AS A YOUNG girl in Venezuela Noemi Cummings was told engineering was only for boys.
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So she studied electrical engineering, became a stand-out student and tutored her male peers.
Not long after graduation, Ms Cummings realised she'd proved her point and quickly lost interest.
She became a Christian missionary in South-East Asia for four years but then changed tack when she met her husband, moved to Australia and became a director of an international manufacturing firm.
Ms Cummings was a millionaire until the business went under and she reinvented herself as a salesperson, visiting people's homes to sell health products and books.
Now she runs Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services, a not-for-profit organisation that helps migrants settle into central Victorian life.
This week LCMS held a lunch for 80 people to celebrate International Women's Day.
The event was one of many across Bendigo, Australia and the world this week, where people have gathered to celebrate women's achievements and discuss what is yet to be achieved in equality between the sexes.
My dream would be a world where what gender you were was not even commented on.
- Prue Mansfield
"I've experienced that some men perceive ladies as inferior in their capabilities but I never agreed with their perceptions," Ms Cummings said.
"My belief is that we were created in God's image, not to be inferior to man, but to work side by side with men."
Federal Labor MP Lisa Chesters works with many men in Canberra where she feels there's a pervasive "blokey element".
She said her own party was supportive and had quotas for female representation but she had received disappointing comments from others.
"I've had other male MPs ask me, 'well, who do you work for?'," Ms Chesters said.
"Because I'm a woman, I must be somebody's PA, not their colleague and elected member of parliament."
By contrast, in central Victoria she is one of an all-female group of politicians, including state Bendigo MPs Jacinta Allan and Maree Edwards, Euroa MP and National party deputy Steph Ryan and Macedon MP Mary-Anne Thomas.
"In our part of the world I feel we've reached a level where gender is no longer a barrier," Ms Chesters said.
Bendigo Bank executive Marnie Baker feels the same way, despite having risen through the ranks of the male-dominated finance industry.
Ms Baker said she was lucky to be with a supportive organisation, which did not hinder her career development.
A report in The Age this week revealed women in the finance and insurance industry earned the same amount their male colleagues did 10 years ago, though Ms Baker said her pay was not reflected in these statistics.
"We regularly review our pay scale," she said.
A key change in the finance sector over time, Ms Baker said, was the recognition of the benefits of a gender diverse workforce and that studies showed strong correlations between diversity and high company performance.
Ms Baker said more women could take senior roles but were sometimes "their own worst enemy".
"A position comes up, and as a generalisation, a male will look at that role and say, 'oh yes, I can do three of those (application criteria) but I don't have the experience on the other two but I'll give it a go'."
Whereas women, she said, were less likely to apply unless they felt 100 per cent competent.
"(Men) put themselves forward better," Ms Baker said.
City of Greater Bendigo director of planning Prue Mansfield said the local government sector used to be very segregated.
"Women were in community services and administration and the men did everything else," Ms Mansfield said.
"It was very unusual to have women in other roles.
"My dream would be a world where what gender you were was not even commented on."
She said the appointment of the City of Greater Bendigo's manager of works, roads, drains and construction maintenance, Rachelle Quattrocchi, was a sign of progress.
"But I would love it if no one said, 'oh it's a woman'," she said.
Sub-dean at St Paul's Anglican Cathedral in Bendigo, Heather Martin found her rise to church leader smooth in the wake of major gender debates in the Anglican synod during the 1980s.
Ordination became available to women in 1992 and today four out of 30 Victorian Anglican bishops are women, which Rev Martin finds encouraging.
She believes the most concerning inequalities between women and men were not in Australia, but overseas.
"I'm not thinking about my status or anybody else's status around here, I'm thinking about the women who are still dying from childbirth and the girls who don't get to go to school."
Though Rev Martin said there was one Australian exception.
"The major issue for women that needs to be addressed in this country is the issue of gender based violence," she said.
Centre for Non-Violence manager of prevention and development Robyn Trainor said violence against women and children and gender inequity were clearly linked.
Progress has been made in recent years, she said, with advocacy from high profile leaders such as Victorian Police Commissioner Ken Lay who said violence against women was not a private issue but a criminal one.
Ms Trainor believes violence prevention needs to start with challenging gendered messages fed to children in the media. "All of these lay the foundation if these aren't challenged or questioned," she said.