International Women's Day

On March 8 (and/or in the week prior or after), thousands of women around the world get together in some shape or form to celebrate International Women's Day (IWD).

According to this great United Nations (UN) link: "[IWD] is a day when women are recognized for their achievements without regard to divisions, whether national, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic or political. It is an occasion for looking back on past struggles and accomplishments, and more importantly, for looking ahead to the untapped potential and opportunities that await future generations of women."

Did you do anything for IWD? Go to a luncheon? Participate in an organized fun run? Get together with your girlfriends? Or watch some IWD videos on YouTube? :-)

This year, I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast function for my local women's network in Australia: the Sunshine Coast Business Women's Network (SCBWN). The guest speakers for the morning were Hariati and Serena - two of the first female pilots to fly for Royal Brunei Airlines.

Hariati and Serena were incredibly inspirational. These women grew up in an Islamic society, on an island (Brunei) of only around 300,000 people. They both spent their childhood dreaming of being a pilot, but given that women were never allowed to do that in Brunei, it would have been easy to let go of their dreams... but they never did. They studied the subjects that they hoped one day would help them be pilots and they never lost faith in their dreams.

In 1999, both Hariati and Serena saw the advertisement by Royal Brunei for one (yes, just one) female pilot cadetship. They told us at the breakfast of their overwhelming sense of joy that day - as they knew that their dreams and hard work had not been wasted - they knew that they finally had a chance to fly high in the skies. (For the record, the women did not compete against each other, as one of them did not apply until the following year, due to age restrictions.)

Hariati and Serena both overcome some amazing odds to achieve the success that they enjoy today. For that reason, I am trying to interview one of these wonderful women as a Success Story for ExpatWomen.com in an upcoming month. The women are keen - but I am just needing to navigate through some "company security barriers" first. Wish me luck.

In the meantime, here are three inspirational quotes that I scribbled down from their talk, so you can share a little in some of the mottos that these ladies live by:

• "Women who want to be as good as men, have no ambition" (Serena was given this quote on a coffee mug, which she still uses it every day)

• "Write your own history, shape your own future"

• "N o t h i n g is impossible - n e v e r give up on your dreams"

Happy International Women's Day for last Saturday! Andrea.

Other IWD links:
Aurora's IWD page (UK-based)
Wikipedia's IWD page