Breaking the bias In conversation with the Honourable Mia Davies for International Women’s Day On 11 March 2022, Year 7 students Ethan Bartholomaeus and Obi Rogers spoke to the Honourable Mia Davies, WA Leader of the National Party, the first woman to ever hold this role. The following conversation was the first in a new Middle School podcast series and reflected on this year’s IWD theme #BreaktheBias and the importance of amplifying diverse voices. Ethan Bartholomaeus: Welcome to Conversations at Scotch College Middle School. I am Ethan Bartholomaeus, and today I am warmly welcoming the Honourable Mia Davies, Member of the Legislative Assembly, Opposition Leader and Leader of the Nationals WA and Member for Central Wheatbelt. Obi Rogers: We welcome you just after an important day on the calendar, International Women’s Day. As a woman in politics, how important is this day to you? Mia Davies: It’s very important. There’s a real moment where, every year, we pause to reflect on the progress that we’ve made as women and the fight for equality and talk about what we can do to actually continue that fight. So, you need to celebrate the things we’ve achieved and always remind people there’s always more to be done. Obi: I’m sure you’ve done a lot for the world of females, but what’s your favourite achievement? Mia: I think it’s hard to choose one. I was quite young when I entered politics, and I’m not sure that it was at the forefront of my mind that I had a role to play in being a role model for other women. When I was elected, in my electorate, the agricultural region, there were 10 members of parliament in the agricultural regions. Out of those, I was the only female. So, 50% of the population in that area looked to the people in parliament to represent them and didn’t see someone that looked like them, spoke like them, or debated like them. It showed me that it makes it very difficult for people to actually aspire to leadership positions if they don’t even see others like themselves in those positions, so just that very fact of being elected allowed me to be a representative, to show people that you can be a female member of parliament in an area that hadn’t seen [a woman elected] previously for a long time was, I think, one of those achievements. I think consistently, in my 14 years of being a member of parliament, the most rewarding part is when I come to schools. I speak to young
24 | middle school
people about the opportunities available to them through a life of public service and inspire them to think, ‘Perhaps that’s something that I could do.’ Ideally, I would like to do myself out of a job. I want so many young men and women putting their hands up and saying that I want to be part of making sure we can shape the future of Western Australia; that means everybody gets a fair go. Obi: Is it at all fair in a group mainly dominated by males. Is it demotivating or more motivating? Mia: I’m very lucky in the sense that I think it’s both. That sounds like a very political answer, doesn’t it? A bit on the fence. It’s both, and sometimes it drives you to say we can do better, and other times, you know we are surrounded by, I guess, the vestiges of a very maledominated society. And, where I come from, the Central Wheatbelt, the agricultural sector has traditionally been dominated by men. I am in a position where there have traditionally been men in those decision-making processes. But I have also been elevated and supported by men in my professional life as well. I grew up being surrounded by people in my hometown who took on leadership positions, whether they were male or female. So, whether it is was my Nanna, who is involved in the senior citizens and the CWA [Country Women’s Association], or whether it was my Grandfather or my next-door neighbour or my Mum or my Dad, they all pitched in and got things done. I think coming from a country community, that was just something that was built into us. To answer your questions about whether it has been motivating or demotivating, there are moments where I think this makes me really angry, and I am going to do more to make sure no one else has to go through the same thing. But equally, you have to reflect on the fact that there are people who are prepared to support women, and I am very lucky I’ve had lots of men in my life who have been there to support and elevate and give me a little push when I’ve needed it as well. Obi: Is there anything for International Woman’s Day that we as a school or individuals could do to support this cause? Mia: Well, I think having this conversation is a great start, absolutely! And you know I’ve told a number of people that I was coming to have this discussion at Scotch College, as one of the functions that I have done this week, as part of IWD. Their eyebrows raise, and my response to that is that we don’t achieve change without everyone pitching in. So part of achieving equality in workplaces is making sure women are afforded opportunities where they deserve them – equal pay, all of those discussions
they get thrown into this basket – comes from everybody understanding that they are part of the solution and making sure that you are having conversations like this. When you’re all sitting around a table in a decision-making room, it’s not leaving it to the women to start those discussions; make sure you understand why it’s important. Many business people will tell you that if we take it from a purely economic perspective, it should be about equality. [They’ll tell you] that if you have a diversity of decision-makers sitting around your table, your business will do better. So, there is an economic rationale now for making sure you have balance and equality. But, absolutely, just from my fundamental human base, it isn’t good to think that people aren’t treated the same when they’re doing the same thing, or they are not afforded the same opportunities simply because they are male or female. Obi: Do you think it is getting better? Females joining male-dominated jobs? Mia: Yeah, absolutely! I think we make progress every day, but it requires consistent effort, and so that’s why days like International Women’s Day are just one day. But I think it regenerates and reinvigorates people who have been having this fight for a very long time, and it changes every year how we approach it. The more people we bring into wanting to be part of this conversation, the better it will be in the long term. Some people have been fighting for women’s rights forever, and you know they feel like they have spent their whole lives doing that. I’m very grateful that there are men and women who have done that because it made it easier for me to step into the role that I was in. Part of my responsibility as a leader now is to make sure that I continue that, so hopefully, one day, we don’t have to have that conversation; that we can see the merits of an individual as opposed to their gender and that it doesn’t matter. But I’ve absolutely seen change, even in the time that I have been a member of parliament. There are more women on boards, more women in parliament, and more women involved in traditionally male-dominated industries, which certainly hasn’t come about accidentally. That’s come about by having good policy and intent and people persisting in pushing and making sure that we keep having that discussion, and so it needs to be done on purpose as opposed to just letting it happen. Obi: As you said, there have been other females that have helped push equality forward. Is there anyone that you looked up to?
