Communities in Control Conference 2010, Moonee Valley Racing Club, Melbourne, 1 June 2010
“It is a great honour for me to have been invited to address you today and, especially, to have been introduced by no less a figure than Joan Kirner, whom we all love for the trails she has blazed – especially for women in politics. Thank you Joan. Thank you for the introduction, and thank you for all you done for those who have come after you.
Last week in The Australian newspaper, the columnist Janet Albrechtson described me as an “aging activist”.
She meant it as an insult.”
Hi Anne,
I saw you speak today at the Communities in Control forum (Melbourne). You were very inspirational and I thank you for your contribution to our community and I look forward to the w4w project. What a vision this project is. Bravo !
I wanted to re-iterate a point, however, that was raised today by a woman in the audience who suggested young women my age (I am 26) don’t identify with ‘feminism’ and are not concerned with gender inequality in their own community. I agree with her sentiments and was surprised to hear you state that women of my generation WERE engaged in the cause. With respect, I do not agree with you as my experience with girlfriends, colleagues and classmates suggests the opposite. This may be part of the reason why the pay gap is not improving, why gender studies are being dropped from universities, why pole dancing classes are seen as ‘empowering’ and why we are lagging behind in positions of power for women.
I hope you may consider further researching this perspective, as my evidence (and I assume yours) is only anecdotal. It would be great to have some real stats to help illuminate this issue? Or perhaps you could refer me onto some research which proves me wrong (and that would be a good thing!)
Kind regards,
Rebecca
Hi Anne. Interested in what you thought about the points of view put forward by Elisabeth Badinter in the Australian article.