The Sydney Feminists: Review of 2013

2013 was a big year for The Sydney Feminists.  We put on a total of 5 Documentary Film screenings, 4 Other Activist events and 7 social dinners.  We also promoted 82 women's/feminist events by other groups and were guest speakers at 7 events, including the United Nations National Youth Conference, the International White Ribbon Conference and the University of Sydney Union’s Interfaith Panel series.

We raised money for a women's resource centre and a charity supporting Afghan Women.  We established a strong connection with several groups, including the NSW Women's Network, Women Leading Change and Women’s Action Abortion Campaign. We were a major part of important campaigns, including the Brave Girls Want Change campaign that saw a billboard showcasing ours and other supporters' messages on NY Times Square’s digital billboard. We were interviewed for radio and the newspaper and had articles published in several publications.

Our membership base grew to well over 1000 across Twitter, Facebook, Meet-up and our Mailing List. Our events were attended by anything up to 15 people for dinner socials to over 100 people for events like our Feminism, Animals and the Environment panel.

Who says feminism is irrelevant, dead and finished?

If anything, the movement’s making a comeback as women around the country begin to wake up to the inequalities they face, from domestic violence in the home, to discriminatory practices at work, to the treatment of our first female Prime Minister and the increasing gender pay gap. We have seen nurses and teachers protesting the poor wages of “feminized labour”, demonstrations against attacks on our reproductive rights, campaigning against sexist media and fury over the hostility towards publicly breastfeeding mothers - just to name a few of the feminist activities in 2013!

Thanks to the hard work of our dedicated committee and the amazing support of our members and allies, this small group has grown into an organisation that is a force for change in society.

We are hopeful that with continued vigour and energy, we can continue to achieve great things in 2014. Will you join us?

-- Tessa Barratt (President)

Some Major Achievements:

Fundraiser for the Liverpool Women's Resource Centre's Domestic Violence Fund

February 14th 2013

In Support of V-Day, The Sydney Feminists hosted a dance party to raise awareness about violence against women and to raise funds for a women's resource centre.  The night began with a short video presentation about the One Billion Rising campaign, followed by a talk by guest speaker Cathy Eatock.  At around 8.30pm we kicked off with some live music (SNEZ, Wild Women & more), followed by a rad all-feminist-music disco.  We made over $400 on the night forthe Liverpool Women's Resource Centre Domestic Violence Fund.

Apart from our own fundraiser, we supported other One Billion Rising events by promoting them on our website. We attended the big flashmob that took place outside St Mary's Cathedral on February 14th and took to the streets to raise awareness about the campaign.

The One Billion Rising event was a global event to educate the populace that 1 in 3 women (one billion worldwide) will be assaulted in her lifetime.  The idea was to engage people through dance (Strike! Rise! Dance!), inform them of this reality and get them on board the movement for change.  We were proud to be a part of this global effort.

Documentary Screenings

A major part of our focus is on media education.  Using documentaries from the Media Education Foundation and Trixie Films, we hosted several free events at various locations in Sydney, each time following them up with a comprehensive and engaging presentation relevant to Australia.

Some of the films we screened were: I Was a Teenage Feminist (Humanist House); Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity (The Red Rattler); The Purity Myth: The Virginity Movement's War Against Women (UNSW).

We have improved on our presentations with every screening and are always open to the audience for questions and feedback at the end of the event.  We also direct people to various groups and campaigns where they can become activley involved in changing the state of affairs.

Films we screen focus on both portrayals of femininity as well as masculinity. The Sydney Feminists have worked hard throughout 2013 to provide free events for the public and will continue to do this throughout 2014.

Panel Event: Feminism, Animals and the Environment

May the 20th, 7pm at the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre.

Attended by over 100 people, this fascinating, free event demonstrated the parallels and intersections between movements for women's rights, animal rights and the environment.

The event was graced by the presence of two exciting speakers:

* Dr. Paul Pulé, a Western Australian Gender/Nature researcher (see:http://paulpule.com.au

) explored the mosaic of feminist insights about the human/Nature relationship, as well as his work on engaging men in caring for themselves, each other, their communities and the Earth.

* Daily Life journalist, Ruby Hamad, explained the parallels between the exploitation of women, animals and the environment by a patriarchal structure of power and dominance.  She also launched a new book: Defiant Daughters: 21 Women on Art, Activism and Animals and The Sexual Politics of Meat, by reading out an excerpt of her essay.

Book Description:When 'The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory' by Carol J. Adams was published more than twenty years ago, it caused an immediate stir among writers and thinkers, feminists and animal rights activists alike. Never before had the relationship between patriarchy and meat eating been drawn so clearly, the idea that there lies a strong connection between the consumption of women and animals so plainly asserted. 

But, as the 21 personal stories in this anthology show, the impact of this provocative text on women's lives continues to this day, and it is as diverse as it is revelatory.

The Sydney Vegan club supported and promoted this event. We also connected with local vegan food and tea makers, who supplied the event with delicious food and drink.  One of our main purposes is to be a networking hub for various women's, feminist and supportive organisations.  This event brought together people from three separate movements and unified them in a common cause.  One of the major highlights of our year, Feminism, Animals and the Environment was a huge success.

