Spotlight on Vida Goldstein
"The vote campaign of Goldstein and the other suffragists ended in November 1908 when Victorian women won the right to vote — 14 years after South Australian women became the first in the country to win suffrage. Research for the docu-drama [on Vida Goldstein] has led to the discovery and re-release this year of a Vida Goldstein book by the Victorian Women's Trust. Goldstein wrote the book, which was thought to have been lost in the Melbourne University Baillieu Library, after contacting lawmakers in other Australian states to ask them what the outcome had been of women getting the vote. The book was sent to women's groups around the world and used to lobby Victorian politicians" writes Deborah Gough in the Sunday Age.
'Family violence program treats babies'
"TRAUMATISED babies as young as three months old are receiving therapy at the specialist family violence program for mothers and infants at the Royal Children's Hospital. Figures provided to The Age show that 73 babies and toddlers up to three years old have been referred to the program since it started three years ago, because they have been affected by family violence — either directly or has been exposed to it. "We have a mix of kids where mums have been assaulted, and we have kids who have been caught in the crossfire," said Wendy Bunston, a social worker and family therapist who manages the hospital's Addressing Family Violence program." -- Article by Carol Nader in the Age newspaper. The Victorian Women's Trust has proudly supported this program run by the Royal Children's Hospital for mothers and toddlers for the last two years, through our annual Grants Program.
'Jihad for women's rights'
"The next fundamental change needed within Islamic states to equalise society and opportunity deals with women's rights. In any society, gender equality is a prerequisite for democracy to thrive. This is especially true in Islamic societies where gender inequality was used to promote political subordination and domination for centuries. It stifles social growth and opportunity. Societies with gender equality have without exception been pluralistic, tolerant, economically viable and democratically stable. Growing up in an environment of gender equality - an environment where daughtersand sons were treated equally - I have found it difficult to tolerate gender inequality in any form. I find it offensive both as a woman and as a Muslim," an extract from The Estate of Benazir Bhutto, 2008. Extracted from Reconciliation by Benazir Bhutto, published tomorrow by Simon & Schuster. As published in The Australian newspaper.
'May the fleas of a thousand camels rest in your armpits'
"While previous generations of migrants may not have had a strong grasp of English when they arrived, andfewer English classes were available, it did not prevent them from acquiring the language and discovering the idiosyncrasies of the new country. Many learnt on the job: on the factory floor, serving long hours in shops and milk bars, in the cane fields, in the work camps of vast infrastructure projects such as the Snowy Mountains Scheme. Indeed, English was my parents' sixth language, and they learnt it whileattending to the business of adjustingto a new life.Compulsory citizenship tests that rely on rote learning are an illusionary means of creating an integrated nation. The true heroes of social cohesion in Australia are the professionals and volunteers alike, who teach English in neighbourhood houses, asylum seeker resource centres, and private homes. They include those who invite immigrantfriends and neighbours into their lives and simply converse." Melbourne writer Arnold Zable, in the Age.
'Women are never frontrunners'
"Sowhy is the sex barrier not taken as seriously as the racial one? The reasons are as pervasive as the air we breathe: because sexism is still confused with nature as racism once was; because anything thataffects males is seen as more serious than anything that affects “only” the female half of the human race; because children are still raised mostly by women (to put it mildly) so men especially tend to feel they are regressing to childhood when dealing with a powerful woman; because racism stereotyped black men as more “masculine” for so long that some white men find their presence to be masculinity-affirming (as long as there aren’t too many of them); and because there is still no “right” way to be a woman in public power without being considered a you-know-what," GLORIA STEINEM writing in the New York Times, on Senators Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama's quests in becoming the Democratic presidentialcandidate.
