In this insightful video, a head teacher shares her personal experiences and reflections on her journey to becoming a head of a girls' school. She recounts her early inclination towards teaching, emphasizing her dedication, hard work, and the challenges faced due to gender biases. The speaker reflects on societal expectations of women and how history has often tied women's worth to their roles in men's lives rather than their own identities.

The speaker moves on to discuss significant historical milestones in the progress of women's rights and representation across various fields such as law, sports, and leadership roles. She highlights how progress has been made over the years, exemplified by changes in laws allowing women to practice law and marked improvements in female participation in events like the Olympics. Yet, she acknowledges the persisting inadequacies and the need for continued support and change.

Main takeaways from the video:

Please remember to turn on the CC button to view the subtitles.

Key Vocabularies and Common Phrases:

1. privilege [ˈprɪvɪlɪdʒ] - (noun) - A special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group. - Synonyms: (advantage, right, honor)

So I'm a head teacher and it's my absolute joy and privilege.

2. destined [ˈdɛstɪnd] - (adjective) - Developing as though according to a plan; certain to meet a particular fate. - Synonyms: (fated, meant, ordained)

I think I was always destined to be a teacher.

3. meticulously [məˈtɪkjələsli] - (adverb) - In a way that shows great attention to detail; very thoroughly. - Synonyms: (carefully, precisely, scrupulously)

I would record their marks meticulously in my mark book.

4. aesthetic [iːsˈθɛtɪk] - (adjective) - Concerned with beauty or the appreciation of beauty. - Synonyms: (artistic, visual, ornamental)

The focus was actually on their bodies, their aesthetic appearance, what they were wearing.

5. disqualification [dɪsˌkwɒlɪfɪˈkeɪʃən] - (noun) - The action of disqualifying or the state of being disqualified. - Synonyms: (exclusion, barring, elimination)

It wasn't until the Sex disqualification Act of 1919 that actually women could become law agents.

6. perfectionism [pərˈfɛkʃənɪzəm] - (noun) - Refusal to accept any standard short of perfection. - Synonyms: (fastidiousness, meticulousness, exactness)

perfectionism over proving your worth, which is never enough.

7. narrative [ˈnærətɪv] - (noun) - A spoken or written account of connected events; a story. - Synonyms: (account, tale, description)

I think, therefore, we need to change the narrative.

8. navigated [ˈnævɪɡeɪtɪd] - (verb) - To plan and direct the course of a journey or travel. - Synonyms: (steered, guided, piloted)

We need to ensure that our young women have the skills to navigate that.

9. equity [ˈɛkwɪti] - (noun) - The quality of being fair and impartial. - Synonyms: (fairness, justice, impartiality)

We want to ensure that we end with equity for all women.

10. acknowledged [əkˈnɑːlɪdʒd] - (verb) - Accepted or admitted the existence or truth of something. - Synonyms: (recognized, admitted, confessed)

But we rarely acknowledge the changes it goes through to get there.

Sorry not sorry - Annabel Davies - TEDxCroydon High School GDST

So I'm a head teacher and it's my absolute joy and privilege. I think I was always destined to be a teacher. I remember marking the work of my pupils, my stuffed animals, and I would record their marks meticulously in my mark book. I would do a lot of enthusiastic ticking and overall, I would enjoy this very much. So perhaps it was that I was always destined to be a teacher.

What I didn't know, however, was that perhaps I would want to be a head teacher. And I don't think I knew that when I started to be a teacher. I worked hard, I made the most of opportunities that came my way, I celebrated the successes and I picked myself up from the disappointments. So perhaps it was that I was always destined to be a head teacher, but I did not know it. And what I would say is that at times I never thought my gender would be something to be discussed. I never thought of it as to be something to be judged by or perceived by, or a barrier. But there have been times in my career where I have been judged and I would suggest definitely underestimated because of it. So I'm interested to think about, as the head teacher of a girls school, how in 2024, I can shape this for the pupils in my care.

So when I was growing up, my mum took me to a lot of art galleries and I remember seeing faces of women that were not defined. The focus was actually on their bodies, their aesthetic appearance, what they were wearing, with no definition in their face. And I do think this is really apt of women, because, let's be honest, over the centuries, women's worth has definitely been linked to that of a man. How can they enhance a man's status? Maybe it is because of the wealth of their family, maybe it is to produce that crucial male heir. But either way, their identity was certainly not their own. And I think it's very important to consider examples of how this has carried on in the modern day.

So let's take some examples. The year is 1974. You are 18 years old, female, living in the UK, and you head to your local bank to open an account, only to be told that actually you need your father or your husband's permission to do so. Another example a little further back in time. Madge Easton Anderson was an apprentice law agent. In 1917, she worked for Maclay, Murray and Spens, and they sent notice of her apprenticeship to the Registrar of Law Agents, only to be told, no, unfortunately, they can't register her because women were not allowed to become law agents, Law agent was the name for a lawyer back then. It wasn't until the Sex disqualification Act of 1919 that actually women could become law agents or could become civil servants. It was a four page small but mighty act. And it did mean that Madge Easton Anderson did become the first female law agent in 1920.

So what about other examples? We've had a fabulous summer of sport. Let's think about the Olympics. First Olympics in 1896 in Greece, in Athens, there were absolutely no female competitors. The next Olympics in 1900, we had 997 competitors. Only 22 were women. In fact, it wasn't until the London 2012 Olympic Games that we had female competitors in all divisions of sport. And By Rio in 2016, we actually had 45% of all women. All the competitors were women.

