Last Updated: September 15, 2008
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CONTRIBUTIONS

"To complain to an outside body in a neo-liberal climate is a dissident act that requires real courage ... those of us who are committed have to keep on talking, even when we feel there is no-one listening. We have to critique what is happening and somehow resist being drawn into the vortex of the market that wants to drown us."
Prof Margaret Thornton

13th September, 2008
RECOGNITION FOR WOMEN BUILDING COMMUNITIES Diann Rodgers-Healey B.A. DipEd. MEd
Founder Australian Virtual Centre for Leadership for Women (CLW)

In the evolution of leadership theory since the early 1900s, there has been a strong focus on leaders being elected and thus being on the top of the hierarchy, having all the answers and possessing impressive traits to lead others.  Moving away from such classical notions of leadership is the notion of the self appointed leader.  Whilst an elected or appointed leader’s source of power is derived from their position,  the self-appointed leader’s power is from within. Their internalisation of goals, mental imagery to improve the situation and self-talk empowers them. As such, they motivate others to self-lead. This, in fact is one of the tenets of transformational leadership which focuses on the empowerment of others.

Over the last three years, CLW has turned its attention to discovering who are the women in Australia who appoint themselves as leaders to build communities by addressing specific and everyday needs. Acknowledging their achievements and how these women collaborate with others to enact shared visions, CLW has recognised a number of women through its Leadership Achievement Award for Women. Below is an honour roll listing them. Their achievements are detailed at www.leadershipforwomen.com.au

2007: Emma Kirkwood for founding The Stillbirth Foundation; Jessica Brown for founding The Life Changing Experiences Foundation; Indu Balachandran for developing Youth Challenge Australia networking youth in Australia and India; Liz Everard for the Body Esteem Project in Western Australia for women with eating disorders; Gainore Atkins for developing the Hobsons Bay Women’s Referral Service in Victoria for women experiencing domestic violence; Celia Bray for the Festival of Dreams Project in Tasmania

2008: Sarah Elston and Caitlin Grigsby for founding the Blue Stockings Association; Juliet Bourke for driving the Taskforce on Care Costs (TOCC); Helen Anne Clarke for the “Hand to the Land” and “Renewal for Rural Women” Programmes; Paula Curotte for founding the ‘Soufflé Sisters;’ Danielle Ecuyer for founding the Women for Change Alliance; Rhonda Obad for founding the Bridge Back to Life Foundation; Margaret Mary Gurry for founding and co-ordinating for eleven years the Friday Night School for students of non-English speaking backgrounds.

The Leadership Achievement Awards for Women are open again for its fourth round, diamond sponsored by ANZ, gold sponsored by Australia Post and Avril Henry Pty Ltd and silver sponsored by Living Now Magazine. An application form and details about the Award are at www.leadershipforwomen.com.au 

Nominate yourself or nominate other women for recognition and great prizes! www.leadershipforwomen.com.au

August, 2008
IRRESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD (and the Pope)
or "BEWARE OF THE DOGMA"

On the eve of the Pope's arrival in Sydney, Cardinal Pell asked Australians to "populate or perish" (Illawarra Mercury, and other Australian daily papers, 15 July 2008). Pell is one of a long line of holy fathers to press for more babies - presumably not their own. The history of the origin of the Catholic ban on contraception is largely forgotten, after centuries of clouded theological debate removed from the reality of daily life.

The ban on the use of contraceptives followed the bubonic plague, which killed so many people that feudal barons were short of peasants to work their estates. This measure coincided with the introduction of bans of labour unions ("combinations" as they were referred to at the time). Presumably the good lords themselves thought it beneath their dignity to roll up their sleeves to work the fields themselves. They turned to law and religion to bolster their position.

The Anti-Combination Act of 1399 was the first piece of anti-union legislation enacted in England and made it an offence for peasants and workers to organise to improve working conditions. At about the same time, the Catholic Church found that it was immoral for married couples - or anyone - to use contraception. This guaranteed a population explosion in Europe which soon filled the fields with workers, their bargaining power reduced because they could be easily replaced. Women who shared their knowledge of contraception were branded as witches and burnt at the stake. Union organisers were imprisoned; the practice continued well into the nineteenth century - some were transported to Australia.

The population explosion in Europe provided factory fodder for the emerging capitalist class - and canon fodder for imperial wars started by kings, Kaisers and other opportunists. Imperial greed for the riches of the so-called "New World", combined with the manufacture of deadly weapons, resulted in wars fought against Indigenous Peoples on five continents - to steal their land and make way for the land-hungry European hordes.

As the competition between the European imperialists intensified, they turned their guns on each other. During World War l millions of young men were sent to suffer and die - in the failed invasion of Turkey at Gallipolli, the slaughter on the fields of Somme, and the hell of the trenches. All this time women were being cajoled into having more children, although the effort drained the strength of many women, whose untimely death decorated the gravestones.

Even after World War ll, advertising contraceptive products in Australia was banned under the rubric of "populate or perish". Young couples were advised to use the "rythm" method, to confine sexual activity to the so-called "safe" periods of the menstrual cycle - a practice referred to as "Vatican Roulette". If a husband insisted on exercising his "marital rights" during an "unsafe" period, the wife was subjected to the pain and suffering of serial coitus interruptus.

The advent of the contraceptive pill liberated many women from the scourge of such practices. However, on July 25 1968, Pope Paul Vl published his encyclical, Humanae Vitae, and reiaterated the dogma that the use of contraceptives :(including the "pill") was against canon law. In doing so, he rejected the advice of his own papal advisory commission.

Fast-forward forty years. A new pope comes to Sydney for a "world yhouth day" that lasts a week. Traffic snarled to a halt over the surfeit of road closures for the Event, and there was ample time to reflect on the impact of various papal decrees as fumes from stationary vehicles engulfed unsuspecting motorists. A gas mask would have come in handy.

I arrived for my Sydney appointment late - after travelling for more than an hour to cover a distance that usually takes fifteen minutes. My friend, who had waited patiently for me to arrive, took me to a local coffee shop. Looking up, I saw the sign on the wall: BEWARE OF THE DOGMA.

Waratah Rose Gillespie

July, 2008
SOLE PARENT PENSIONERS

Hello,

I am writing to ask if you could put something on your website about  the appalling way that genuine low income earners have been treated in the budget. I am a sole parent pensioner, working part time and we simply do not receive enough money to pay rent, bills, & to feed, clothe & educate our children.  Aged pensioners are in an even worse position especially if they do not have superannuation. Statistically, many of these are women.  The cost of living is sky high yet according to the Labour Party, unless you are part of a “working family” earning $50 thousand or more you don’t deserve a decent life.

Even if I were to work full time, there is still only me earning...It is just impossible. I know the Labour Party has promised a review of the welfare system but how long will that take? We need the money now. We have a huge surplus and we pour money overseas whenever there is a disaster (which is the right thing to do) but we have nothing for the people here who are really struggling.

At the moment I am behind in all my bills, including rent and I can’t afford to buy my children winter clothes. What has this country become?

I have emailed Kevin Rudd & my local MP but I feel that more people should start to make a noise. The aged pensioners have begun to protest (as they should) but on the subject of single mothers & other low income groups there is a deafening silence.

I am hoping that visitors to your website will contact their local MP, The Treasurer or The Prime Minister and protest about the way we are being treated.

Hope you can help,

Liz Sparks
Elizabeth Sparks <esparks@aapt.net.au>