Wonder WomEn in work. –Leena
In recent years gender and racial inequality has been brought to light due to movements such as: ‘me too’ and the gender pay gap being discussed and covered more wildly allowing for workplace etiquette and opportunities to be re-evaluated.
This has lead to a surge of women being promoted in more sensorial positions like Louise Voden who has recently been appointed head teacher at Nower Hill High School; and also whom I sat down with to discuss gender and racial inequality in regards to job opportunities.
Miss Voden said “I think it’s about time” women have more of a voice and power in the workplace as she, herself is at the “end of [her] career but [her] first ever head ship.” When I followed her up on this Miss Voden explained how women have a strong maternal bond to their children so for a long time women felt as if they should take time off or not go for promotional opportunities due to the lack of time they would have to be a ‘mother.’
Through research one is able to see that ‘leaders’ in movies/ mass media are commonly presented as being masculine or aggressive however Miss Voden challenged this misogynistic view as one “does not have to be masculine or aggressive to be a leader, there are many types of leaders,” and many different ways to do things. However due to these characteristics being associated with ‘leaders’ women have been over looked for senior positions due to the hetero sexual stereotype of women being weak and unable to control their emotions.
“I have had career difficulties as a women.” Miss Voden added that when she was considered for a promotion she was asked whether or not she was going to have a baby or get married soon. A question that no man would ever be asked and yet, it was acceptable at the time, for an employer to ask a female employee that. And even though changes have been made and it is no longer acceptable to make such remarks “ we still have a long way to go.”
Not only was Miss Voden the first female head teacher at Nower Hill High School but she is also the first person of colour (as she is bi-racial) to be headmistress.
Miss Voden has spoken openly about the racism she often faced as a child due to her skin colour and how teachers would look the other way because back then they didn’t really care. But Miss Voden felt it “made [her] resilient” but she did say “I used to wish I was white as a child... but then you grow up and don’t care.”
On a separate occasion Miss Voden talked about how when she was a child she scrubbed at her skin wanting to be white so she wouldn’t have to deal with the bullying and name calling. Although she was able to overcome this and admitted that “as you become older you become more proud of your heritage… from my personal experience anyways.” Which is true in many ways especially as currently in media such as film there is a push for more ethnic diversity; just as there is in the work place.
Nower Hill is a very diverse school and “the staff are becoming more diverse” and it’s wonderful to see how represented the students are in the staff. Miss Voden says it truly is great and allows the student to feel more welcomed.
“We don’t stoop to pick up trash.” Is what Miss Voden’s dad told she explained that although it is tempting to fight back against people who may be being rude or hurting you if you do then it justifies what people are saying and doing and one should “rise above it all.”
Lastly I asked her if she could give a young person that may be struggling with racism (or skin colour) what would you say; “you are beautiful and everyone is beautiful and everyone is different… it’s about who you are not what you look like.” Our skin and gender shouldn’t hold us back from anything our differences should be celebrated and bring us together and not divide us.
-Leena Jenson