Read the New York Time's article here
Preventing Violence beforeit occurs
The Victorian Women's Trust is currently running a violence-prevention project engaging with young men, having received funding from Vichealth to trial the project in groups around Victoria. Vichealth dedicates a lot of its work concerning health promotion to addressing violence against women, as it found in its 2006 study that violence against women is the "largest preventable contributor to disease burdenin women aged 15–44 years". To add to Vichealth's body of important work addressing the issue, the organisation released the following report and notice for distribution this week:
"In 2003 VicHealthidentified violence against women as a priorityas part of a broaderprogram of activity aimed at addressing the preventable causes of poor mental health. This form of violence was identified given the strong evidential link between violence and anxiety, depression and other mental health problems .
VicHealth has placed particular emphasis on strengthening primary prevention responses to this problem, working in partnership with others across a range of sectors and settings .
In 2006 the Victorian government in Australia identified the need to develop a whole-of-government plan to guide activity in the primary prevention of violence against women. This undertaking wasmade recognising that, while there was a growing momentum of support forprimary prevention, it was important this was consolidated and sustained through sound evidence-informed policy, coordinated action and appropriate resource allocation.
To support the planning process the first phase was undertaken by VicHealth in the context of a partnership between it and the Victorian Government. Itinvolved the development of a conceptual framework to guide action to prevent violence against women, based on a review of existing research evidence and input from arange of local and national experts. The end result is this publication Preventing violence before it occurs: A framework and background paper to guide the primary prevention of violence against women in Victoria
This framework is designed to provide a sound theoretical and evidence baseto support future government, community and corporate sector activity to prevent violence against women. It identifies priority strategies, settings and population targets. The publication was launched today [December 12] by Ms Maxine Morand MP, Minister for Women's Affairs, with speeches given in support by The Hon Rob Hulls MP, Deputy Premier & Attorney General and Ms Jean Cameron, Director Women's Domestic Violence Crisis Service."
You can see the publication here, along with several supporting documents, all created by VicHealth.
Multiple copies of both this and the Violence Against Women: Community Attitudes Survey can be ordered from cnicholls@vichealth.vic.gov.au
'Long Way To The Lodge'
"INDIA did it in 1966. Britain did it in 1979. New Zealand did it in 1997, but Australia never has. It is perhaps the biggest disconnect between our egalitarian self-image of a fair go for all and a more discriminatory reality. One hundred and five years after Australia became the first country in the world to simultaneously give women the right to vote and the right to stand for elections, we have never had a female prime minister or even leader of the Opposition," Rebecca Weisser, writing in The Australian.
'Killings all too familiar'
"The circumstances of the killing of Brendan Keilar and the shooting of Kara Douglas and Dutch backpacker Paul De Waard were not identical to those surrounding my sister's murder. But, there were enough similarities for it to send a chill down my spine." Phil Cleary writing in the Herald Sun.
'Osland takes pardon fight to High Court'
"Victorian Women's Trust executive director Mary Crooks said the application concerned freedom of information, and women as citizens. "The government was asked to make a decision responding to an awful case of domestic violence, a high profile case which generated widespread public interest," she said. "Until we know why the government failedto show Heather Osland compassion, then it is difficult to have confidence in government decision making."" Peter Gregory reporting in The Age (online), also reproduced in the Bendigo Advertiser.
"Is truth a casualty when Government pulls its figures out?"
“Employment minister Sharman Stone's announcement that Welfare to Work is a resounding success needs to be seen alongside a report released on Saturday by Marie Coleman, representing the National Foundation for Australian Women. As for the Prime Minister's weekend claim that his Government had done more for women than any in history, it's hyperbolic at best. Unfortunately, the facts don't fit his story,” Anne-Marie Strickland writing in The Age.
View the articlehere
3CR On the Record - Women on the Line
"Onthe Record is a radio chronicle of the issues that have shaped the women's movement in Australia since 1986 - all drawn from Women on the Line's 20 years of archives. We ask "how much have things changedfor women and what's stayed the same? What arethe issues that still needthe strong voice of Womenon the Line?"
