a ' ou can... see

It is evident that somewhere along the way women are discritninated against, marginalised, constrained, and end up, by and large, occupying lesser roles and lesser positions to their male counterparts.

In this contextyou 1nay say, "Surelywe need to tell those in power that female representation and female aspiration rises whengirls can seewhatcould be."

However, this is problematicofitself. For in the first instanceyoungpeople lookat what people do, notwhichgendertheyare.

Thecapacitytoseebeyond

In seekingto inspire,we needouryoung peopleto see beyond. Which 1neans, seeing pastwhatis currentlythere.

Imagination can beunconstrained. Young girlsandyoungwomenneed to be trained to iinagine. Imaginationis free. Imagination doesnotdepend onhavingthe limitation ofa person showyouwhatyou cando.

Imaginationdoesn'tstop atwhatyoucan see; itsees ft1rther.

Didthe utterlybrilliant Sam Kerrsee won1enkickinggoalsforChelsea asa child? Therewas nocompetitionforher to view.

I suspect,aU thatyoungSam sawwas the footballand thegoal, and had thebeliefthat shecould win matches.

Youcannotbe beyond,ifyoucannotsee beyond. To make anestablishedpattern obsolete,wemustinnovate.Andinnovation createsdiscontinuityforthebenefitofall.

Seeing ourselvesnot others

Tounderstandyoungpeople,step backand recallwhatyousawwhenyouwereyoung. I donotrecallseeingaperson l admiredand saying, 'I can'tbethat'. Itdidnotoccurto me thattherewaslimitationbasedongender, skincolour,religionoranyotherfactorthat canbeusedtodefine,limit,ormarginalise.

The reason for thisis because what we see isourselves, notothers.

Whenyoungchildren are told stories, find heroes, orpicture themselves in their imaginaryworld,theyplace then1selves into the positions theywant totake. This isimportantto reflecton. In the rea11n of imagination, theyfly, theyare heroes, they are popular, they are noticed, they are valued, theyare the best.Theyauton1atically become what theycannotsee.

Ourstartingpointthereforemustbe to free, not to limit.

Ourcommencementistheuniverse,nota dropofwater.

Oursloganmust be, "You can be what youcannotsee."

Ofcourse, thejourneyiseasier whenone is represented,butwemust supportourchildren,especiallyourgirls, whentheyare notrepresented, and tell them thattheyCAN be whatevertheywishto be.

Voracious readers, these Sydney twins have just debuted as authors schoollibrarytoo.

BY TARINIPURI

was outfora walkwhen I saw abee, and 1 immediatelyhada story ideathat I wantedtowrite out," saysZoe Wadekar,author ofthe recentlypublishedchildren'sbook DineytheBee.

Shegoes on toconfidently narratethe synopsisofthe story withoutgivingaway the plot.

Diney was a funlovinganda curiousbee. Onedayshefoundson1ethinginteresting thatchangedherLife. Wonder what itwas Sheadds,"Mybookhas23 pages, andit took me a fewdays towritethe story."

Zoe hopesherimaginarycharacterscan teachreaders importa11tlifelessons.

TwinZara Wadekar,waitingpatientlyfor herturn,chipsinabout herownbook The CrystalBall, about agfrlLizzywho n1ust decidewhatto dowhenshe findsa n1agical sphere - she wantsto keepit,but should she?Thebookis intendedtobringjoyto thereaders.

"Icameupwith thestoryideamyself," she elaborates. "Thecharacterisco1upletely differentfromme. I readalotofbooks myself, andI havealotofthemathome."

Atan agewhenmostchildren arestill discoveringtheirloveforbooks,it'shardto believe thattwinsZoe andZara Wadekar - allof sevenyears-areboth authorswho havetheirillustratedbookssellingnowon e-commercegiantAmazonAustralia.

"Ifeltveryproudtofinallyholdmybook inmyhands,"declaresZara. "It'sgotmy pictureonthebackcover."

She added,"Ourschoolfriends werevery shocked,but theyarehappyforus,aswas ou1·schoolprincipal."

Proudparents Gauravand Kanchan Wadekarsay the books were a natural progression forthegirls, given their voraciousreadingandlovefor storytelling.

"Thegirls havebeen writingstoriesfor aslongas 1 canremember," Gaurav shares. "Theywouldwrite onbitsofpaper,and then wouldaskmetogluethemso that they couldhold themtogetherLikethebooks theyreadin the schoolLibrary.This time, weasked themtoselect oneof theirstories each, andwiththe helpofan illustratorwe foundonline, thought tobringthen1 to Life."

"Story-tellingseemstocomenaturally toboth thegirls," Mum Kanchan says. "Theyn1akeupstoriesas theygo along, especiallyatbedtime. Interestingly,both have theirownunique styles ofwriting,and don'tappreciateopinionfromothersfor theirstories.WhileZoe isveryn1ethodical inherwork, Zara scores higherin terms of imagination.Theirloveforreadinghas also translatedinto agoodperformance in school,especiallyinspelling. 1 enjoy reading theirstoriesmyself- theymayseemvery simple,but theyusuallyhave anunderlying messageaboutkindnessorabout selfconfidence."

ZoeandZaraparticularlyenjoystories withrich imagination,andhave loved readingthe HarryPotter series,andstories bytheEnglishwriterJuliaDonaldson. Besidesreading,thegirlsalsoenjoyplaying with their dolls,singing,swimming, and gymnastics.

Thecreativelyinclinedgirls also recently foundthemselveson television,performing asopeningacton Channel9's Christmas With Delta Goodrem.