What does International Women's Day Mean To You?

ALI: "For me it's a celebration of the women's movement. It's a special day when we can all come out in strength and wear our badges, make a lot of noise, feel good and remember that we're all feminists after all, and what that whole struggle is about.'' JO: It's a time when women in the community get together to remember the interests women have in common and to remember the struggles in the past that women have had in common, because it commemorates a strike, an organised action by women protesting about working conditions. It's a time I think also to celebrate the fun of women getting together. So it is an occasion when a political and social and economic statement is being made about the collective interests of women.''	Photo by Karen O'Donnell
LIEN: "It's a celebration for all the women in the world.'' MARGARET: "It means I'm going to be drumming and I was going to ask you; do you want us to lead the parade?''	SARAH: "Well, I think it's one of my most favourite things in terms of a march or a public event because protests are important and they're great but it's one of those things that's an absolute celebration and so it's such a happy event and it's such fun and it's just fantastic. I really enjoy it for that reason.''
ANON: "Seeing ex-girlfriends.'' JENNY: "It's a great gathering of women and feminists and lesbian-feminists, and each year it's a different theme, different things that we struggle for and are continuing to struggle for. Plus it's also a celebration of our successes.'' LAURA: "It means walking a lot.'' ANNE: "International Women's Day is now of course a day of celebration, a day when women can get together, celebrate being women all they've come through with a reminder of how much further there still is to go. I know that International Women's Day didn't start that way it started as part of an industrial struggle but these days, while there's still a lot of struggling to be done I think there should be a strong emphasis on celebration.''	MOLLY: "It was a breakthrough in my life when I went to the first International Women's Day march, and it was just wonderful. It was all these women supporting women and it was a wonderful time for me because I had just felt down there, me and my five kids and an un-supportive husband. It was wonderful to think of all these women getting together and saying this really means something; this is the beginning of women's solidarity. "One of the reasons I joined women's liberation was because it was pushing the barriers and I felt that was really important. It wasn't a case of us going cap in hand and saying: 'This is what the government should do for us'. We were saying: 'Look, we're demanding our rights'. I think I only ever missed one International Women's Day one year I said to my Tuesday Afternoon Group: `Oh, I don't think I'll go'. And AG really tore me up; she said: 'How dare you not go'. I think it was the only one I missed in 25 years.''
LIZ: "It's a time of celebration and it's always been a very positive experience for me, when you see all your friends and you march through the streets of Adelaide. I love walking through the streets and smiling and laughing and having a great time catching up with all the people you haven't seen for ages. That's what it means for me, a real celebration of being a woman.''	ALANA: "It means looking at, for and by and with and all about just women, women, women for one day of the year.'' ERNA: "A lot of walking and being in the sun and meeting a lot of people … women.'' KATE: "International Women's Day makes me think I should be helping to organise it but I just don't have the time and energy because I'm busy organising everything else.''
ALLISON: "It's the women's festival of the year and I think it should be kept by all women without exception, but of course it's not. It's good that it starts at the grass roots with the women garment workers. I haven't missed it, if at all, since '72. It means a lot to me and it was at the rally in Rymill Park that I was able to announce my particular interest the first woman ordained in Australia. That was '73 I think.''	SUZANNE: "A day of recognition of women and solidarity with each other and support. I like the idea of men doing the dishes and shopping in support of women having this day together. I don't think they should be there particularly. And a bit of fun, getting together, seeing friends, and listening to inspiring speakers.''
KATH: "Sometimes it falls on my birthday and that's always a good celebration. It means catching up with lots of women who I haven't often seen for a while. It means taking to the streets, it's a good day out, and I think for the women who have never been in the march before or known about it, it's often a bit of an eye-opener to know that something like that exists.'' DIANE: "It's a celebration all women coming together, celebrating being women. And coloured and Asian women, women from different cultures and white women.	Photo by Miguel Troncoso
DEBORAH: "The ideological struts of IWD were more obvious in 1972. I remember painting 'Not the church, not the state, women must control their fate' and "If men became pregnant abortion would be a sacrament' on banners for that first march. "In those days our identity of ourselves as women was formed in reaction to what we could see wrong around us. Today, women strive to create a positive and supportive space at IWD for ourselves. The variety of IWD themes over the years reflects a broadening of the women's movement beyond the 'white-anglo-Adelaidean' concerns of IWD 25 years ago. One of the hot political divisions in 1972 was between women who requested change and those who demanded it.	RENE: "It means unity, it means reciprocity, it means fiesta, it means to be with a lot of women who I hope share the same views as myself. It means that women from all over the world can see women do something for their own countries. Most importantly International Women's Day should be a day of peace and reciprocity amongst women it is not a power struggle.'' MELISSA: "A lot of work. That's all it's ever been for me working towards it. The actual day, what it is is just a great feeling among women, everyone is really getting into it, really friendly and that sort of stuff. It's like a day when you can put aside all the prejudice and go and have a fantastic time.''
CARMEN: "It is a day for women all around the world, when we gather together and remember our fight. It's a day when we take to the streets and demand our rights. It's a day to respect and remember those women who are tortured, raped and killed.''