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How we can smash Canberra’s bronze ceiling

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In high school, I came to Canberra, our nation’s capital, expecting a beacon of democracy.

While it is easy to be enamoured by the grand statues and architecture commemorating Australia’s great leaders throughout history, there was something missing.

Where was I in this architecture? From what legacy had I come? Where was the heritage of empowered, passionate women in politics I wanted to continue?

It is easy to forgive the young women of this country for not aspiring to political leadership when their groundbreaking, inspiring forebearers are not represented in the sculptures and architecture of Australia’s political heart. How can they imagine themselves as leaders when their unique political history and impact is almost totally invisible?

We cannot be what we cannot see. This is the bronze ceiling we need to challenge.

I visited Melbourne’s Fearless Girl statue with my high school when it was unveiled. Standing beside her, our hands on our hips in her courageous pose, we felt her ambitions, her fearlessness. We felt her power.

This Fearless Girl embodied who we were, our ability to accomplish something great. This is what she represents for all young women. This is the power of a statue.

But only one in ten statues in the ACT depicts a woman. Only a handful of streets bear a woman’s name. The legacy of great male leaders is everywhere, but nowhere is the legacy of those great women who helped build our country.

We are meant to be living in a representative democracy, but our physical landscape is in no way representative of our diverse society. The impact of women and marginalised communities goes unseen and unremembered.

I recently stood next to the new Andrew Inglis Clarke statue (pictured) at Constitution Place, a location that honours our democracy and constitution. While we do not ignore Clarke’s contribution to our democracy and constitution, we must ask, what of the women?

What of Edith Cowan, the first woman to be elected to parliament? She was the embodiment of political equality and equal representation, yet where is her monument?

What of Vida Goldstein, Henrietta Dugdale, Annie Lowe and Jane Barton, who were integral in establishing the societies which were critical in creating the Franchise Act, which led to the amendment that allowed women to vote in federal elections and stand for parliament?

What of Joyce Clague or Gladys Elphick, inspiring Indigenous women who paved the way for the 1967 Referendum which allowed Indigenous Australians to be included in the census, and for federal parliament to make laws relating to Indigenous Australians. The legacy of these women paves the way for the determined, passionate, inspiring women of our present democracy, today’s fearless girls.

These women are the reason I can sit here and comment on politics in the media. Because of them, I can stand for parliament, I can go to a ballot box and cast my vote that has the power to alter our democracy and the future of our nation.

These women are my political heritage, and the heritage of every young girl who need only realise that she too can aspire to the great feats of political leadership.

My organisation, Jasiri Australia, has recently begun the Monumental Women campaign which aims to “smash the bronze ceiling.” In collaboration with Ms Susanne Orr MLA, we want to challenge the status quo and reinvent our landscape by sending a petition through the ACT Legislative Assembly calling on them to commission one statue of a woman by 2023 and name several new streets after women.

We want every young girl to look up at the fearless women before them and embody their power and spirit. We want every young girl to aspire to be leaders capable of being immortalised in bronze. They too can then be commemorated as a statue, can become a monumental woman, who inspires the next generation of monumental women. This is the power of a statue.

So, help us create an enduring legacy of aspirational changemakers by ensuring our nation’s capital is a beacon of democracy. Follow Jasiri Australia’s Facebook page at @jasirorg and sign our petition.

We will be asking everyone to have a say as to the next monumental statue they want to see as one of ACTs new statues, what values they want represented as they tour our capital!

Our architectural landscape is the symbol of our nation, so help us ensure it is representative of all of us, not just some of us.

Feature image: Andrew Ingliss Clarke statute. Credit: Rohan Thomson

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