International Women's Day
By Kath Gelber
Every year women and their supporters mobilise in their thousands in Australia, and in their millions around the world, to celebrate International Women's Day. IWD is more than a celebration, though. It is a milestone marking how far we've come, and a measure of how much we have yet to achieve. In the words of this year's IWD broadsheet, it's a time to "celebrate our victories and join the campaign for justice".
There is, unfortunately, still much to be done. If we thought the work of our mothers, aunts and grandmothers had paved the way for us to live a comfortable '90s-style individualism and not worry about all that feminist stuff, think again.
The reality remains one of sexual abuse, violence on the street and in the home, discrimination in the workplace, lack of equal pay, carrying a disproportionate share of domestic duties, restricted job opportunities, particularly brutal forms of discrimination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, a high incidence of incarceration for poverty-related "offences" such as welfare fraud, lack of services for women from non-English speaking backgrounds, lack of access to free, safe abortion on demand.
At this IWD, some of the mothers, grandmothers and aunts who won our past victories will march side by side with newer faces, women who have never been to an IWD march before, who may even have no knowledge of the strong and vibrant history of women's struggle. This would not be surprising; our stories don't make the history textbooks.
Our stories are full of vigour, determination and strength and are something to be proud of. From the suffragists who struggled for our right to vote — something we now take completely for granted — to women who formed the first women's consciousness-raising groups in Australia in the '70s, they will all be represented. I remember an IWD march a few years ago when I marched next to a woman who had asked her nurse to bring her along to the parade. With support from the nurse on one side and her walking stick on the other, she carried a placard the entire length of the march and chanted along with the rest of us, "My body, my life, my choice".
When you're marching this year, take the time to look around and see who you're marching with. Witness all the women marching strong and proud with their supporters and friends and feel the strength of working together to achieve ongoing and real change for women. It's inspirational and it helps imbue in all of us a sense of confidence that we can organise for change, we will organise for change and we will win.