Photo by: Angela George <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\nThree women made headlines [this week]: Each of them trailblazers, each in the spotlight talking openly about the shackles that could have stifled them.<\/p>\n
None of these women attained power easily: Statistically they are the exception, not the rule.<\/p>\n
They could have been outsiders but, instead, they\u2019re on the inside and they\u2019re seeking change.<\/p>\n
Dr Anne Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to Australia\u2019s parliament, Emma Husar, a Labor MP who endured 29 years of domestic violence and Ellen DeGeneres, an icon who has marked so many firsts as an openly gay woman on primetime television.<\/p>\n
Aly delivered a rousing speech on the invisibility of women at the 2016 Emily\u2019s List oration.<\/p>\n
“Too often I am told I must be quiet, a delicate flower, grateful for the equalities and opportunities afforded me because I live in Australia and not Saudi Arabia,” Aly said. <\/div>\n
“Too often I am told that I should be happy that I even have a place at the table.<\/p>\n
“Too often I am told by men that I should have stayed in the kitchen… Too often I am told not to get angry, not to be a diva, not to call out a nong when he is behaving like one.”<\/p>\n
Emma Husar spoke with intense emotion in parliament [uncovering] \u201cthe darkest corner\u201d of her life on White Ribbon Day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhilst the blows that landed on my mother during my childhood did not land on me physically, they might as well have,” she said.<\/p>\n
“The trauma inflicted was the same – I recall it vividly \u2013 and in great detail.<\/p>\n
“Each episode of this violence over my first 13 years was different, but the aftermath was always the same: Dad would apologise and promise to be different, and that would work for just a short time.”<\/p>\n