(More info about this event can be found at http://www.sydneyfeminists.org/ecofeminism)

Feminist Dinner/Lunch Socials

Feminism can be a very serious business, which is why it's important to relax and have fun sometimes.  Socials are a great way to get to know members of the group, meet like-minded individuals, discuss topics that are important to you and make friends and allies.  We hold socials every month or two at various restaurants around the city of Sydney.

In 2013, we held 7 socials at venues across the city, from Coogee to Newtown to Surry Hills.  Attended on average by 15 people, every social was a delightful, friendly and lively event where people of like-minds were able to meet and mingle.  Regulars and newbies alike were able to chat about feminism or whatever happened to take their interest.  Relaxed, casual and fun, every social we held was a delight to attend.

[Socials are advertised on our website's Events page, our Facebook and our Meetup.  They are not autonomous (men are welcome) nor do you have to be a self-described feminist to attend; in fact, we welcome people who are new to feminism and curious to learn more. ]

Don't Bury My Heart: A Film Screening at the Dendy Opera Quays Cinema

October 2013

Our most powerful and ambitious undertaking, the film screening of “Don’t Bury My Heart” was the most spectacular event we held in 2013. Screened at the beautiful location of the Dendy Opera Quays, we teamed up with United Nations Youth Australia to host a screening of this powerful documentary about child executions in Iran.  Created by feminist director/producer Saba Vasefi, the film has been screened for the BBC, Amnesty International in London, as well as the Copenhagen International Film Festival, the Iran Human Rights forum at the University of Oslo and the UN in Geneva.

While the film was specifically about child executions in Iran, the event was broadly focused on the various perils affecting our youth, such as sex trafficking, slavery and war. To this end, we had a line-up of some incredible speakers who discussed these topics on the night in a panel event. In addition, documentary film maker and human rights activist Saba Vasefi was present to introduce her film to the audience.

Live music was performed by cellists Emilly Duffill and Minerva Khodabandeh with vocals by Saba Vasefi.

Campaigns

The Sydney Feminists hosted, or supported, various campaigns throughout 2013.

Most notably, we were closely involved in the global campaign to broaden the representation of girls and women in media: Brave Girls Want Change. Together with the various allies and partners of BGWC, we were able to raise enough money to buy a week-long advertisement on the digital billboard at Times Square, New York, which promoted the campaign through screening the tweets of various supporters.

Locally, we held an event to raise awareness about this campaign on the 2nd International Day of the Girl Child - 11th October.

We also held a Crowdfunding campaign to raise money for Mahboba's Promise, a charity that supports orphans and widows in Afghanistan.  Over the month of December, we successfully raised over $700.  The money will go to helping educate Afghan children and women so that they have a brighter future.

In addition to these two campaigns, we supported the campaign to fight Zoe's Law 2 and protect our reproductive rights (a fight that is still ongoing).  Our Secretary, Joseph Salemi, is also involved in the global campaign to stop violence against women as a White Ribbon Ambassador.

Additional, Notable Mentions

· We were at numerous rallies protesting the placing of single parents onto Newstart, a policy that still needs to be reversed as it has forced many single parents, over 80% of who are women, into poverty.

· We participated in the International Women’s Day March, calling for equal pay amongst other things. We were also present at University of Sydney Union’s International Women’s Day Festival.

· Former committee member Ruby Hamad represented the group by giving a talk at Socialist Alliance’s “Feminism in the 21st Century” panel event.

· We were present at nearly every parliament debate protest of Zoe’s Law 2, which unfortunately passed the lower house in 2013 and will face the upper house in March 2014. Our reproductive rights representative, Jenny Woudenberg, also started a Community Run petition about the subject and was on the organising team of the various major protests staged towards the end of 2013.

· Committee member Sarah de Jongh was on the organising committee of Reclaim the Night 2013, at which we held a successful stall.

· We held a stall at the Ancestral First Indigenous World Festival by Roots, held in November.

· We held a successful awareness-raising and educational event about the practice of female genital mutilation in Australia and abroad. We did this with the support of No FGM Australia.

Special thanks to:

Sarah de Jongh, Dianne Ellis, Steven Muschalik, Jenny Woudenberg, Ruby Hamad, Suyasha Sitaula, Saba Vasefi, Rhianna Keen, Inês Almeida, Nicky Danesh, WAAC, Varuni Bala, Bek Lambert, Teneisha Bhalla, SNEZ Musica, The Three Sisters, Rachel Evans, Natascha Moy, Paula Ferrari, Joe Hock, Patrick Moore, Paul Pulé, Edward Neylan, Humanist House, Equal Rights Alliance, Josie Evans, Fabiola Parra, Pip Hinman, Surefire Signs, Pawel Nowak, Soraya Chemaly, John Calder, Ashley Deng, Jenna Barratt, Rowan Wilson, Elizabeth Mora, Lenny Fung, Therese Shechter, Ruby Goes, Cathy Eatock, Angelus V Morningstar, USyd Union, Amnesty International, Hanna Kivistö, Monika Allan, Michael Flood, Jean Kilbourne, The Red Rattler, NIDA and many more!