Bathurst IBM's Julie Fairley shares her story on International Women's Day

Now, she is the client innovation centre leader at IBM in Bathurst, proving that those comments were certainly not based in fact.

Ms Fairley was the guest speaker at Bathurst Regional Council's International Women's Day event on Wednesday, March 8, where she shared her inspirational story of overcoming adversity and sexism to get to where she is today.

"I grew up in regional Hawke's Bay in New Zealand and did not have the opportunity to go to the university. Online study was not available as there was no internet," she said.

"My parents were poor and could not afford to send me to Auckland or Wellington to the city universities and, to be honest, my scholastic performance at college was very average as I put more effort into sport, so applying for a scholarship was not possible."

In Year 12, she got involved in an extracurricular computer programming study group at school, which saw her begin to excel in the area, leading to a part-time industry internship and then a job offer as junior computer operator.

"My passion was to become a computer programmer, but I was told by my manager that girls were not logical and this career choice would be unavailable to me," Ms Fairley said.

"To be frank, I ignored him. I was determined to prove him wrong."

And she did.

A few months later, the company she worked for advertised for a junior programmer and, when given the chance, she blitzed the aptitude test - which all the male applicants failed - and got her dream job.

However, her battle with sexism didn't end there.

"My career really took off and in my late 20s I was offered a job in Auckland and was finally able to go to uni part-time. I was awarded a diploma in information systems and, as my marks were high, the university asked me to join their MBA program," she said.

"This really excited me, however, when I discussed this with my manager, he told me achieving a MBA would not add anything to my career. There would be no advantage and I would not get more money or promotion.

"Attitudes to women in a professional career had not evolved."

She continued to fight and has now spent the last 18 years working for IBM, with the career taking her right around the world.

On International Women's Day, she encouraged women of all ages to get an education, to team together, and to "dare to fight for the right to go for the career of your choice".

"My advice to you is to strive to be the best that you can be in everything you do, have an inquiring mind and never stop learning," Ms Fairley said.

"Don't [let] someone who's saying no stop you from following your passion. It's only their opinion."

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