Since 1986, Women onthe Line has featured women's voices, issues and commentary, providing a gender analysis of current affairs from women around Australia and internationally. The producers of On the Record extend their thanks to all the women - on both sides of the microphone - who have been involved over the years in Women on the Line."
Funded by the Victorian Women's Trust, You can listen to these programs on the internet by clicking here.
International Women's Day - Women lose ground at work and at home
Media Release: Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission
'Players undergo sex re-education'
"AFL players have been asked to learn from the mistakes of otherfootballersas part of the further development of the league's respect and responsibility policy.Former Adelaide captain Mark Bickley and fellow ex-player JasonMcCartney have been delivering education programs, tackling sexual assault and violence against women, at every AFL club over the past month," Samantha Lane writing in the Age.
Northcote Graffiti
As seen on the streets of Northcote, February 2007. Our answer is - yes indeed it is tricky!
'Women's work needs a major rework'
"THE "glass roof" of the familyhome may be the equivalent for 21stcentury women to the "glass ceiling" that restricted women's workplace opportunities in the 20th."
'Market does the work men don't'
"As part of a study on the effects of the labour market on families, Professor Barbara Pocock asked young people how they would manage paid and unpaid work when they had a partner.The respondents, maleandfemale, expected to havejobs and families - the old malebreadwinner model wasn't even mentioned. However, male attitudes to housework were very old-fashioned. More than 40 per cent of the boys interviewed said wives would providethe domestic labour. "My lady is doing thecleaning," said Mike, a year11 student from Sydney."I'll just be on the porch having a beer"," Matt Wade writingin the Sydney Morning Herald.
'One in 3 women abusedby partners: UN'
"Violence against womenis severe and pervasive around the world,with at least one inthree women subjected to intimate partner abuse during her lifetime, according to a UN report released today," as covered by News Ltd.
'Adult world must let girls be girls'
"BRAS foreight-year-olds. Lip glossfor six-year-olds. Fashion and gossip magazines for girlsfrom age five. Thesexualisation of children is changing the experience of childhood, yet there has been little public discussion of its implications. Children, particularly girls,are under increasing pressure from advertisers and marketers to adopt a"sexy" persona from very young ages," Emma Rush, writing in the Sydney Morning Herald.
'Andrew Lovett, the girl and a story'
"Kimberlie Watson is neither vengeful nor vindictive. After all,it was shewho ended therelationship,pleadedwith the police not to charge Lovett and readily admits he 'wasan emotional mess' in the months leading up to the incident. However, asmuch as she wants to commend the club and Lovett for talking openly abouthis problems withdepression and alcoholshe believes he should have atleast accepted that what he did that night in the car was wrong." Phil Cleary - first published in the Herald Sun, as quoted from Phil Cleary's website. (Please note, the Victorian Women's Trust is currently working on a project with Phil Cleary addressing violence against women. For more information about the project, contact Sarah or Mary at the Trust).
'Just how does pole dancing free women?'
MelanieLa'Brooy asks this question in today’s opinion section of the Age: “While some ofthe young women featured in the music videos at my healthclub are extremely gifted dancers, the majority of them are talented car-washers, bikini-wearers and semi-naked wrestlers. A celebration of women's liberation it is not. Gloria Steinem once said that she thought a woman had two choices — either she's a feminist or a masochist. All I know is that watching those videos while I exercise makes me feelsimultaneously like both.”View the Age's 'Your Say' on "raunch culture" here
'Women missing from boardrooms'
"The 2006 Australian Census of Women in Leadership, by the Federal Government's Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), showed there had been only small improvements in the number ofwomen board directors since thecensus was first done in 2002. The number of women executive managers in the ASX 200 had increased slightly to 12 per cent from 11.4 per cent in 2004. But that gain was amplified by shrinking management teams, EOWA said," AAP.
'Judges jibe at critics of women's progress'
"VICTORIA'S most senior judge has mocked the masculinity of those challenging the rise of women in the legal profession. Referringto male lawyers who used the media to anonymously criticise the increasing number of women on the bench, Supreme Court Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said: "It is difficult to answer or debate with those who have no face — or anything else,"" as reported by Kenneth Nguyen in The Age.
