4 Women At The Helms Of 2 Rudders

Yes, it's a milestone moment for the WANats, a very significant milestone.

Mia Davies & Jacqui Boydell at the helm of the National WA Parliamentary Team and now with Heather York & Siobhan Blake at the helm of the Young Nationals.

No one should underplay or dismiss this as being anything less than a milestone moment on the political landscape. IT IS A BIG DEAL. But then WA has had more than its fair share of firsts. Women have played a big role in the Nationals with some very notable ladies being highly regarded party elders over the decades and there's a number of brilliant contributors to the National's working and cultural fabric who work at delegate and branch level.

Its true we do live in an age where arrogance & narcissism are used as forms of confidence drivers to propel the individual to success. Its these forms of ruthlessness that are common among some high achievers. Its the age of Kadashian effect where effectiveness and actual contribution comes a poor second in the race for the prize. And its this sad effect in modern society that pushes some people, with great velocity towards selfish gain or demise.

With all the negative influences in the world, for many decades its probably now more than ever a time when we all should re-evaluate what it is we want to see in our leaders & future leaders. For many of them, finding mentors is isn't easy. In a time when mentors are thin on the ground but professional high paid life coaches or success drivers are thick at every corner post we need to ensure our ranks are filled with young people with older heads who can find good mentors who are experienced and like to frame things with fairness and integrity.

Often the case we hear about glass ceilings, but sadly in the past the first woman through the ceiling reinstalled the floor to keep others out from diminishing their elevated position. Could this be? Yes, there's a list longer than my arm of women who had the sorry position of seeing the prize closer and realising the fairness had arrived for one and not others. We hope those days are too diminishing.

The upside with the Nats positions is it wasn't a result of a decided quota. It was merit based. 4 people are elected to the respective positions and as it turns out, coincidentally they happen to be women. Being female wasn't met criteria.

Now sadly some organisations are addressing the lack of gender balance in a way that has actually hampered it. Some women, thankfully few, have been wrong regarded or referred to as "Quota Queens". Perhaps this is accurate, perhaps it isn't but hopefully its declining too. One thing is certain, there are many employment positions that don't attract equal numbers of women applying so we'd expect that statistically women might be represented in smaller numbers. What we hope to see is not quotas but equal opportunity.

I don't think we're going to see a flood of 50% for every job to be listed but if we can see equal opportunity we'll all be better off.

I'm not pro nor anti feminist. Feminist as a definition seems to have changed a bit over the decades so I'm just pro equal go for anyone wanting to have a go, and pro them getting a fair go.

That's happened with these four positions within the WA Nationals. What I'm hoping we'll see across the society is more women will feel confident & relaxed in their own abilities and have good mentors of integrity & fairness backgrounding who can encourage women of any age to gather the skills they need and to throw their hat into whatever ring they're eyeing. Hopefully good mentors will be around to build their confidence, help them with direction when gathering skills and understanding process.

Many people both male & female have sought positions they didn't fully understand.

If you know a young person who might be keen on progressing, get behind them. Encourage them and urge them to get a couple of mentors with diverse skills and a positive attitude.

Heather & Siobhan are new to their roles but no stranger to its requirements so they'll be fine and spaces to watch over the decades. Mia & Jacqui are both younger than me so I expect them to have more than a few decades of achievements ahead of them as well but they already have big runs on the board.

Both Mia & Jacqui announced they're keen to help young women achieve their goals and fulfil their aspirations. That's not a gender leaning, its addressing an imbalance with an aim to help encourage young people and allow them a fair go. 6 gold stars out of 5.
Looking from the outside as a bloke some women have had to conquer their own confidence levels that were well below their capabilities. Selling themselves short has been a problem for many.

Confidence & integrity are paramount, well short of arrogance and narcissism is what we need and appears that's how WA, especially regional WA has been tracking for some time. A ways to go, but I think we can see first signs of true fair go ethos rising to the top. It will require vigilance to prevent slippage and loss of traction but I remain confident we're heading to a better place albeit slowly.