Listening Tour Diary
Calling all young people to have a say on gender equality - 7 April 2008
We sometimes hear that young people are not interested in gender equality or that feminism is irrelevant to young women.
On these important questions, I am keen to hear from young women and men directly, to understand what you see as the critical issues for gender equality in 2008, and what role you see for yourselves in building a fairer and more equal Australia.
To hear the views of young people, I will be co-presenting a panel as part of the ‘e-Festival of Ideas’ during National Youth Week from 8-12 April 2008. The e-Festival is a yearly event presented by Vibewire Inc, a non-profit youth media organisation.
The panel is titled, ‘Reworking Feminism: What does gender equality mean in the 21st century.’
The panel will feature a number of guests who will discuss the Listening Tour themes with young people: economic independence for women, work and family balance over the life cycle, and freedom from discrimination, harassment and violence.
Participation is at the heart of human rights and this innovative event encourages young people to have your say to shape the gender equality agenda for Australia. I encourage you to pass this on to any young people whom you think might be interested.
To register for the e-Festival of Ideas and for more information please visit www.vibewire.net/efestival
Liz
Luke Said,
April 10, 2008 @ 12:49 am
Perhaps the most critical issue in gender equality is to bring equity to its discussion. Any panel associating feminism with gender equality ignores the half of the population whose voice barely gets acknowledged (eg 2020 summit). The panel could well be called “abolishing feminism: achieving equality in the 21st century” and give us some hope of some productive dialogue between the sexes.
Mark Said,
April 17, 2008 @ 5:25 am
I wholeheartedly agree with Luke. How can men be expected to embrace dialogue with women whilst women are promoting the values of “feminism”? It is important to embrace values which unite and do not divide Australians. Many women and men have joined the gender equity movement in Australia. Under the equity banner, we can all stand together without focusing on the interests of one group over another. The term feminism exaggerates the interests of one group over the others (both men and other gender identities). Most women have moved past the discriminatory nomenclature. Why is HREOC still promoting feminism when it is clearly an outmoded concept? Is it the case that HREOC is only interested in gender equity where it promotes women’s interests? This is the message this blog entry seems to be sending. We in the gender equity movement invite HREOC to join us. Equality is available if we choose to embrace it!