Friday Headlines
the weekly newsletter from EHS
Inspiration Ahead of International Women's Day
04 March 2022
Senior School pupils from St David’s house led from the front with an assembly on female leadership, and what it means to be a true leader.
Anna defined leadership as: “The process of encouraging and helping others to work enthusiastically towards objectives. It is the behaviour of an individual when they are directing the activities of a group towards a shared goal.”
Sana added: “Good leaders are risk takers, they see the bigger picture, have integrity and empathy, trust others and cooperate, are good listeners, good at resolving conflict, creative problem solvers and they use their power constructively instead of abusing it.”
Lauren spoke about examples of amazing leadership right here within the school. “Our very own leadership team full of mentors guiding the younger years in their studies and offering advice for their personal problems, subject scholars who help organize events and encourage other students to succeed, the head girl and deputy heads who help push the school and its students to be the best we can be…and of course our teachers who work hard to help us achieve our goals.”
Three women were named as examples of international female role models who had, through their actions, demonstrated true leadership.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arden had led her country with compassion through events such as the Christchurch attack 2019 and took decisive action by enforcing new gun legislation six days after the attack.
American Olympic gymnast Simone Biles taught the world a lesson in self-leadership at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, when she decided to pull out of the competition to prioritise her mental health, speaking out and standing up for herself.
In 2011, women’s rights activist Manal al-Sharif was arrested and jailed for 9 days for driving a car, which is against the law for women in Saudi Arabia. Her actions brought about real change and she remains a symbol for women’s rights in the 21st century, helping to lead future generations of women in her country.
Finally, Mrs Macro, and teachers too, were identified as beacons of inspiration for their encouragement and positivity throughout the pandemic when successive lockdowns kept us all apart.
The girls wrote and presented the assembly to mark International Women’s Day. Celebrated on March 8th, International Women’s Day exists to celebrate the social, cultural, economic and political achievements of women across the globe.
The assembly ended with a quote from the late Justice of the Supreme Court Ruth Bader Ginsburg who said, “fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that
will lead others to join you”. Thank you to the girls for sharing their inspiration ahead of International Women’s Day and for in turn inspiring the pupils of EHS.
