We would like all women's groups in Sydney to make IWD 2008 a special event by having our biggest march ever and by joining in the celebration afterwards. IWD has always been a time to celebrate and remember the origin and significance of this politically important day to women everywhere. In 2008 we would also be celebrating that this is the first time in our nation’s history that we’ve had a female Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, who is also the Federal Minister for Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
The first IWD was inspired by a strike of women garment workers in New York in 1908, when women in the United States initiated the first Women's Day, organising large demonstrations calling for the vote and the political and economic rights of women.
At the same time across the Atlantic thousands of women were taking to Fleet Street in London to protest their right to vote – a right which Australian women had won in 1902, New Zealand won the world first in 1893. We didn’t start our IWD marches until 1928. Australia’s IWD 2008 is a landmark event, celebrating 80 years since our first IWD march.
Sadly over the past 10 years the involvement of women's groups in the organisation of and participation in the International Women's Day march in the centre of Sydney has diminished. March organisation in recent years has been managed by a collective of university students at the start of their academic year, who have attempted to summon wider support from community groups to participate in the march and information stalls on the day.
Some of the reasons cited for this decline in participation are: • Events have been sponsored in local areas, throughout NSW through Councils, shifting the focus from a central celebration and a public show of strength • Quite a number of feminists/activists are ageing and can no longer march • The ageing population of volunteers is impacting on organisations’ abilities to participate in additional activities and promotions • Lack of promotion of the event • Promotional material arriving late
The Older Women’s Network – OWN, together with the Women’s Electoral Lobby – WEL, with the assistance of the City of Sydney, the Office for Women and the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet and the YWCA, are determined to put this event back on the Sydney Events Map and to increase its visibility! In 2008 IWD falls on Saturday, 8 March. We would like to see every women's group marching and to encourage a contingent of young women to march alongside them and to learn the history of activism and of their organisation's involvement in political activity or the work they’ve accomplished in the community.
To ensure this visibility we are forming a small project team with the IWD Collective, City of Sydney, the NSW Office for Women – OfW, the Department of Premier and Cabinet and the YWCA to festoon the streets with IWD banners, fill Hyde Park with information stalls, activity and entertainment and encourage organisations to raise funds/sponsors to enable their participation, ownership and ultimate success of the event. Women need to give a message to both State and Federal governments (particularly State) that women are; energised, strong and politically active. By showing strength, it will make it easier to negotiate our needs with OfW and the Department of Premier and Cabinet – AND IT SHOULD BE FUN.
No one is paying us to organise this – it’s a labour of passion, and that’s what we want to see! CoS has allowed us free use of the poles, OfW and the YWCA has assisted with some funds, however organisations and sponsors need to get behind this endeavour by funding the banners, stalls and entertainment and creating a strong presence on the day.
Have a read through the next section, and then fill in the attached Registration Form. Come on – you’ve got every reason to Celebrate!
Celebrate by participating in …
1. The Women Who Made It Happen The Older Women’s Network (OWN) in conjunction with City of Sydney and the NSW Office for Women will launch a documentary series by filmmaker and OWN Member Jan Wood (currently in production) exploring the herstory and current practice of feminism in Sydney through the eyes of the women activists who made it happen. This series will then be broadcast on TVS, with ‘teasers’ being broadcast in the months leading up to the launch on 7 March 2008 (IWD eve).
We feel there is an urgent need to capture the stories of women in paid and unpaid occupations as a living herstory, whilst these elders are still amongst us. It is our hope that via broadcast, DVD and on the net, this program will influence and inspire future generations of young women to become politically engaged. So if you feel that you know a woman who must be included in this project, and you have her contact details, we’d like to hear from you.
2 The IWD Banner Project We have reserved 186 of the city’s banner poles in prominent places to promote both IWD, and the women’s groups and women’s community organisations that support and enrich the life of the City of Sydney.
We have reserved excellent places in the CBD, Macquarie Street, Martin Place, outside Town Hall, Park Street and Elizabeth Street. All sites have been chosen for maximum exposure to the CBD crowds and traditional seats of ower, and/or to highlight the progress path of the march itself.
The cost of each banner is approx. $200 and we are seeking personal and/or corporate sponsorship, to cover fees for the production, printing, hanging and removal of the banner. The life of the banner is approx 4 years (depending on weathering) and we intend to use the banners each year as long as we can.
The banner is currently being designed. Major sponsors (over 40 banners) were given the opportunity of using their logo. Sponsorship is still urgently required.
3. The IWD March In recent years the IWD march through the Sydney centre has struggled to find wider support from community groups in an environment of diminishing support from government for women’s services. Most women’s groups have been so busy trying to survive that participation in the march or information stalls at IWD assumed a low priority.
Times have changed! We can now welcome in a new era and with Australia’s first female Deputy Prime Minister it is time to take to the streets and celebrate! OWN, WEL and the IWD Collective using the OfW and other government and community networks, have undertaken this IWD march and event renaissance to build a genuine sense of involvement, excitement and ownership in the event which celebrates women’s political involvement.
Please take the time to arrange a contingent for the march.
March details: Assemble at Sydney Town Hall between 11am and 11.30 on Saturday 8 March.
March along George Street to King Street, up King Street to Elizabeth and then along Elizabeth to Hyde Park north for the stalls and entertainment.
4. The Memory Tent Objects, images and smells from the past have an amazing way of triggering memories and transporting us back in time. They also have an uncanny ability to connect people and trigger stories from the past, and to this end, our IWD Collective would like to start to put together some of these fabulous forget-me-nots, as tools for a display to spark oral herstories and intergenerational story telling.
We’d love to see what you got hidden in your closet – things that represent the herstory of women’s evolution – magazines, school books, sewing tools, buttons, old birth control methods, sex education materials from the past, kitchen treasures, parenting advice, breastfeeding aids, sanitary wear, old bus and tram tickets, cinema programs, biscuit tins, postcards – use your imagination!
We want to display these objects in an IWD Memory Tent and record the conversations and stories that arise around them to put it up on a web site, to preserve everyday oral herstories.
5. IWD Stalls The purpose of IWD stalls in Hyde Park north after the march is to both provide information and to increase awareness of the role of these women’s and service organisations within the wider community. International Women’s Day 2008 is an excellent time to acknowledge the work of women in our community, many of whom are of course volunteers holding up community organisations. Women rely on these organisations for many of their health, family, domestic violence, counselling, legal, community and support services.
Similarly these organisations often rely on women within the community to staff them as volunteers. With our volunteer population rapidly ageing, we need to encourage the next generation to come on board. A dynamic 2008 IWD is an opportunity for them to see fun ways to get involved with organisations that would extend their own potential. The more active the organisations look, the better their chances of attracting new volunteers and members! The stalls are covered and cost $130. You may care to share a stall with someone.
6. IWD Entertainment We’ve all heard the feedback – “don’t preach to the converted”, and “you catch more bees with honey”, so we want to ensure that the entertainment in Hyde Park north after the march from Town Hall, is a celebration of our progress and achievements. We’d love to see a mix of really strong women’s talent that will draw in all ages, surprise, excite, astound, delight, entertain and confront. It may be on the main stage, or you may opt to roam the crowds or belly dance in a tent – whatever - we want ideas to energise and captivate. So think outside the proscenium and beyond the protest. This is a Celebration!
