The momentum of change

By Joelle Ladislaus, Shadow Minister for Health and Justice

The theme for the 2024 International Women’s Day campaign is “Inspire Inclusion”. As a child I often had interests that were stereotyped by society as being “boyish”, I enjoyed football, I liked playing with action figures and climbing trees, and I disliked dresses and most things pink and frilly. I have vivid memories of being one of just three girls who took part in a week-long football academy where the number of boys in attendance was in the hundreds. In my teens I took up basketball, a sport which gave me so much and which I was to play for many years well into my adulthood, but which didn’t often at the time attract girls and women of a, shall we say, dainty and ultra-feminine disposition. How far we’ve come since then. The number of girls now taking up football is in the hundreds and whether you are into dolls, frills, action figures, or cars, you will find your place within the basketball community, and nobody will bat an eyelid. Yet, there is still such a very long way to go to ensure real inclusion.

When I looked around me five years ago and realised that, at the time, there were just two elected female politicians in Parliament, it struck me just how underrepresented we are within the decision-making institutions that have such a tangible impact on our daily lives. With the number of issues out there that affect women and girls in such a big way, there is a huge need for us to provide the female perspective. I couldn’t just sit back and expect that things were going to change if I wasn’t willing to do anything about it, and to contribute whatever I can to making the changes happen; enter the idea that was to change my life and set me on a new vocational path - I made the decision to run for election.

During the 2019 election, my daughter had just entered her terrible twos and I found myself juggling the force of nature that is a toddler at that age, and discharging my role as a lawyer, alongside the hardest interview of my entire life- an election campaign. I didn’t succeed in making it into Parliament that time, but I did succeed in surviving a male-dominated election without being put off politics, and in laying my foundations for my future path. I also had my first real experience of feeling guilty for the long hours which kept me away from my family during that time. Societal norms still mean that women are expected to make the sacrifices, to take the lion’s share of domestic chores and to care for the children, the difference in this day and age is that we are also expected to juggle careers and jobs alongside those responsibilities, and make it look seamless, and anything less sends us into a spiral of guilt that we have fallen short of expectations.

As I type this, my husband is undertaking the ironing; there is no delineation of responsibilities dictated by gender in our home, whatever the other is best at is what we put our hand to, because that is teamwork, that is real equity. I count myself immensely lucky, because many women in heterosexual relationships have little to no help with domestic responsibilities, the reality is that I shouldn’t need to. This should be normality. Ultimately, societal, and cultural changes start in the home. We cannot expect seismic shifts when many of us are still prepared to accept the status quo without challenging it. The next generation is watching closely and learning from what they are seeing at home, are we willing to accept this for our daughters and granddaughters?  I strongly believe that what happens in the home is a blueprint for what will be acceptable out there, within the workplace, in sport, in positions of leadership, although of course, that is not the only way in which we can empower, enable, and ultimately inspire inclusion. To do that, we also have to be willing to take the proverbial bull by the horns and seek to place ourselves in positions where we can influence, in some way, those changes that need to happen.

Just a short five months ago, I made the decision to throw my hat in the ring once again and I ran in the 2023 election, now a mother of two, with a daughter age six and a son age three, this time I achieved a seat in Parliament. Although I form part of a historic composition within the Gibraltar Parliament, which has never until now seen more than two women at any given time within its ranks, women are still woefully underrepresented, and a lot more needs to be done to attract the participation of girls and women in politics. There is plenty that can be done, a simple start would be to ensure that the calendar for Parliamentary sessions is published in advance to enable family diaries to be planned ahead of time. Small changes like these give way to much bigger ones in the long-term. As for the bigger changes, the introduction of legislation to enable parental leave would go a significant way to set the wheels in motion towards a more equitable society.

I was brought up by a strong mother who believes that women should hold their rightful place within society, and that should not be limited to the achievement of domestic bliss, and I am teaching my daughter the same values. By the same token, I am teaching my son that he too has a big role to play in breaking down the barriers that have historically been placed in the way of girls and women, by participating in all areas of life and not just expecting that the women around him will do it for him. Importantly, men must also be made to feel part of the debate, and not a target of the frustrations borne from years of women being held back.

The opportunities for the empowerment of women are there, now more than ever and, as women, we should be inspired to be included simply to honour the struggles of those that came before us; when change gathers momentum nothing will stop it.