While researching university in high school, I became discouraged as many people discussed the supposed waste of an arts or humanities degree—especially after the rise in degree prices. But despite this, university (or more importantly, education) has always held an important place in my mind because of my Nanna and our family history.

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Raised in a patriarchal and sexist society, my great-great-grandmother had to deny her daughter an education. She used to tell my great-grandmother, “If you were a boy, I would scrub floors to pay for your education.” Instead, Nanna’s mum was sent out to work as a maid. The status quo meant that women going to school was less common than not.

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When my Nanna was raised, her mother made it a priority to send her to school and provide her with what she couldn’t get as a child. “I earnt my scholarship, I earnt my education.” Despite this success, though, when my Nanna got a good job, her mother asked for “half my wages because she ALLOWED me to have an education.” It was from here that our family values were built. Because of our family history and feminist values, my Nanna has always stressed the importance of education for women—paying for her children’s degrees and supporting our university experiences.

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I went to uni for my Nanna and for the values that she—and my family history—taught me. For me, going to uni and getting an education is my feminist upheaval: the abandonment of the past’s patriarchal beliefs and a celebration of my past generation’s feminist history.

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It isn’t often you can put a financial cost on your beliefs and values. But I can. Every subject I take is $2,000 worth of feminism—upholding my family’s history and my Nanna’s (and my own) values.

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