By Vaarurfika Dharmapala
PERTH — For the first time since its inception in 1987, the Network of Women Students of Australia's annual conference will be held here this year.
The conference will be held at Edith Cowan University (Mt Lawley campus) from July 8 to 12 around the theme "Challenge, Change, Choice".
NOWSA is an exciting annual gathering which provides an opportunity for feminist students to meet, discuss and debate key issues facing the women's movement, and to plan actions around immediate issues.
It is the largest gathering of women students in the country — the 1995 conference attracted around 600 women. Participants come from all walks of life; from high school, TAFE and university; and from varied political backgrounds.
Women still do not have access to safe, free and legal abortion. They still earn on average only 65% of men's wages. They are concentrated in low-skilled, part-time or casual work. They are still pressured to conform to arbitrary and unnatural body images. And they face violence on the streets and in the home constantly.
NOWSA helps to keep such issues on the agenda, and provides opportunities for new layers of women to challenge the status quo and actively campaign for change and choice.
The NOWSA conferences are all the more important given the election of a Coalition federal government.
The 1996 conference is organised around themes dealing with specific aspects of women's lives. They include gender roles and sexuality; women, education and work; women and health; indigenous women; and women and the culture of resistance. The agenda will include plenary sessions each day and numerous workshops. It will also include films, art displays, dances and a campaign rally or march.
For more information, contact the women's collective on your campus. To get involved in the organising collective in Perth, or share your ideas for the conference, contact Kim on (09) 273 8228, Jessica on (09) 443 1414 or Tina on (09) 360 2158.