choices, and those decisions will impact our choices for the next day and the next day. This year on International Women’s Day, we are being asked to “Choose to Challenge”.
I have never been concerned about gender equality, having been brought up overseas in a very rural location, all the kids played outdoors and none of us really questioned what were “girls’ toys” or “boys activities”. In fact, it wasn’t until I was 9 years old and was living in the city that I felt peer pressure to get my first Barbie (I was very disappointed when I received this lump of plastic carved into a completely disproportionate female body, which came with equally unrealistic accessories and a dress that my mother certainly wouldn’t let me go out in!)
Luckily, I have a very challenging temperament and decided that I needed a bit more in life. Despite feeling very comfortable with both male and female companions, I chose to pursue single-sex education when I was 13. There was a reason for this. I wanted to be challenged at school. I wanted my teachers to take me seriously when I said that I was going to become a truck driver and get myself a Volvo F12 Globetrotter. I needed to be in an environment where girls and young women were encouraged to be the best they could be. This is true gender equality.
I was still really confused at school when the teachers kept telling us that we had to be strong when we went out in the world. It didn’t make sense to me because I was in this great place that taught me to value MYSELF and I didn’t really appreciate the gender bias that there still is in the world.
After I left school, I just floated along, from one male dominated environment to another. I naturally gravitated towards leadership roles and found myself alongside male management. This didn’t bother me. I wasn’t intimidated at all. So when the University suggested I go on to study a Masters in Computing, I didn’t think twice. I don’t think I even noticed that there were only a handful of girls on the course. I am glad to hear that this is changing as generally women are really good at explaining technical stuff in simple language. This is a skill I really focused on during this time.
Eventually after I had wrung every last drop of fun out of education and faced up to the fact that I would need to be a grown up one day, I got a job in finance. I say “finance” but I actually got a job sorting out the IT systems of an accountancy firm. In a nutshell, I got sucked into the financial side of the business because to be fair…. it’s what I’m good at. (I do still find that my Masters in Computing helps me out a LOT, so wasn’t a complete waste of time!!)
Again, I found myself in one of these male dominated environments and again I didn’t notice. Not until I was expecting my first child and suddenly things changed. I was effectively told that I wouldn’t be able to work as well once I was a mother. I wouldn’t be as committed. I wouldn’t be as flexible. I felt like I was swimming upstream. And so when my daughter was almost a year old I chose to prove them wrong and I set up Sterling Rees Tax & Accountancy. A whole new challenge!
In 2021, we are far more aware of gender bias and we embrace the diversity that our gender brings to the workplace. Gender is not binary and we should embrace the full spectrum and realise that this brings so much colour to our lives, in our home, with our friends, at work.
So today on International Women’s Day, Choose to Challenge all of the thoughts you may have that are placing limitations on how you engage with the world. I am so happy that I am not held back by my gender and I am able to make choices every single day which bring even better choices tomorrow.
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