Women’s Day celebrations

Women’s achievements and issues are a part of the International Women’s Day celebrations

The role of women in religion

‘Women’s contribution to the history of faith communities’ is a topic that was discussed recently at the Gurudwara in Blackburn. Many questions regarding women’s engagement with religion and faith emerged in the open discussion hosted jointly by the Sikh Welfare Council of Victoria (SWCV) and the Women Interfaith Network (WIN). The speakers reflected opinions of many women, seeking clarification for themselves and others. The aim was to promote discussion of issues both contemporary and ancient, that deal with this dynamic paradigm.

Jamel Kaur from WIN presided over the informal forum along with Mrs. Hardip Madan from SWCV. In her introductory remarks, Jamel explored the role of women in Sikhism. “In Sikhism women have equal status to men,” she said. “Historically Sikh women have never been required to wear a veil or perform sati after the death of their husband. They are not forbidden to attend the congregation at any time including during menstruation,” she continued. According to Jamel, all the Sikh gurus married barring one (who was beheaded at an early age), because Sikhs believe that one does not need to renounce domestic bliss to get closer to God.

According to Jamel, the Sikh religion’s foremost and main premise is that there is one God and the rest of the creation is female. Jamel went on to cite examples of Sikh women like Mata Gujari, Bebe Nanaki, Maata Sahib, Mai Bhago and Maata Jinda Kaur who played a major role in Sikh history. After exploring several chapters within Sikh history and religion that reflected the strength of women, Jamel invited the next speaker Mrs. Jaspreet Kocchar to take the dais.

A retired teacher and renowned member of the Sikh community, Mrs. Kocchar drew on the connection between her own life and religion. She spoke about her early days as a new migrant in Australia and the changes that she had experienced over time. “Religion has always been a constant in my life, it provides me comfort, security and peace,” she said. According to her, visiting the Gurudwara and doing langar sewa inculcates in people a sense of discipline and team work.

Mrs. Kocchar said that modern women are no longer restricting themselves to the kitchen and they have come a long way; however, even today there are very few women who reach the top tier of organizations, corporates or professions. She urged women to be inspired by history and utilise the strength of religion to make a rapidly successful journey from kitchen to kingdom.

The next speaker Mrs. Hardip Madan, echoed the sentiments of both Jamel and Mrs. Kocchar. She invited speakers from other communities to share their experiences, especially youngsters in the audience. Issues like the ordaining of female priests and the rights of Muslim women were discussed in a non-confrontational manner. The conversation confirmed that similar to Sikhism, the Buddha taught that men and women have equal potential to achieve enlightenment. The Book of Genesis contains the simple statement of equality of the sexes, made together in God’s image, and Christianity from the earliest times, centered on the universal application of the Gospel. In the Qur’an, God speaks repeatedly of “the faithful men and women”, and the same religious injunctions are valid for both sexes.

Dilnaz Billimoria, a member of the Parsi Community expressed her delight at being invited to be a part of this commemoration. She thanked the organizers for a wonderful celebration of International Women’s Day. According to Dilnaz, “the knowledge of the Sikh religion and the roles played by women was amazing, the welcome snacks and langar style meal were delicious, and the darbar congregation ceremony was magnificent.” Dilnaz also said that she found it very inspiring to share experiences across different faiths, cultures and backgrounds and she hoped to continue participating in similar forums with like-minded people.

Women of all faiths are equally keen to uncover the core teaching and original practices of their religions. Through sharing their experiences, the speakers at this forum sought out ethical and egalitarian principles that form an integral part of their respective religions. It was very rewarding to review these proceedings and to have the opportunity of following a group of intelligent, articulate women striving to find a feminine ethos within their various traditions.

Preeti Jabbal

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Women role models continue to inspire

Woman must not accept; she must challenge.

She must not be awed by that which has been built up around her;

she must reverence that woman in her which struggles for expression.

Margaret Sanger

On March 7, the National Council of Women of Victoria Inc. (NCWV) league of women voters of Victoria organized an event themed “Young People Speak” from the chair of the Legislative Council Victoria. The event, held at Parliament House, was on that definitely made the women of the past proud and inspired the women of tomorrow! In an interactive exchange young women from colleges across Victoria were involved in the presentations, which commemorated women who have served their local communities.

The choice of women were, to my surprise, picked from varied walks of life and ranged from Jessica Mauboy to Susie O’Neill, Elizabeth Kenny to Fiona Wood.  I did not expect to see some choices such as Mary Jean Gilmore and Nancy Bird Walton. Samia Ghafari and Samantha Bear spoke on a former principal of Preston Girls’ School named Molly Brennan, who fought for female students in sex-segregated schools to have access to all subjects, and for women teachers to receive the same opportunities as their male colleagues. Next, Kayla Smithers and Fatoum Abou Eid spoke about Joy Wandin Murphy and her contribution to the local Indigenous community and Australians in general, and her efforts in educating the latter about her Indigenous heritage.