Now I'm a musician and very proud of that fact. So I had to look at music. The Royal Philharmonic society said in 2023, only two orchestras in the UK were actually conducted by women. And the last night of the Proms was only conducted by Marin Alsop. Until last year, there was a momentous moment where there was also another female conductor who did the opening night of the Proms. So for the first time in 2023, we had a female conductor for the opening and closing night of the Proms.

What about world leaders and CEOs, therefore, what have their journeys been? Well, if we think about Margaret Thatcher, she was the first female Prime Minister, came to office in 1979. In terms of CEOs, in 1997, De Mardi Scardino was the first CEO of a FTSE 100 company. Catherine Graham was the first CEO of a Fortune 500 company, taking on that position in 1972. And the first African American woman to take on the CEO of a Fortune 500 company was Ursula Burns in 2009. So actually, we're only in the first 15 years of having a woman of color leading a Fortune 500 company. It is a really new thing.

And there's this amazing fact. The Washington Post, they came up with a fabulous article in 2015. There are more CEOs called John than there were female CEOs. I know, quite shocking. And then by 2023, I'm very pleased to report that there are now more female CEOs than men called John, or any other male name for that matter. So again, really, really important. But again, I suppose, therefore, perhaps we shouldn't be surprised that we still have a long way to go. And as the head of a girls school, what can I do to support the young women to actually thrive in a world that has been designed by men for men. So let's think about barriers.

My favorite and first is perfectionism. And the Oxford English Dictionary says, perfectionism is a person wanting to do things perfectly and is not satisfied with anything less. Well, I'm quite anxious already. Then Tanya Geisler, who is a leadership coach, she had a fabulous quote too, which says, perfectionism over proving your worth, which is never enough, to the detriment of your time, energy and confidence. I think that is such an apt quote. And I think, therefore, we need to change the narrative. And I talk a lot about excellence, not perfection, which is the famous brainchild of Brene Brown. Excellence is a movable bar for each of us. It's different as we develop, it develops, and it's not an unachievable goal. So the first barrier that we need to break down, I think, for young women is that of being a perfectionist.

The second barrier, which I think we really need to focus on, is that word sorry. We use it really inappropriately. Perhaps someone holds the door for you and you say, oh, sorry, as you kind of go through. Maybe you write an email to someone saying, sorry to bother you, but can I ask, Maybe someone bashes into you in the street and you go, oh, sorry. I do think we need to stop saying that and apologizing for our own existence. I think we absolutely need to change the narrative. Thank you for holding the door, writing the email. Please can I just clarify, Someone bashes you in the street, oh, excuse me all fine. So again, use sorry when it's needed, when we actually need to apologize for something, but let's not use it when it's not necessary.

The third barrier for me is very much about role models and ensuring there's not a lack of accessible role models. I hear all the time from pupils in my school saying, I need to see people who look like me doing the things that I want to do. And so in school, we work really hard to ensure that we have opportunities to lead, whether it be prefects, whether it be buddy systems, whether it be leading societies or committees that you're passionate about. Either way, we like to ensure that there's that person doing that thing that people can go, oh, in a few years time, that could be me. And it also relates to bringing in role models and speakers, again, doing the things, navigating the path that our young women want to go to. So the third barrier is making sure there's not a lack of role models.

The fourth barrier very much relates to My first barrier, perfectionism, and that is the fear of failure. So many times you're tied up in knots because you're worried about getting something wrong or not doing it or not getting the part in the play, not getting that top mark in the test, not achieving that position you've always wanted. And I don't know about everyone else in this room, but I can bet that some of your biggest failures, mine included, have led to my biggest successes and developments. So I do think we need to break down that fear of failure to see it as a learning journey, because life is that it's not one straight path. So that's barrier four, trying to break down that fear of failure.

And the final barrier I could discuss today, I could go on for a long time, but I won't, is actually social media. It's a very noisy world online and there are all these platforms and I get told a lot that I should be eating this, putting this on my skin, going to the gym, this much, going on holiday here, making sure my friends and I go there, doing this, doing that, being the perfect parent, all the things that we're told that everyone needs to do. And for young women, it can be overwhelming. It can be overwhelming for me. And I think it's really important that we teach young women to navigate social media sensibly. The people who are telling us what to do are not leading the perfect lives. And in fact, half the time they come offline because they need a break to actually deal with the reality of life. So we need to ensure that our young women have the skills to navigate that, to be able to get out of the noise so that they're able to know what's real, what's fake and what they want to do with it.

So those are my five barriers. perfectionism. Let's break down that. Ensuring that we definitely have not. We're not using the word sorry when we're not sorry for something. Making sure that we are having accessible role models, making sure that actually we are 100% ensuring that we are not letting social media own us. So there are so many ways by which we have to navigate the paths ahead. And I think Maya Angelou had a really amazing quote. She said, we delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but we rarely acknowledge the changes it goes through to get there. Isn't that the case? We will look at someone and go, oh, they're amazing, but actually they've had to go on a journey. Life would not have been one beautiful path up to where you're admiring them.

So as women and as a head teacher in a girls school, need to ensure that I equipped the pupils in my care with the skills, the qualities and the beliefs to go out in the world and continue on to this journey. Because we've got a long way to go and let's be honest, we want to ensure that we end with equity for all women. Thank you.

Education, Leadership, Inspiration, Women'S Empowerment, Gender Equality, Social Media Awareness, Tedx Talks