Choosing to challenge

SENIOR STUDENT LUCY MCHUTCHISON’S WELCOME AT THE FIRST FORMAL DINNER OF THE YEAR SET A STIRRING TONE FOR STUDENTS IN 2021. HERE IS AN EXCERPT FROM HER SPEECH.

Women’s College has fostered female advancement by encouraging students to pursue independence, build on their own strengths and loyally support each other. It’s all the little things that add up to making life at Women’s an exciting, vibrant and supportive environment where we can develop and strengthen our identities as young women. It’s hard at our age to know exactly who we are and what we want to achieve in the future. We are so lucky to have a dynamic, encouraging community to help us.

This year, let’s continue to develop a culture at Women’s College that makes every student who walks through the doors feel instantly at home – a culture of inclusivity and diversity. The recent circulation of the petition for schools to provide better education on consent at an earlier stage has been both heartbreaking and illuminating. It’s a powerful example of the way young people are taking action against a wider misogynistic culture in order to create a more optimistic future. In light of this, it’s more important than ever that we facilitate a safe, warm and empowering environment here at Women’s. Let’s inspire each other to be our best selves and build each other up so we can confidently assume positions of leadership in the wider community. Get involved, study hard and enjoy every second. International Women’s Day marks a global celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. It is a call to action for accelerating gender equality and collaboratively forging positive change for women. In 2014 I watched Emma Watson’s UN Women speech and found out what feminism actually is. Seven years later I feel so lucky to be surrounded by women who inspire me every day to be the best feminist I can be. This year, the theme of International Women’s Day is Choose to Challenge. Within our community, we can embody the key values of this theme by forging a positive vision of female achievement and advancement by celebrating each other’s small wins and inspiring talents. Let’s challenge each other to build on our strengths. Let’s choose to challenge gender stereotypes and call out the assumptions that have been established to hinder women. Finally, let’s take action for equality within our own community. We are a household of intelligent, socially aware women who collectively can make a lot of noise – let’s not back away from the challenge of being heard.

I know that together we will contribute to the College’s timeline of female empowerment – by supporting each other, challenging any obstacles that we may come across, and taking action to do the Women’s community proud. And we’re going to have so much fun doing it!

LUCINDA McHUTCHISON Senior Student