Shining a light on International Women's Day

International Women’s Day on 8 March is a time to celebrate the achievements of women, whether social, political, economic or cultural. It’s a day to recognise how far we’ve come towards gender equality and how far we have left to go.

This is also a day when people are encouraged to join voices with others around the world and advocate for equal rights.

At MLC, we provide our students with the opportunities, confidence, resilience, and well-rounded education they need to break the mould, indeed, even break the glass ceiling for themselves and future generations of women. We aim to inspire our students to be citizens the world needs, and an essential component of this is to take up their role as global citizens. Therefore, seeing our students come together to actively celebrate, reflect and inspire others this International Women’s Day is exciting.

One such example is Year 12 student Tess Williams. Inspired by one of the most important civil gender movements in Iran and the Civil protests against the government of Iran associated with the death in police custody of Mahsa Amini over the last six months, she approached MLC Principal Julia Shea with a novel way to show support and raise community awareness. 

Tess was concerned that Iran’s media presence and the publicity of the treatment of women in Iran had begun to lessen as new crises surfaced. She wanted to find practical ways of showing support and helping keep the plight of Iranian women in the limelight.  

Her idea came from following news stories surrounding Iran’s crisis and various acts of support worldwide. 

“One that stood out to me was the Eiffel Tower’s projection of; ‘women, life, freedom’, as well as on museums. This was an effective and unique way to help maintain awareness. I believe MLC is capable of doing the same thing. It’s simple and would have a huge impact on our local community.”

In support of Tess’s vision, Iranian women and women around the world, the statement ‘Woman. Life. Freedom’ will be a light projected onto one of the MLC Buildings on our Kew Campus facing Glenferrie Road. The projection will be visible at night from 7-9 March 2023 to coincide with International Women’s Day.

Tess wants the projection to inspire others to advocate for Iran and use their platforms to spread awareness.

“Students care about these types of situations, and they want to help. They need a guide to show them how they can be both aware and show their support in different ways. It’s important that students understand that through social media, they have the equipment in their back pockets to make a change, regardless of age. We, as girls, should be fighting for women internationally so that we can give them the same opportunities that we have. To make sure Iranian protesters know that we see them, and to make sure they know the world is still standing behind them.”

"I am so proud that MLC is an enabler for change," says Julia Shea, Principal. "This is a learning environment and a safe place where we reinforce to our students whenever possible, as stated by poet Anisa Nandaula: 'An empowered girl can lead the world'."

Please make sure you have a look if driving past Glenferrie Road after sunset!

Tess standing with the projection on Glenferrie Road