17/04/2013

Hobart turns out to support abortion law changes

By Sophie Wilson, WEL Tasmania and National Executive Committee Member

Hundreds of people gathered on the lawns of Parliament in Hobart on Sunday to show their support for the State Government’s proposed Reproductive Health (Access to Termination) Bill 2013.  The rally for reproductive health was organised by university students, Georgia Allen and Jamila Fontana, in response to recent pro-life rallies in the city.  Speakers at the event included Glynis Flower from the Hobart Women’s Health Centre, Susan Fahey from Women’s Legal Service Tasmania, Federal Minister for the Status of Women Julie Collins and the Tasmanian Minister for Human Services Cassy O’Connor MP.

The crowd heard strong support for the changes, which will remove abortion from Tasmania’s criminal code and make it a purely medical matter for which women can no longer be prosecuted. The laws will also empower women to have the final say in terminations, where current law requires the consent of two doctors on the grounds of perceived physical or mental risk.

Organisers were thrilled at the high turnout at the event, which was organised at short notice, as a show of support for the Minister for Health Michelle O’Byrne MP who tabled the legislation in Parliament.  Several speakers also noted the high turnout of men at the rally, who made up close to fifty percent of the crowd.  All attendees were urged to lobby their Member of Parliament to let them know that Tasmanians support the rights of women to reproductive health.

WEL welcomes the proposed legislation as an important development in the progression of Tasmanian women’s rights.  It is vital that women have autonomy over their bodies and their reproductive choices.  WEL has put forward a submission to the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services in response to the draft bill.  The full submission can be found here.

Moves to decriminalise abortion got a step closer over night when Tasmania’s Lower House passed the bill after a marathon debate.  MP’s were granted a conscience vote on the bill.  The Greens and Labor voted together to support the legislation, but the speaker Michael Polley crossed the floor to join the Liberals who voted against it.  The bill will now be considered by the Upper House before becoming law.

More information on the draft Reproductive Health (Access to Termination) Bill 2013 can be found on the Tasmanian Department of Health and Human Services website at http://www.dhhs.tas.gov.au/pophealth/womens_health

09/04/2013

Generation F: Feminist Activism in the 21st Century

Melanie Fernandez, Chair of the Women’s Electoral presented at the Secure Jobs in a Green Future: Australian Left Renewal Conference. Here are her thoughts on Feminist Activism in the 21st century.

In the left we spend a lot of time talking about the challenges faced by the feminist movement, mourning the decline of a movement that we still consider so necessary. But 2012 was not a “trend” year for feminism. 2012 saw the resurgence of feminist anaylysis into the mainstream media. 2012 saw a serious kickback from various sections of our community to the ever-day sexism and misogyny that is directed against women across the world.

The Gillard misogyny speech was an amazing moment for the feminist movement. Not because of what she said, but because of how it was received. Institutional Australia – commentators, journalists, politicians – wrote it off as a set piece swipe at the opposition leader. The amazing part was how well the speech was received by those outside the establishment in Australia and across the world – the youtube clip went viral. Facebook, Twitter and Youtube comments all celebrated the PM and many expressed wishes that they too could take such a stand against the constant sexist jibes they experience.

The famous Destroy the Joint movement was also borne out of a disgust at name calling. Destroy the Joint uncovered the depth and breadth of the anger in our community at the day-to-day sexism spewing from our newspapers, radio stations and televisions. Almost 17,000 people took part in their initial petition, and they recently lodged a petition of 38,000 to call out victim-blaming on radio.

On the other side of the world we have seen a huge outcry in India over the rape and murder of a 23 year old woman. Hundreds of thousands of Indian men and women came together and rejected the pervasive culture of blaming survivors of rape and a culture of acceptance of violence against women and girls.

We’ve also seen smaller wins this year – F Collective and the Women’s Electoral Lobby ran a campaign to stop the NSW State government defunding 26 community services that were slated to be cut, including women’s resource centres, child sexual assault services and health support groups. This campaign saw secured funding of the Gay & Lesbian Counselling Service, Margaret Jurd Learning Centre and Liverpool Women’s Resource Centre and an extension of funding for the other services for 3-6 months.

Through this various activity we have seen the displacing of the equality myth, as feminism has been more talked about in public discourse than it has been in years. Young women are starting to realise that they are not equal to men; to identify systemic discrimination in Australia and around the world and say enough is enough. We are starting to see renewed momentum in the movement. Ways of engaging in feminist activism are broadening, including feminist blogs, like F Collective, Dawn Chorus (Melbourne) and Feministing (US). Exploiting relationship networks allows us to mass mobilise and effectively organise, and also for participation in a nation-wide or global movement in a way we have not been able to before. The diverse ways in which to engage in feminist activism is ensuring wider accessibility to the movement and more individually defined engagement.

Though we have seen real change in the movement and growth and regeneration in recent years; we still have some tough fights ahead. We are seeing a rise of conservatism that we are fighting to ensure we are not going backwards. In NSW we have seen a State election in which there was a significant backsliding of the number of women elected to parliament. We have our first female PM and she has had to withstand personal and sexist abuse in a way that generations of male PM have not. We are seeing implementation of policies that target some of the most vulnerable members of our community and perpetuate gender inequality.

So where does this leave us?
We see people frustrated with the lack of a social conscious of either of the major parties. In the lead up to the election we need to focus on pushing this agenda. We need to work towards systemic cultural change, a shift in our values. We need to value the various ways people contribute to our society, in particular valuing caring roles and other roles that are persistently undervalued because they have traditionally been done by women.

So what does this mean practically?
For WEL this means a focus on putting good social policies on the agenda, particularly focusing on Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), and Welfare Reform for the Federal Election.

Recently we have seen great wins in the ECEC sector, with the government putting in a $300 million wage subsidy, and funding the trial of some 24hr early childhood facilities. But these reforms are just tinkering around the edges. We should not forget what the movement was originally fighting for: free, quality early childhood education and care.

The system as it currently stands is a mess, one which in-adequately addresses the needs of working class women across Australia. Even when receiving all the relevant rebates, ECEC remains unaffordable for some women, or leaves women devoting all their income to paying for childcare fees. WEL is advocating for a holistic review of the sector, and a shift away from public subsidisation of for-profit early childhood education and care.

In recent Welfare Reforms we have seen a consistent attack on vulnerable members of our community. This is seen in the further roll out of Income Management, a punitive scheme that quarantines a portion of a welfare recipients payment denying them their financial autonomy. This conditional welfare is based on negative assumptions about the capacities of those claiming government payment and fails to recognise the diverse social and economic contributions made in ways other than paid work. It also ignores discrimination and structural barriers to some engaging in paid work.

We have also seen an attack on Sole Parents in the further cuts to sole parents payments introduced recently. These changes to our welfare system do not recognise the social value of many activities, other than paid employment, such as caring responsibilities. We need to recognise and value this contribution appropriately and allow individuals, and in particular women/ sole parents and other vulnerable members, dignity and autonomy over their lives and finances.