What made me proud was that all these young, confident students, some of Indian origin, demonstrated a clear understanding and relation to these women and their history, without undue concern for their individual environments or cultural backgrounds. All the students spoke eloquently and confidently, demonstrating that young people can achieve any goal they set, even when speaking before their peers, parliamentary members and powerful women from the Victorian community.

Finally, the students wrote their reflections in the book presented by Elwood Secondary College, to commemorate the day. While this activity was being conducted, Lindita Lerovski powerfully and beautifully sang two songs about what it means to be a ‘woman’. It was an impressive performance and truly appreciated by the audience.

I had walked into the auditorium thinking that this would be a great event to cover, but I walked out with some strong personal takeaways which included reminiscing about the powerful women in my life, society and community who demonstrate that, no matter what your background, there are obstacles one has to overcome as a woman, but also many opportunities for which to strive and succeed.

As a young woman myself with a fair share of obstacles and challenges, I thank them for representing all women, and hope that as we reflect on their achievements, all my peers will be inspired by them too. 

Pinky Bhatia

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Domestic violence key issue at centenary celebrations

Around this time of the year in 2009, the entire playing group of the North Melbourne Football Club (NMFC) stood together as they made a public apology for a prank sex video that triggered community outrage. The Adventures Of Little Boris was an explicit video that had been produced within the North Melbourne Football Club, which featured a rubber chicken depicting degrading sex acts filmed in the rooms of the North Melbourne Football Club and posted online by one of the side’s young footballers. The community was divided in opinion; however there were many that thought the video’s underlying message of how to treat ‘your bitch’ was offensive to women.

This year at the AISV multi-ethnic Women’s Day event that targeted domestic violence, the NFMC CEO Eugene Arocca began his speech by alluding to the infamous video and subsequent apology. “We apologised collectively at that time not just to condemn the video, but also for choosing not to do anything about it,” he said. “We believe doing nothing is just as bad as being a perpetrator of domestic violence,” he added. According to Eugene, the NFMC is now leading the way for women to feel safe and respected.  He claimed that NMFC prides itself in being an inclusive club and is the only football club to have a junior women’s Footy Academy.

The Australian Indian Society of Victoria (AISV) hosted Eugene Arocca and several other renowned speakers at the new Indian Consulate in St. Kilda to celebrate the 100^th International Women’s Day. Dr Manjula O’Connor, Vice President of AISV who has conducted a study on domestic violence within the Indian community in Melbourne, was mainly instrumental in organizing this event under the banner of AISV’s taskforce against domestic violence. The MC for the afternoon was Sushi Das, senior writer at The Age. “There are a lot of women making the most of their lives,” commented Sushi at the beginning of the event. “Our greatest collective achievement as women is that we bear all the world’s children.” Sushi’s introduction was followed by a brief speech by Anita Nayar, outgoing Consul of India in Melbourne. A Bollywood dance medley by Ayesha Tiwari and a brief comedy piece by Uma Thakar lightened up the mood of an otherwise serious event.

The theme for the afternoon was ‘men and women united to end violence against women and girls’. The audience also heard the views of Andrea Coote, Parliamentary Secretary for Family and Community Services representing  Mary Woolridge, Minister for Women’s Affairs, with Premier Ted Baillieu and Magistrate Noreen Toohey from the Sunshine Magistrates Court. The speakers stressed on how domestic violence is still the Achilles heel of our modern society and called for community support to offer time and sensitivity that is required to combat this issue.

“Let us not be violent and more importantly, let us not be silent!” said Councilor Tim Singh Lawrence from Darebin Council. “It’s important that the people also hear the voice of men, especially within ethnic communities. The White Ribbon Movement is predominantly Anglo- Saxon,” he claimed, referring to an earlier statement made by Eugene Arocca about the White Ribbon ambassadors who are willing to stand up against domestic violence. According to Tim, rejecting silence against domestic violence needs to be discussed, endorsed and adopted by more people from the ethnic community.

Earlier Magistrate Noreen Toohey talked about how domestic violence cases cost the nation a whopping $13.6 billion last year. Cultural practices are often cited as an excuse for domestic violence in many cases, she said, however according to her families are broken not just by divorce and separation; they are also broken if all members do not have equal rights to safety. Andrea Coote, Member for Southern Metropolitan Region also referred to the additional barriers faced by women from CALD (culturally and linguistically diverse) backgrounds. According to her, an effective domestic violence programme works at preventing violence before it occurs. She commended AISV for doing a good job of looking not just at the celebrations of the past, but the challenges of the future.

Preeti Jabbal