New group challenges post-feminist myth

NEWCASTLE — The notion that feminism is irrelevant in the '90s is being challenged on Newcastle University. After a period of several years without a prominent feminist presence on campus, a group of inspired women who recognise that the fight for women's rights is far from over are building a group called Women On Campus. Green Left Weekly's KAREN FRY and ROHAN FRASER spoke to SHARON CONNERS-HOLLIDAY, women's officer of the Newcastle Uni Students' Association, who helped to launch WOC after attending the Network of Women Students in Australia conference in July 1995. In Conners-Holliday's view, it was necessary to form the group to draw attention to the fact that women have not achieved equality and that there are many issues affecting women that still need to be addressed. These include sexual harassment, inadequate child-care facilities, and less access to jobs and education. WOC will be campaigning for better child-care facilities on campus. Conners-Holliday explained that waiting lists are long and students are low on the priority list. She said that the service, which is not free, is inadequate. This means that many people with children — generally women — find it hard to take up university studies. Safety on campus will also be addressed. Women make up the majority of victims of attacks on uni grounds. WOC has been pushing for improved lighting along pathways. At a time when the media are questioning women's right to take action to defend themselves (as the debate around Helen Garner's The First Stone illustrates), WOC recognises that women need to be able to report harassment and assault without feeling intimidated. WOC produces a publication, Lunacy. "We want women to see that feminism can be about women expressing themselves, getting published and gaining confidence to write." WOC is campaigning to establish a women's room which will house a library of feminist and gender studies books, and which could be a place for women's support groups. WOC aims to be non-hierarchal and inclusive of all ages and backgrounds. It will challenge the backlash myth that women's rights have gone too far. "We want to challenge negative ideas about feminism which blind people to the issues still affecting women. Feminism is about women having real choice, having control of their bodies and being able to express themselves." Conners-Holliday rejects the idea that permanent change can be achieved through parliament. "Legislative changes will only work when society has a renewed outlook, when there are grassroots ideological changes. It helps to have people in parliament but you need events, like International Women's Day, to get the grassroots involved, those who don't really have any connection with people in parliament. "You need to help fight the backlash myth that feminism is over, to remind people that we haven't always had it this way and that there's still a long way to go."