In the wake of Black History Month 2017, Jane Tanner of the Women’s Resource Centre describes how helping with her niece’s school project brought the importance role models into sharp relief.
Everyone needs that inspirational person; someone you can see pave the way to your more ambitious climbs. I strongly suspect that there are many women who, like me, have felt life is a disappointing quest for reflections of oneself.
My mother and aunts are phenomenal women and fantastic role models. But outside of my immediate family, I craved to see black women in public life – ‘on the telly’ achieving in the way their white counterparts were doing. Thankfully this is (gradually) changing, however I continue to ask myself ‘why are black women still so invisible?’ …
