It was the first line in every speech given at last night’s National Council of Women Speech Competition and every speech finished the sentence in a different way.
Contest winner and Otago Girls’ High School student Rana Alsharif won the judges over by speaking about how New Zealand had been leading the way on women’s rights, until the government recently abolished equal pay for female-dominated workforces.
‘‘I talked about how New Zealand was the heart of the movement, of being the first country to grant women the vote and we’ve achieved a lot in the last 130 years, but we’re still fighting to have our work valued equally.
‘‘When the government got rid of the equal pay, it just made it way harder for women to gain their rights. And that’s just such a shame.’’
The 18-year-old said she was ‘‘a bit baffled’’ by the government’s decision.
‘‘I expected for us to move forward and to advance — create a better world.
‘‘But we seem to be working backwards. We seem to be being held back.’’
Rana was born in Syria and moved to Indonesia at age 4, before coming to New Zealand when she was 11.
The judges were impressed that Rana gave her speech in perfect English, which was her third language.
Rana said it was one of several speech competitions she had won recently and her latest win ‘‘feels great’’.
