New GG shows smart girls can win

Julie Payette, engineer, astronaut, should inspire young women

Governor general may prove to be the easiest job Julie Payette has ever held. (Rideau Hall comes with serving staff, after all.) But it may end up being her most influential position yet.

The 53-year-old Montreal native is best known for her stint as an astronaut. She flew on two space missions for NASA and was the first Canadian to board the International Space Station. But she has accomplished much more than that.

Her resumé is long enough that it could take up my whole column. So here it is in a nutshell. Payette is a computer engineer, a military pilot and a deep-sea diver. She speaks six languages. She plays piano. She even sings.

She has earned multiple degrees and has been granted armloads of honorary ones. She has won scholarships, research grants and prestigious fellowships dating to when she was in high school.

But what she is, as a result of all that, is an excellent role model for women. She is certainly someone I want my daughters to look up to.

Payette is a smart woman. She is a science chick. She is a computer geek who dabbled in a traditionally male domain and excelled. She is an overachiever. She is not someone who has got by on her looks or her charm or her fashion choices.

Payette has succeeded by virtue of hard work. Flying space missions and military jets requires intense focus and long hours of training. There are no shortcuts. She has a specialization in robotics and has operated the famous Canadarm, among other robotic devices, to help assemble and supply parts of the ISS. It takes tremendous intelligence and diligence to be chosen for such important missions.

Space travel, piloting a Snowbird and being certified as a level one atmosphere diver are not for the faint of heart. These are dangerous pursuits, and Payette’s ability to conquer these endeavours is a demonstration of her fearlessness.

So Payette’s selection as governor general is an inspired choice by a feminist prime minister who frequently talks up the importance of female heroes for his own young daughter. But the timing is also crucial for all our daughters.

Payette is a brainiac in an age when the occupant of one of the world’s highest offices is a man of questionable judgment who denies climate change, makes up words on Twitter and has a history for disrespecting women. She is an intellectual who leads with a trail-blazing example.

In an era where young women are bombarded with images of scantily clad waifs and reduced to measuring their self-worth by how many likes they get for their Instagram selfies, Payette is proof of what they are fully capable of. She epitomizes girl power.

Strong women have occupied Rideau Hall before her — and bright ones, too. But Payette brings a skill set and a dynamism to this symbolic and high-profile post when it is most needed. In other words, she is the right role model at the right time.

Payette was asked during a news conference Thursday in Ottawa how she would use her new platform. While she said she still has to reflect on any special causes she might espouse, she dropped a heartening hint: “I believe strongly in facts, in evidence, in data and science.”

And it is to be hoped that she can also encourage more girls to take up sciences, technology, engineering and mathematics and strive to make their mark in these fields, just as she has.

It’s not that she didn’t do this before, but being governor general will allow her to bring her important message to a wider audience. The position may be symbolic, but Payette is a powerful symbol for Canadians to rally around.

If the future is female, Payette, with her brilliance, courage, determination and grit, demonstrates how smart girls can win. Allison Hanes is the Montreal Gazette’s city columnist.