Varied IWD in Wollongong
By Lisa Schofield
WOLLONGONG — During the past two weeks, women here have celebrated International Women's Day with a range of activities, starting with a toast and film night at the Illawarra Women's Health Centre on March 4.
The next day there were a variety of women's information stalls in the mall, followed by a rally attended by 60 women. Speakers at the rally included Sonia Arancibia, who spoke about an international campaign to pressure the UN to recognise violence against women as an abuse of human rights. Suzanne Vernon spoke on ordination of women priests. Sharon Pusell discussed the special hardships unemployment poses for women.
The rally was followed by an opening of an art exhibition of works by women artists. On March 6, IWD Politics in the Pub night discussed the current challenge, by Dr Alex Proudfoot, against the funding of women's health centres as discriminatory against men. Debate centred on the need for a coordinated campaign of action if the Equal Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission finds that Proudfoot has a case to proceed with.
On March 9 the Illawarra Migrant Resources Centre held a series of workshops for migrant women, and on March 10 the IWD luncheon (held here since 1938) heard from Jane Woodruff, director of the NSW Women's Coordination Unit, on violence against women.
IWD celebrations here ended on March 11. Two forums were organised by the Democratic Socialist Party, on The Beauty Myth by Naomi Wolf and on "Women, pornography and censorship". The Women's Centre also organised the first in what is planned to be a series of forums on unity within the women's movement.