Panthers was the venue for the council run event, which also attracted key stakeholders in the community including the Army Reserve, headspace, Women’s Health and the Neighbourhood Centre.

Federal Member for Calare, Andrew Gee, told the gathering, which was a mixture of politicians, business women, professionals and school aged girls, about how he had seen women’s rights progress in the the last few generations. 

Mr Gee told the gathering he recalled his grandmother telling him how she left school in Year 4, because “education wasn’t seen as important for women in that generation.”

He then told the group he recalled speaking to his mum as a young boy about her education, on the way to see the skin doctor.

“I was asking my mum about him, and I remember her telling me the doctor had been in her class at school.”

“I asked her what he was like, and she said to me I use to beat him in all the tests and exams.

“I asked her why she didn’t go on to become a doctor, and she said she would have really loved to do that, but back in those days women went into one of two professions; teaching or nursing.

"Not that there is anything wrong with either profession, but back then women weren’t encouraged to go to university.”

By comparison, he then spoke about his sister, who like his mum, was really smart, and also wanted to be a doctor.

“My mum made sure she had every opportunity and every chance to achieve her dream, and she has; she’s now an IVF specialist.

“My point to this is there is a whole world of opportunity out there, and in three generations we’ve come from women leaving school in Year 4, to my mum not going to university, until much later as a mature age student, and my sister achieving her dreams.”

Mr Gee said in 2017, the community can be proud of how far it’s come, and said while we’re not there yet, the message for women was if you have a dream, go after it.