View the articlehere
Ernie Awards for sexist remarks, 2006"P&O Cruises sailed to victory inthe annual Ernie Awards for chauvinism last night, winning the Gold Ernie as well as the award in theindustrial category for its advertisement "Seamen Wanted", which was mentioned in the coronial inquest into thedeath of Dianne Brimble. Tom Cruise won the celebrity award with his quote: "I've got Katie tucked away so no one will get to her until my child is born ...[Katie's] life from now on was going to be about being a mother. I'm not giving her the chance to turninto another Nicole,"" as reported by Damien Murphy & Jacqueline Maley in the Sydney Morning Herald.
Women's contribution to the Lort Smith Animal Hospital
In the Victorian Women’s Trust’s ‘Ordinary Women Extraordinary Lives’ book, one of the women featured is Louisa Eleanor Lort Smith, founder of Melbourne’s Lort Smith Animal Hospital:"Born on a cattle station in Gippsland, Louisa cared deeply for animals and abhorred cruelty. In the early 1930's, with the aid of the Animal Welfare League, Louisa established a free clinic which initially ran out of the Melbourne University Veterinary School."
"For many years the clinic, now known as the Lort Smith Animal Hosptial, was run, entirely by women. Involving enormous amounts of voluntary work, it ran to budget, accumulated funds, and treated thousands of animals for little or no cost to their owners."
"Louisa was an extraordinary pioneer whose opinions on cruelty to animals invariably sparked lively public debate. One of her greatest triumphs was, at 79 years of age, to oversee the introduction of the captive bolt pistol in the city abattoirs."
In today’s Age, Barney Swartz writes about Lort Smith’sappointment of chaplain Barbara Allen:VWT Welcomes Landmark High Court Ruling
The Victorian Women's Trust welcomes the High Court decision to award Carol Stingel the right to launch civil action against former ATSIC chair Geoff Clark for psychiatric problems shesays result from an alleged rape in 1971.
The Women’s Trust provided support to Stingel’s lawyers Maurice Blackburn Cashman in taking on the case through the Moira Rayner Fund for Equal Opportunity.
AsMBC lawyer Viv Waller told the ABC’s PM program, the ruling has far reaching implications:
“The result enables those people with delayed onset psychiatric injuries to be able to bring their matters before the court. It's the very nature of psychiatric injury arising from childhood sexual assault that renders someone incapable of seeking medical and/or legal advice often until much later in life, and I think it's a terrific result for justice.”
The Moira Rayner Fund for Equal Opportunity is administered by the Victorian Women’s Trust. For more information contact Sarah or Maryat the Trust on (03) 9642 0422.
'Elizabeth Scott- the first woman hanged in Victoria'
"This article compares two cases in which women were convicted for killing their husbands.Both cases were inrural Victoria, but they occurred over a century apart. Debbie Kirkwood, DVIRC's Publications Worker, argues that although there have been some notable changesin the way the trials are conducted, the cultural and political perceptions of women who kill remain eerily similar. Women continue to be judged according to perceptions of appropriate female behaviour."
View the article, from DVIRC's newsletter, here (please note file isPDF)
'Better to bashAborigines than whites'
"If the explanation for violence in the Aboriginal communities is to be found in their culture, howdo we explain the now documented statistics concerning violence towards women in"whitefella" society? The real truth is that violence towards women and children, whether in an Aboriginal community or behind the picket fence of middle Australia, is a product of misogyny and patriarchy, not cultural or ethnic disposition." Phil Cleary,The Age (please notethe Victorian Women's Trust is currently working on a special project addressingviolence against women with Phil Cleary)
'Feuding bosses and net nasties go for the throat'
"Last week I interviewed Peter Meakin - Channel Seven's head of news and current affairs- for ABC radio's Sunday Profile. He acknowledged the pressure on women to look young and flawless, but said while good looks were a "factor" in the hiring of women, they shouldnot be too beautiful: "Menhave a much easier role in television … Theycan be overweight, they can sit there in a suit, because the appearance of men, particularly when theygetolder, doesn't seem to consume anyone'sattention."" Julia Baird in the Sydney MorningHerald.
