Susan Hawthorne In Defence of Separatism is a timely book. When it was first written in 1976, although it was an important subject of conversation among many feminists it was not welcomed by academics or publishers.
Through careful argument, Susan Hawthorne takes us through the ideas which are central to her argument. She analyses the nature of power, oppression, domination and institutions and applies these to heterosexuality, rape and romantic love. She concludes with a call for women, all women no matter their sexuality, to have separate spaces so they can work together to change the world and end patriarchy.
The World Athletic Championships in Doha, 29 September 2019. The 4×400 mixed relay final (2 men and 2 women per team) sees Poland, with a female runner, start the last leg with at least a five-second lead. Around 50 seconds later, FOUR men have cruised past her to leave Poland finishing 5th.
Cyber bullies could face $110,000 fines, and adults bullying children online could be obliged to apologise to their victims, under an online safety act.
The biggest negative consequence if I’m honest is that I have lost faith in almost all institutions’ ability or even desire to uphold women’s rights; politics, the media, academia and the wider professional classes.
Many of the people wrote about groups, projects and organisations they are involved in. Most of these have been developed in the past few years as informal groups, while the established parts of civil society have failed to address the issues.
Landmark report ‘Wiyi Yani U Thangani’ into the challenges and aspirations of Indigenous women and girls in Australia recommends an urgent focus on healing from intergenerational trauma and a national plan of action to advance wellbeing.
The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) report, launched today in Perth by Ms Oscar, made five major findings and seven recommendations.
They include the implementation of a national action plan on advancing the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and girls, and a national summit with the establishment of a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women and Girls advisory body.
Other recommendations include national action to eradicate racism, and an urgent focus on healing from intergenerational trauma.
The report found Indigenous women report higher rates of anxiety and depression than their male counterparts, and that 32.8 per cent of First Nations people report high or very high rates of psychological distress.
The rate is 13 per cent for other Australians.
It also found discrimination and social, economic and political marginalisation has trapped generations in cycles of poverty and trauma, and it highlighted that Indigenous women are Australia’s fastest-growing prison population, being 21 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous women.
The Women’s Human Rights Campaign – Australia/Asia (WHRC) will launch Vortex: The Crisis of Patriarchy in their next webinar . Author Susan Hawthorne will be in conversation with Helen Pringle, Senior Lecturer from the University of New South Wales and Anna Kerr, Principal Solicitor of Feminist Legal Clinic Inc.
Former South Australia senator Natasha Stott Despoja will be the first Australian on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women for almost three decades.
Ms Stott Despoja will be on the committee for four years and will be the only representative from Oceania.
