RELATED: Leading the way forward

Young people from Hawkesdale P-12 College were surprised by some of the things they learned during classes on gender equality and family violence.

But three of the school’s year nine students are positive the world they help shape will be a more equal one.

Mya Johnson, 14, said she was amazed by how wide the gender pay gap was and hoped to see change.

“I just hope women get the confidence to speak up about domestic violence and that you won’t be looked at weirdly,” she said.

“I hope women aren’t scared in the future to speak up about feminism and not be scared to say, ‘yeah, I am a feminist’. It doesn’t mean you hate men – it means you’re proud to be a woman and you want equal rights.”

Mya said she hoped one day if a woman said she wanted to be a builder, people wouldn’t think twice.

“They would just say, ‘yeah, you can do that,’” she said.

The school ran four classes exploring issues such as cyber safety and violence.

Caitlyn Bain, 15, said the classes exposed her to new ways of thinking. 

“I hope that women have the same chance as men, jobs and pay-wise, and that women have just as much power and the stereotypes have gone down and the abuse against women has decreased,” she said.

Glenn Evans, 15, was optimistic about the future.

“This generation may have improved just a bit in our understanding of what’s happening around us,” he said.