We Choose to
Celebrate by Hayley J. Egan
T
he 8th of March is International Women’s Day, and the theme is “Let’s Choose to Challenge”. Although every day is International Women’s Day here at Segmento, we still decided to celebrate the day with an issue filled with stories of incredible women from around the world. I had the honour of speaking to Her Excellency Ambassador Francesca Tardioli who, undeniably a pretty high achiever herself, listed some of the women who have inspired her throughout her life. Dr. Maria Montessori was one of them. What a great choice! Montessori qualified as a physician in 1896, the first Italian woman to do so since Maria Dalle Donne almost 100 years earlier. She
Segmento Issue XXII • March-May 2021
became involved in the Women’s Rights movement and then began to study educational philosophy and anthropology. Though Maria Montessori is a household name around the world, not everyone understands the basis of her educational philosophy, which is actually quite radical. Montessori believed that in an intellectually stimulating environment where activities that support natural development are provided, children are able to educate themselves. When compared to the mainstream educational model, this was - and still is - quite a ground-breaking idea. There are now many Montessori schools around the world, and aspects of the Montessori method, (particularly the learning materials she developed) are present in classrooms everywhere. Grazia Deledda, who received the Nobel Prize for literature in 1926, is another of Ambassador Tardioli’s inspirations. Renowned as a writer of place, the Sardinian-born Deledda’s work presents a strong connection with the island. She is one of Italy’s treasures and should have a place on the bookshelf of any lover of literature. Also mentioned in our conversation was the female director general of CERN, the European research organisation that operates the world’s largest physics laboratory. In 2016, Fabiola Gianotti became the first woman to be appointed to the position. What could be a bigger
We Choose to Celebrate
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