A group of leading Hunter women have championed the efforts of a Tocal student with a scholarship designed to help break gender boundaries.
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Ann Shipman, 19, was awarded a $500 scholarship for women in non-traditional or male-dominated trades by the Women’s Network Hunter over the weekend.
Like the old saying goes, 'the harder I work, the luckier I get.' I hope, that during my journey, neither age nor time will lessen my enthusiasm.
- Ann Shipman
Ms Shipman, who has forged her way as a stationhand at a livestock farm in Merriwa, said she felt lucky to have strong supporters in her home and work life.
“I come from a family that’s very supportive, especially my father” she said.
“They always told me ‘you can do it’, regardless of gender.
“My co-workers and my boss too, gender doesn’t matter, they treat me as an equal.”
Ms Shipman was lauded by WNH vice president Glenda Briggs at the presentation for her dedication to study and work.
“She’ll get out there, she’ll be a significant person in her field,” she said.
“She’ll be a role model.”
In a poetic speech, Ms Shipman recounted painful memories growing up on a dairy farm whose herd was succumbing to a virus.
But since leaving the farm for study, she found herself with too much spare time. She took extra-curricular courses and worked but, recently, began mothering an orphaned lamb named Mia.
“I have found myself having to fit my work and study regime around caring for the infant,” she said.
“A hurdle, which each of you would be all too well aware, women face on a daily basis in order to be equal to our male counterparts.
“I am yet to find a creche that will accept Mia,” she joked.
She said life was coming full circle with livestock like Mia reaffirming her dream to follow in her family’s footsteps and start a farm of her own.
“Like the old saying goes, ‘The harder I work, the luckier I get.’,” she said.
“I hope, that during my journey, neither age nor time will lessen my enthusiasm.”
