LEADING the PACK

To celebrate International Women’s Day, meet three women who have defied convention and excelled in traditionally male fields

The globally renowned conductor of one of the world’s most celebrated musicals. The most decorated captain of one of the toughest games in town. The hammer-wielding boss of a boys’ zone building site. The chief winemaker with the degree in chemistry and a nose for perfection.

And while, on the surface, Laura Tiripa Rawinia Tipoki, Charlotte Caslick and Steffani Cooper may come from very different worlds, these remarkable women share some basic commonalities.

They all absolutely love what they do, and they all, at one stage or another, had to work that little bit harder to do it.

Today, as Weekend celebrates the upcoming March 8 International Women’s Day, we speak to Tiripa Rawinia Tipoki, Caslick and Cooper, each at the top of what are traditionally male-dominated professions – and each determined to encourage other women to take the road less travelled.

As Tipoki, conductor of Hamilton, guiding the orchestra through all the intricacies of Lin-manuel Miranda’s epic musical says, “the best path to here is to be the best you can be, no matter where your starting point is”.

For Tipoki, that starting point to the world’s stage was the somewhat sleepier Moffat Beach on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast; for Caslick, it was playing touch footy with her brothers in the suburbs; for Cooper it was a roundabout journey from a university to a work site when she realised she’d rather be on the tools than behind a computer screen. Three trailblazing women to raise our glasses to.

CHARLOTTE CASLICK

27, CO-CAPTAIN, AUSTRALIAN RUGBY SEVENS TEAM/PART TIME CATTLE FARMER

‘Run like a girl’ used to be tossed about as an insult, but it’s increasingly lost its sting. In any case, if that girl happens to be Caslick bearing down on you, then you’d better run out of her way, as fast as you can.

Caslick is a superstar of her sport, a twotime World Women’s Sevens Player of the Year (2016, 2022), she is one of only two players in Sevens history (male or female) to have won (in a team) the Sevens World Cup, the World Series, and individual Commonwealth and Olympic Games Gold. Recently, she became the most-capped player in the Sevens, with 250 games under her belt. She is the literal poster girl for would-be players, with young women around the world hoping to emulate her style on and off the field.

With almost 140,000 followers on Instagram, Caslick says she is well aware of her place as a torchbearer for the sport.

“In women’s rugby when I first started, there were a lot of stereotypes about what players looked like, what their interests were, what their sexuality was, what their body type was, what they wore, how they wore their hair, but it has really shifted over the past 10 years, and nobody cares about any of that stuff. My teammates come from so many different backgrounds, we are such an assortment of women and if young girls ask me what you need to get into this sport, the only answer is ‘all you have to do is love rugby’.”

And

Caslick loves rugby – one of the best things about watching her play is her absolute enjoyment of her game, and her absolute delight when one of her teammates does well.

“We are a sisterhood, and we talk a lot about that. I like to lead by example, so I talk with the girls about the importance of caring for each other. When we are playing we have to put our bodies on the line for each other, we have to protect each other, so together we are a pretty strong machine.”

Caslick’s love affair with rugby began in the backyard of her suburban Brisbane home, playing touch footy with her older brothers – “I never asked, neither did they, I just joined in”. She has also enjoyed national success in touch and rugby league – Caslick was reportedly the NRLW’S No.1 target for the 2022-23 season, before she focused on the Sevens.

Engaged to rugby Sevens player Lewis Holland, 30, the couple have a 142ha cattle property in Stanthorpe, southwest of Brisbane, running 120 cattle.

“We’ve learnt so much,” Caslick says, “we are first generation farmers starting from scratch, and we are learning from other people our age who are third or fourth generation, who have been really welcoming to us. We try to get there about twice a month, and it is just a different world. We’ve had some wild times since we bought it in 2016 – bushfires, drought, floods, and I think the drought brought me more pressure than rugby. Rugby is second nature to me, but the drought was a challenge – I don’t mind a challenge, though.”

Caslick says she would like other young women to know that “it’s a great time to be a female athlete, so don’t let anyone try to tell you what you can or can’t do”.