Trial. Error. Repeat. Emma Wiggetts

NOT EVERYONE WAS AS LUCKY AS US. THERE WAS A TIME WHEN WOMEN COULDN’T BE MORE THAN A MOTHER AND WOULDN’T HAVE EVEN DREAMT OF ANYTHING MORE BECAUSE THAT WAS JUST THE NORM.

BREAKING stereotypes NIAMH YAM

Now look at us: from universal suffrage to a female prime minister, and women in science to inspiring authors. We almost have it all. But only almost… We should be so proud of how far we have come because that in itself is an achievement, but female aspiration is a long journey and it hasn’t been completed yet.

There is no doubt that the women of today’s world have been empowered by moral feminist ideas; we are constantly told that there is no limit to what we, as females, are capable of achieving in the future. The campaign for gender balance in all workforce areas is still a new idea in the UK and employers can’t change the numbers overnight, but not everyone can change their passion overnight either. This is a period of transition and there should be no expectation of anyone to conform to the newest social campaign interest.

We feel inspired when we see a female chemical engineer graduate or even a male English literature graduate because they are defying the existing stereotypes.

YET, WHY IS IT STILL THAT WOMEN COMPRISE ONLY 22% OF THE STEM WORKFORCE?

However, over time we have stopped talking about women graduating from their ‘traditional fields’, such as social sciences and creative arts, and men graduating from fields like engineering and construction because we have tried so hard to elevate those who have a passion for their respective ‘unconventional fields’.

While it is important that we continue to aim for gender balance in every field, it

is equally important that we celebrate women and men going into any field they are passionate about, be that nursing or engineering – no matter the gender.

Yet one of the biggest changes over time has been in female aspiration. We have to celebrate women defying stereotypes but there is also much to praise about women having the liberty to follow their passion. This is ultimately what we have been working towards all these years.

JEN THEODORE @UNSPLASH Take the Brontë sisters, for example; they wrote in a time when they had to use pseudonyms in order for their literature to be taken seriously in a field completely dominated by males. However, now we treasure Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey and Wuthering Heights, and they are largely responsible for the fact that many of the best novels published today are written by women.

Legislation has been passed allowing women to thrive in all workforce

areas. Going into less traditional areas is often strongly encouraged but this doesn’t decrease the value of women going into female-dominated fields like nursing and teaching. Both Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor, and Charlotte Brontë, one of the most powerful female writers in history, are equally celebrated and remain significant figures in the progress of female ambition and achievement, despite their different professions.

Choose it because it is your true aspiration and you are passionate about it.

COTTONBRO @PEXELS

Therefore, when you come to choose the direction of your future, don’t choose it because of the statistics. Choose it because it is your true aspiration and you are passionate about it. That is what all of these women did.

Within every person there is a true passion for something and whether you know your ambition from a young age or later in life, it is something to be proud of. We are so fortunate to live in a country in which we are able to pursue our true passions without being held back or repressed. It’s our duty to make our own history and go down the road that we truly aspire towards.

Whatever our aspiration in life, no matter how traditional or modern it is, we are all part of this journey through time in which women will continue to inspire each other. Let’s be proud of our past, recognise how much we have done for our gender and seize every opportunity that women of the past worked so tirelessly to achieve for us today.

The journey has not yet come to an end but we are filled with optimism knowing that the next generation will have us as their inspiration in the continuing progression of female ambition.

TIME S MIND GAMES ’ Our Perception of Time

JOSIE SHERMAN

OUR MINDS ALLOW US TO TIME TRAVEL. WE DRAW UPON PAST MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES IN ORDER TO ENHANCE OUR PRESENT AND FUTURE ACTIONS AND OPINIONS. HOWEVER, HOW EASILY WE CAN TRAVEL BACK AND FORTH DETERMINES OUR WELLBEING AND SUCCESS RATES.

Therefore, Philip Zimbardo, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, introduced the theory of time perspective. This theory depicts how everyone has a time perspective, which accounts for each and every decision a person makes. The time perspective theory has been divided into five main subtypes.

What are these categories and what do they convey?

1. PAST-NEGATIVE 2. PAST-POSITIVE 3. PRESENT-HEDONISTIC 4. PRESENT-FATALISTIC 5. FUTURE-FOCUSED

If you are a ‘past-negative’ person, you are prone to focus on damaging personal experiences that still haunt you, and struggle to change your perception of your lifestyle. You are a glass-half-empty kind of person; you are one of the pessimists of the world, despite perhaps considering yourself a realist. If you are ‘past-positive’, you are often nostalgic and keep close relationships with those important to you. However, you may abide by the ‘better safe than sorry’ ideology a little too often, which can prevent you from reaching your full potential, so go on – take a risk! Next are the ‘present-hedonistic’ people of society. If you fall into this category, you are dominated by living in the moment and strive to feel that adrenaline rush. You enjoy doing what makes you happy at your current time in life. Yet, if you immerse yourself too fully in this perspective, your future self may struggle as a result of a lack of work towards potential goals you wish to achieve. Perhaps you’re ‘present-fatalistic’. If so, you are controlled by the overwhelming idea that outside forces control and predetermine everything within your life. You may often feel imprisoned and may feel powerless about the future. You believe in fate rather than free will. Finally, there are those who are ‘future-focused’. you are dominated by living in the moment and strive to feel that adrenaline rush. AUDREY GRUSHNIKOV @UNSPLASH Highly ambitious, driven and focused: if you belong to this category, you are one of the go-getters of the world. However, your dedication to and investment in your future self may result in your present self making the wrong choices, affecting those around you and potentially damaging your upcoming goals.

Therefore, I consider it to be crucial that we start to take a greater consciousness of how we spend our time. Time is something that we need to stop taking for granted and wasting. We need to realise how the perception of this fundamental structure in our lives determines our thoughts, behaviour and the choices we make. We need to be more aware of how we think about time so that we can reach our full potential as individuals, societies and nations.