Last week, we celebrated International Women’s Day, a global movement which recognises the achievements of women, and raises awareness about women’s equality. This year was #choose to challenge, asking all of us to call out gender bias, unhelpful stereotypes and discrimination against women. To commemorate this day, we decided to make last week ‘International Women’s Week’, with a range of activities on offer to signify our support for gender equality.

On Friday, during lunch, we hosted the International Women’s Day Talent Show, an opportunity to celebrate the wonderfully talented women we have right here at Sacred Heart. We were overwhelmed with auditions in the lead up to the Talent Show, but narrowed it down to five finalists, who performed on the day. It was amazing to see so many students gathering in the sunshine on our new St Stephens Lawn to watch and support the performers.

Our winner on the day, Sarah Hobbs, performed an original song titled ‘Who am I?’. In the song, Sarah reflects on the disrespect and inequality women experience in their daily lives. Specifically, she explores the consequences of such gender discrimination, where many women are left questioning their value and self worth. Thus, she challenges gender inequality, reflective of the 2021 International Women’s Day theme: ‘Choose to Challenge’.

Overall, this Talent Show was a fantastic opportunity to bring more awareness to the issues facing Sacred Heart students, as women living in today’s society, and also to celebrate the talented members of our school community. We hope to see this even continue into the future!