By Melanie Sjoberg
ADELAIDE — A discordant note struck the much publicised Women, Power and Politics Conference here on October 9 when more than 100 women protested at its elitism and the exorbitant registration costs. The conference, organised through the Suffrage Centenary Committee, supported by the Office of Status of Women and funded through the state government, was touted as the highlight of events celebrating the centenary of women's suffrage in South Australia.
The speak-out drew attention to the fact that the $400 admission fee was beyond the means of most ordinary working women, pensioners, sole parents and students. After being petitioned some months ago, the conference organisers offered $100 concession places — but these were limited to about 50 out of 900 places.
The protest went beyond the immediate issue of the cost to point out a different view of power. Several speakers referred to the link between class and gender, calling for the involvement of more women in activism and campaigns. Many women expressed concern that those inside the conference didn't have the ability or political will to hear other voices or understand important issues.
Claire Howie, from Rape Action Link Up, described the conference as a get-together for women who wanted to break through the glass ceiling, with ordinary women being left to clean up the shards left on the ground. Connie Frazer from the Democratic Socialist Party insisted that we didn't just want a bigger piece of the economic pie, as argued by most women at the conference; we wanted a different pie.
Most of the conference participants filtered past the protest attempting to ignore its presence; but a few international speakers stopped to express support for the protesters' demands and made offers to speak for free at a public meeting. Andi Sebastian, from Adelaide's community sector, agreed to move resolutions at the plenary session condemning the exclusion of so many activist women.
The major themes of the conference were support for the ALP quotas for women in parliament and on councils, and the encouragement of more women into boardrooms. The delegate list contained many women from business, government departments and trade unions, few of whom actually forked out the registration fee themselves. A Flinders University student who managed to scrape together the $400 (no concession entries were left) said that she felt like she was propping up a huge junket.
Considerable tension was engendered over the marginalisation of particular groups of women within the agenda and discussion. For example, an international guest from Pakistan questioned Glenda Jackson about whether MPs like her considered the impact that their economic policies had on women in developing countries.
Indigenous women established a caucus during the conference to air some of their concerns. The only Aboriginal speaker, Pat O'Shane, was unable to attend. When a suggestion was made to schedule an alternative speaker, chair Josephine Tiddy (former SA equal opportunity commissioner) attempted to ignore the request.
The final plenary session attempted to shunt through 130 resolutions in less than an hour and a half. Many women were not prepared to vote on them all because of the lack of opportunity for discussion. Resolutions that were passed included a call for the decriminalisation of prostitution, the condemnation of female genital mutilation and calls for more funding to Adelaide Women's Health Centres.
Conference papers will cost $50 when they are printed.