The White House Project President Writes from her Australian Tour

I am finding that the Australian culture is even tougher than our own when it comes to women and that balance, as there is a push here toward motherhood rather than work outside the home. The media here is even tougher on women in public life, and the girls know it. I think they understand that only the strong survive. 

At Santa Maria College especially, I was stunned by the knowledge of and interest in U.S. politics by the 200 senior level girls to whom I spoke. It might have bested any American school.  

At each stop, young women wanted to know how we could bring The White House Project here. Any takers out there?

Next stop is Adelaide where I am again finding meaning in Marian Wright Edelman’s famous quote, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” In a survey of junior and senior high school girls, prepared by Seymour College (a high school) in Adelaide in advance of my arrival, almost no one could name role models among Australian women leaders. As a matter of fact, the big winners were Oprah Winfrey, Hillary Clinton, Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. The only consistent mention of Australian women was the head of the school itself and Princess Mary, an Australian who married the Prince of Denmark. This was consistent with another question asked on the survey: What are the most important issues facing young girls today? You will recognize the obvious similarities in their answers to our own kids: Unrealistic body images and appearance, peer pressure and self-esteem, fitting in, impressing boys, and girls not “standing together.” The older girls also added issues of concern about their future jobs and careers, combining work and family, and male dominance in the work force. Indeed, they have reason to be worried.

Leadership is very much a part of the curriculum within girls’ schools here, but leading after school is not on the radar screen. In audiences of 300-plus girls, only a handful raised their hands when I asked if they ever considered politics. Similar to girls and young women in America, mostly they see men in these positions and don’t even know how you crack the code to lead alongside them. It doesn’t help that politics in Australia is more rough and tumble, much more similar to the British model than to our own.