As the first recipient of the Maybanke Anderson Education Scholarship at the Women’s College, Maylyn Zongas delivered a speech at the 2025 Maybanke Lecture reflecting on the transformative impact of education in her life. She shared her personal journey, the challenges she’s overcome, and the importance of equitable access to education – values at the heart of Maybanke Anderson’s legacy.
What follows is the full transcript of her speech.
Good evening everyone, I am Maylyn Zongas, and the inaugural recipient of the Maybanke Anderson Education Scholarship which has allowed me to study at The Women’s College. I am so incredibly grateful to be here tonight and to give the vote of thanks to our wonderful lecturer Dr Wendy Michaels. As Dr Michaels eloquently put, Maybanke Anderson established a strong foundation for women’s suffrage and, inspired by Maybanke’s activism, Millicent paved a clear path for women, and in particular mothers, surrounding child custody. As someone who has been through the intense processes of child custody, which has shaped me into the person I am today, I have a lot to thank Millicent and Maybanke for.
I’d first like to introduce myself a bit more in order to dissect what feminism means to me.
In 2023, I had just graduated high school and was deciding what to do for university. I had two options; To study music performance on the cello at the Conservatorium of Music, or to study Law and Commerce at Sydney University. I was also admitted into The Women’s College as a resident, however, only as a student studying at the Con.
I was completely stuck between the two drastically different options and talked to a myriad of professionals in the respective industries, who all, unsurprisingly, wanted me to follow their career paths. However, it was actually my best friend that helped me unpack the situation I was in. She asked me, “What do you want in life? ”.
And I told her, “I want to be free”.
I wanted to be free of the pressures I felt growing up in an unstable and non-financially secure household. I wanted to be free of the unsupportive peers I had in high school that told me we wouldn’t be friends if I didn’t go to the Con. And I wanted to choose something that would give me options to use my academic, musical and personal skills.
So, I decided to study Law and Finance and was extremely lucky to have my place at the Women’s College reinstated for my new degree.
Since then, I’ve been able to meet a multitude of new people, from across Australia and the world who make me feel valued and supported while also learning critical and academic skills within my Finance and Law degrees. I’ve also been able to regularly continue being involved in music, completing my Licentiate in Music for cello late last year while also organising music-based competitions and opportunities at The Womens’ College.
These opportunities have all been the consequence of freedom and autonomy, which I believe is a fundamental aspect of feminism. For me, feminism is allowing women to have autonomy in the choices they make and these choices, subsequently, giving them the freedom they deserve.
The restrictions placed on autonomy for young women are formed by societal expectations and exemplified through how men, particularly young men, view women. On a macro-level, we see this in the rising numbers of violence against women in Australia, with a total of 14 women having been murdered in relation to gender violence, this year alone. On a micro and more personal level, I’ve had numerous male classmates assume I was studying Arts and Law upon meeting me for the first time. To their shock, I’ve asked them every time, “Is it because I’m a woman?”. Although a seemingly innocent assumption, stereotyping like this forms the basis for the sexism that remains prevalent among a lot of young men. A key tip I like to hold to my male friends is, “If you wouldn’t say it to a man, why would you say it to a woman?”.
As a young woman, I have found that my strongest support system has been the other women in my life. Whether it is female-led societies and programs at University, my best friend who helped me make one of the most influential decisions of my life, or at Women’s College where I’m surrounded by and work with the most talented and intelligent young women who inspire me every day.
Standing here tonight, we are surrounded by the work of Australia’s strongest women, particularly Ms Jane Spring. You are an incredible and captivating leader and I am so honoured to have received my scholarship from you and the Maybanke fund. The freedoms and education that this scholarship through the Women’s College will give me are invaluable and I cannot thank you enough for inviting me tonight to speak.
Please join me in thanking Dr Michaels who so clearly personifies the spirit of Maybanke, 134 years on, for her wonderful lecture this evening.
To support the Maybanke Fund, you can donate here.
Click to read Dr Wendy Michael’s 2025 Maybanke lecture: Whose Child? Millicent Preston Stanley’s Campaign for Mothers’ Rights.
Main image: Maylyn Zongas and Jane Spring AM and Dr Wendy Michaels OAM.
