Women's Web Women's Stories - Women's Actions
Welcome | Stories | About Us | I.W.D. | Dialogue | Feminist Futures
Actions

Last Updated: January 29, 2012
Contact us: wmnsweb@iprimus.com.au

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY

On this page: Jocelynne Scutt; Onnie Wilson

Dr Jocelynne Scutt

Then I went to the Law Reform Commission again. What I thought was really interesting was that in Sydney, the International Women's Day marches were always the best. They were huge and they were absolutely amazing - they were great. We had a really wonderful one I remember.

We marched up, I think it was King Street, past where there was a bridal shop and the women had put messages on the window saying "Marriage is Slavery", whereupon the women in the shop responded with messages saying "Buy your Slave Gear Here". It really added to the spirit. That was the march where a whole lot of women lay down in Liverpool Street and stopped the buses.

That was when Wran was Premier. He had clearly given orders that the police were not to be violent or brutal and no-one was to be arrested. The police were there keeping the march safe, but they didn't move in and arrest anybody. The women were lying down in the street stopping the buses - it was an amazing thing.

Whereas in Melbourne it was the Reclaim the Night marches that were the best. I remember going on one, where there was a decision in the Western world that all the women would march at the same time. It was amazing - there were women carrying torches. We marched down Bourke Street and the trams just stopped. The tram drivers were cheering us and the tram conductors were looking out and cheering us on!

There was only one little bit of negativism. There was a small group of men on the corner of Bourke Street and Russell Street saying nasty things, but that was all. Otherwise there was incredible support. People were standing several deep all along the route. In Melbourne I was at the Law Reform Commission for a while, then I went to the Bar.

Onnie Wilson

The male tradition never dies. For example, every Saturday in winter you hear the history of every football club, who kicked what, when, etc. There is non-stop reinforcement of the traditions of the male paradigm. Amongst women, we don't have this.

Even with the Union of Australian Women and all the fantastic work they have done, there is not a stream of young women who are part of the same process - picking up the work and going on with it. We tend to go ahead in fits and starts.

The Women's Festival that Sue (Leigh) and I started in 2002 was to try to address that to some extent, to get a big celebration on International Women's Day (IWD) going, which would make women feel that a large and public festival by and for women is appropriate. We really do need to celebrate women and feel positive about who we are - that we are quite justified in having a large space on the globe, as women.

The 'One Day of the Year' for us should be IWD: a large festival, equal to the International Comedy Festival or bigger. All the festivals we have in Melbourne have got larger, year by year.

But on International Women's Day there aren't banners hanging from Flinders Street Railway Station and all down Swanston Street, letting everyone know it is International Women's Day. We have to scratch around on the internet to try and find something, anything, that is happening. I find this distressing.

Also, it is important that women of all cultures should be involved in IWD. And all ages should be together so we don't have broken ties with what has gone before: Everyone should be part of women's organisations. Older people can then learn from younger people, and younger from older, and we can all put our two bob's worth in and we can all benefit together. That is really important.