'Speaking Out For A New Feminism'
"Ambling along Broadway in New York, on my way to meet the writer Ariel Levy, I realise that I have developed an extra sense. A kind of "raunch-vision". I have just finished re-reading Levy's book,Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women andthe Riseof Raunch Culture-an analysis of our culture's fascination with porn stars, silicone breasts andlap dancing - and suddenly, everywhere I look, I can see, well, pure raunchiness," Kira Cochrane, The Age.
'C'mon sport, let women reach their goal'
"We are constantly told by television executives that women'ssport does not rate.Yet when female athletes and women's teams are part of the quadrennial sporting orgies - the Olympics andthe Commonwealth Games - they ratewell enough to have thenetworks spending millions for the rights," Liz Ellis,writing in theSydney Morning Herald.
Get Up!Campaign - Stop Deceiving Women
“Right now, fake pregnancy counsellorsare being allowed to operate unregulated in Australia. These organisationsclaim to offer unbiased professional advice, but in reality are staffed by anti-choice volunteers with littleor noformal qualifications. Act now, and tel lthe Senate Inquiry to recommend legislation to stopthis deception” Get Up!View the Get Up!campaign link here
'Teenage girls feel pressured into sex'
"Researchers found that among 279 teenage girls they interviewed, many said they'd given in to unwanted sex at some point because they were afraid their boyfriend wouldget angry" as reported on the Sydney Morning Herald online.
One rule for the blokes...
"[Labor front bencher Julia] Gillard was ejected for an hour for heckling as Health Minister Tony Abbott added to an answer about the government's plans to sell Medibank Private. It came a day after she thrown out for 24 hours for calling Mr Abbott a snivelling grub - and then apologising to grubs."
'NRLoffers little to cheer for women'
"WORD is that the National Rugby League is looking to officially recognise the contribution of women to its game,AFL-style. But before the NRL considers bells,whistles and pink ribbons, it would do well to start with some analysis of match-day happenings, where there is a change screaming out to be made," Samantha Lane, The Sunday Age.View the article here
'Baby We Haven't Come that far, say Aussie women'
"In the afterglow of [Costello's] 11th budget, The Age called on the women of Australia — well, six, plus a few experts to deliver their verdicts," The Age, May 13, 2006.
'What the juror's didn't know'
"Everyone had a different piece of the puzzle that was Julie Ramage's complicated, compartmentalised life. Her family knew about Jamie's argumentativeness, controlling behaviour and attempts to cut her off from her relatives. But it was only late in the course of events that they heard about physical abuse," Karen Kissane, the Age, an edited extract from 'Silent Death: The Killing of Julie Ramage'.
View thearticle here
Women and Work choices
"An interesting study from two US economists might give another reason why there are so few women in management positions. While the study was done in the US, the implications also suggest that women aregoing to be among the big losers in the Federal Government's Work Choices overhaul of Australian workplaces," Leon Gettler, The Age online, May 1,2006.
Pink - 'No shades of grey'
"Pink describes herself as a feminist - "I would say that, definitely" - but like many women, she is still trying to assess where she stands in regards to in-your-facesexuality."I'm actually reading a book right now called Female Chauvinist Pigs [by Ariel Levy], which is really interesting to me because it shows both sides of it," says Pink." Christine Sams, Sydney Morning Herald online, March 27, 2006
View the article here
'Rowling's rant over skinny image'
Author JK Rowling has criticised the skinny image of models in the fashion industry and the influence these images have on young women, as reported on the Sydney Morning Herald online.
Menopause -depression link.
View the article here...
Issues and Policy Archives