Each for equal

Sunday March 8th was International women’s day. This year’s theme was “Each for Equal”, meaning that we are each responsible for taking action to make the world gender equal. We can all choose to challenge gender stereotypes and bias that we encounter. A few of our team members chose to celebrate international women’s day by attending a South Eastern Business Network breakfast with 3 inspirational female guest speakers.

The Three speakers

The first speaker was Annabelle Chauncy OAM, an enterprising young woman who was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2015 for fundraising and building schools to teach literacy and vocational skills in Uganda. In 2008, at the age of 21, she and David Everett OAM started their own charity. Now 3 schools have been built with 1000 students enrolled.

Annabelle is the embodiment of each for equal, she has dealt with bureaucracy in a country with known gender discrimination and succeeded. Her quote for the day was “We are all more awesome than we know, we just need to put one foot in front of the other and not give up, giving up isn’t an option”. This was very inspirational for our team. She spoke about using the passion for what you do to inspire others and attract your “tribe” and appreciating the value of service and giving back.

The second speaker at the event was Margo Hartley OAM, recipient of the living treasure award for her contribution to the City of Greater Dandenong. Margo co-founded Hilton Manufacturing in 1976. In 2008 she was inducted into the Victorian Manufacturing Hall of Fame and in 2016 was awarded an OAM. She is actively involved in, and sponsors, local groups and charities in Dandenong.

The third inspiring young woman who spoke at the event was Tanishka Sharma, recipient of the City of Greater Dandenong Australia Day young leader of the year award. Tanishka is an inspiring young leader in the local community. Clearly a young woman planning to make a positive presence in the future.

Everyone’s a winner

The events of the morning were rewarding as well as inspirational, with Fort Knox team member Barb winning the door prize. She won the book “The Game Changers” by Samantha Brett and Steph Adams. Whilst our generous operations manager Julia bought each team there a pink flower, everyone was surprised with a flower at the end of the event.

A gift of dignity

As part of share the dignity month, donations of sanitary products were requested. The team at Fort Knox Self Storage donated 2 large gift bags full of products. These products go to women experiencing homelessness, domestic violence and poverty.

The team members who attended this event had an enlightening experience and got some lessons on how to tackle gender bias. This was truly a wonderful morning showcasing the lives of 3 strong and confident women at 3 very different stages of their lifetime journeys.