Women’s Agenda has had a partnership with Twitter Australia for a while now. As Angela Priestley said back in March,
We’ve seen Twitter used to raise awareness of, and give women a platform to contribute on, every issue that is core to Women’s Agenda including leadership, the gender pay gap, childcare, health and domestic violence, and wellbeing and flexible work. We’ve seen it used to share valuable career advice, inspiring quotes and images, and amplify the stats that show just how much work there is still to do for workplace gender equality.
From #HeforShe to #Questionsformen and #illridewithyou, we’ve watched and participated in major campaigns that, intentionally or not, have created plenty of pause for thought and conversations that cross into everyday chatter, hashtags that become part of the lexicon.
We’ve seen women and men share information and connect over issues they feel passionate about, and watched relationships that started with 140 character tweets come to life at conferences and events.
We’ve shared thousands of articles on Twitter, and offered numerous, live updates on issues and events.
Earlier this month, TwitterAu and Women’s Agenda held a safety workshop and soapbox event, where 12 women spoke for 140 seconds on their Position of Strength.
We’ve already published our editor, Jane Gilmore’s speech on secrets and shame, and all the other women who spoke were so amazing that we wanted to share the rest of them as well.
The first speaker (always the toughest gig) was Susan McLean.
Susan is Australia’s leading cyber safety expert and founder of Cyber Safety Solutions. She is also the author of Australia’s best selling cybersafety book Sexts Text & Selfies.
Susan and Cyber Safety Solutions, are regularly sought to provide advice and assistance to a wide range of diverse organisations including, State Education Departments, different education sectors, elite sporting bodies, adolescent psychologists, child protection agencies and medical practitioners.
Susan’s #positionofstrength
The thing I’m going to talk about is achieving in a men’s space.
I joined the police force in 1982 when around 8 % of the force were female.
It was difficult. I never thought I couldn’t be as good as the blokes but I had to prove myself. When I arrived at my training station with my newly minted driving license, my boss wouldn’t accept that. I had to do another test with him to prove I was worth something, that I could drive a police car.
Comments were made to me during my police career included, “you’re blonde and you’re female, not much going for you then” and that was only a few years ago when I was trying to explain to police how important it was to embrace cyber safety in the community.
I was also told I had invented cyber bullying to give myself a career.
My favorite: “you’re a mother, you can’t be both. Do you want to be a mother or a police officer? Choose.” I never heard that said to a male police officer.
I always believed I could do whatever I wanted to do, that there was no impediment to my career, I may have just had to take an alternative route to get to where I was going.
But six years ago, after I was yet again told to pull my head in, that I didn’t know what I was talking about, that cyber safety wasn’t an issue for the police and never would be, I walked out.
I had no plans. I had nothing. I walked home and said to my husband “I’m resigning”. I went back at midnight on a Saturday. Typed my letter of resignation. Threw it under my boss’s door and left,
Here I am today, I love what I do. Social media is such a powerful tool. It gives anyone who wants it a voice. With that comes responsibility to not inflame a situation, to not make it worse, to use the reporting tools the sites give us for the benefit that they are there.
I get angry when I see people retweeting vile and bugler commentary, it helps no one.
We all have that responsibility, to use social media as an empowerment tool, because it can be amazingly powerful.
I love technology and use it all the time
Final quote, from Dr Zeus. “You have brains in your head, feet in your shoes, you can steer yourself in any direction you choose.”