Women take to the streets on IWD

Thousands of people from around Australia took to the streets in rallies, marches and festivals to mark International Women's Day last week. From Perth, Julia Perkins reports that 350 people attended a rally and noisy march around Northbridge on March 8 demanding "Stop cuts to women's services", "Equal pay for equal work", "End sexual harassment" and "Repeal anti-abortion laws". A small group of anti-abortion protesters who joined the rally calling "Stop killing baby girls" were eventually forced to leave by the crowd chanting "Not the church, not the state, women must decide their fate". The rally was addressed by speakers from the Women's Refuge Group, the State School Teachers' Union, the WA Greens and the Democratic Socialist Party. From Canberra, Sue Bull reports that about 80 people attended a Trade Union Women's speak-out in Civic on March 8 to hear speakers on women and work, child-care and the struggle of women in Chile and Palestine for their freedom. Sibylle Kaczorek reports from Darwin that 100 women gathered at the Parap markets on March 9 before marching to Parap Primary School behind a banner declaring "Feminism is not a dirty word". There they heard speakers from East Timor, the YWCA, the IWD collective and the Coalition of Activist Lesbians. From Melbourne, Kim Linden reports that up to 2000 women and men participated in a vibrant march and rally on March 8 to demand "Stop violence against women", "Equal pay for women, no enterprise bargaining" and "Reverse the welfare cuts". The crowd was addressed by speakers from East Timor, the Yuroke Aboriginal Students' organisation, the Democratic Socialists, the IWD Collective and Women in Industry and Community Health who launched a campaign around the contraceptive Depo Provera on IWD. Forced to change the traditional time of the march from Saturday to Friday by the Grand Prix, the marchers made their feelings clear with loud chants of "More money for women's services, not grand pricks". Sarah Peart reports from Sydney that more than 3000 women and men joined a noisy and colourful march on the theme of "Out of the house and onto the streets" on March 9. Rain began as the marchers left Town Hall but did not deter more than 1000 women staying on to hear speakers and performers at the Domain. From Newcastle, Kamala Emanuel reports that around 300 women and men also defied rain to join a vibrant march to the local Workers Club on March 9 where they were addressed by speakers representing Koori women, East Timor, women students, and campaigns against the Philippines sex industry and against sex industry worker discrimination in Australia. In Adelaide on March 9, around 800 women and men marched from Victoria Square (Tandanya) to Rymill Park demanding "a just world". Philippa Stanford reports that Cherie Watkins from the Kumarangk Coalition called on rally participants to join in the blockade to stop the construction of the Hindmarsh Island Bridge which is scheduled to proceed next month. Nikki Ulasowski reports from Wollongong that more than 150 people participated in the largest IWD march and rally in that city for many years. Speakers at the rally talked about the harsh reality of working women's lives in Wollongong and emphasised the need to carry on the activist history of IWD. Lisa Young reports that more than 1000 people defied rain to join the march from George Square to Musgrave Park in Brisbane. Demanding the decriminalisation of abortion, equal pay, freedom of sexuality and an end to violence against women, the overwhelmingly young crowd heard, among other speakers, a representative of the United Indigenous People of the Pacific and a high school activist. Also in Queensland, Maree Seaman reports from Toowoomba that 35 women marched through the streets and were then joined by another 100 people at an IWD fair at East Creek Park.