SRC Reports SRC President’s Report Phoebe Drake has always been a feminist
I think, initially, it came from my love of reading as my mother fed me books full of daring female characters who could out run, out fight and out smart any of their male counterparts.
I began to learn about different legislation, arranged marriages, female circumcision, the lack of women in parliament world wide, and the fact that, at that stage, Australia had never had a female Prime Minister.
Being of the age where the boundary between reality and the imaginary is easily blurred, I sought to build my own world where I could be the main character of my games.
And so, passionate about these issues, I would often articulate my views. Admittedly this led to being recognised as the resident feminist at my country high school, an attribute, which by the time I graduated, most found endearing. This irritated me. I wasn’t a feminist because it was a quaint, odd thing to be. I wasn’t a feminist because I thought it was a novelty approach to take. I was, and still am, a feminist because I believe in equal pay, freedom of choice, taking a stand against violence against women, respectful relationships and equal opportunity. I am also a feminist because I have always been a feminist and always will be.
I was the oldest child within my family, with three younger brothers, and every afternoon and every weekend our parents sent us outside to play. With the countryside sprawled out around us, we would set out to find and destroy evil, picking characters from books who we attempted to emulate. From sword fighting to discovering hidden treasures (often the rusted pieces of abandoned train tracks), the world was our oyster and I was Maid Marion/ Trixie Beldon/ Nancy Drew/ Alanna or Ellie. As I grew older, my feminism changed. And, at around the same time the magic left my childhood games, I began to understand more broadly the circumstances underpinning the experience of women from all around the world.
At university, things were different. I joined the SRC and joined the Women’s Collective where I met many people, both men and women, who were passionate about women’s issues. To my delight, I also discovered in first year, Women’s Honi, which exists as a space for women to write about anything and is edited by members of the Women’s
Collective. Every edition is an inspiring collection of articles, experiences, artwork and opinions. And to those who will inevitably write in to Honi complaining that there is no Men’s Honi, I offer no apology. Quite simply, women are underrepresented in the field of journalism in many areas, not restricted to but including reporter, editorial and higher management roles. Women’s Honi is, therefore, a space for women and always will be.
International Officer’s Report Kajing Jay Ng writes about her experiences as an Asian feminist
Having to study GCST1602 has given me many ‘wow’ moments; I seldom hear about feminism in Hong Kong (well, when they speak up, people would respond to them by saying ‘these are a bunch of crazy women who are trying to destroy our tradition.’) I thought it was only me, who did not pay much attention to feminism movements back at home but as I started researching, I found out women don’t really have a say in China; this applies to a lot of Asian countries as well.
I would love to use this year’s Women’s Honi to show how feminism is not always evident in Asian communities by using some first-hand experiences in China. As a Chinese girl, I have always faced a lot of inequalities back home and I feel like a lot of these situations are justified by the statement: ‘it’s our tradition’. The other day my Asian acquaintance’s friend wrote on Facebook, “Men are supposed to work, women are supposed to stay home. This is a tradition that our ancestor gave us and we should follow this.”
Let me tell you about my encounter of no-feminism on a personal and social level, starting with something very personal: My Asian name meant ‘quiet’, or ‘still’. I was named this not because I am quiet or still, but because my parents wanted to stop giving birth to daughters and start having sons. Anyway, when my grandfather passed away, there were parts of the funeral I could not take part in simply because I am a girl. This upset me a lot because that was the final chance for me to see my beloved grandfather and show respects. I feel like this so-called tradition is negatively affecting something personal, in an unnecessary way. I thought one of the core Chinese ideologies is to respect elderlies? Also, such ‘tradition’ has caused serious gendercide in China, where baby girls are often aborted under the guise of ‘trying
for a son!’. According to The Economist, more than 120 baby boys are being born for every 100 baby girls. In this social spectrum, women are often stereotyped as hopeless, problematic and must marry someone then stay home for the rest of their lives. This is reflected through the recent popular reality show ‘Bride Wannabes’ on TVB, which has fostered a wave of positive reception. Again, most of the comments were focused on how bad those participants are, rather than a debate on how profoundly wrong the show and the discourse are. Thank you, to the entertainment industry for pushing a wave of pseudo-models (‘Lang Mo’ in Cantonese) – a cult that shows us women have to be sex dolls, sexually-available, naïve, etc. Notably, in the 2012 Hong Kong Chief Executive Election, there were no female candidates, AS ALWAYS. All I see in my hometown towards women is backwardness with no feminist progress made. (I don’t mean to disregard those feminists’ hard work but really…) Before we move on to talking about equal pay or having a female CE, a great deal of work is yet to be done for women in society.
Women’s Officer’s Report
Kate O’Brien and Annabel Osborn are exhausted from being up all night... editing Women’s Honi is a fantastic opportunity for women’s work to be published and for rigorous debate surrounding issues within feminism to be aired. The editing team, made up of members of the Women’s Collective, have worked day and night to make this edition - the very first non-autonomous Women’s Honi - as diverse and enjoyable as possible. The decision to make Women’s Honi nonautonomous was a highly debated decision amongst the collective, however it was important to all members that we represent the wishes of the majority (according to a vote) and that we devise an organized structure with a consensus basis, revolving around an autonomous editing team. Most who were pro-autonomy for Women’s Honi, including myself, were happy and comfortable with the decided structure. As a collective, we work together on various campaigns, gather for discussion, attend events and hold
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regular social activities amongst ourselves and within the wider community. Aside from the big task of making the Women’s Honi happen, Usyd’s Women’s Collective are currently we are working on; 1. A Safety on Campus Campaign in response to an alarming survey held in universities across Australia, which showed that 17% of respondents had experienced rape. Upon further investigation within Usyd, we have found that there is not a particular person or procedure to follow in order to record an incident or attain support. Similarly, there are issues of assault, harassment and rape within college environments, which often fall under the radar since the colleges are privately owned and not directly connected to uni procedure when incidents are reported. Usyd Women’s Collective is working to make our campus safer for women, based on the survey’s blueprint. 2. A Women’s Performance Night on campus to
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showcase the many talents of women. Within the creative arts, women are under-represented and the collective envisions an evening of song and dance, poetry and drama (and much more!) in order to give women the attention they deserve in these fields. Although at the early stages of planning, we look forward to having an open audience for this event- where both women and men are invited to attend and support the evening. So, if you’re interested in becoming involved in the collective’s activities, or wish to have a discussion about any topics raised in this edition (or generally on your mind!) please feel free to get in touch. You may email usydwomenscollective@gmail.com Those who identify as a woman are encouraged to come along to one of our weekly collective meetings (at 1pm on Wednesday’s in the Women’s Room, Holme Building) or events!