Sydney Women Speak Out

At a local Sydney event in 1998, Politics In The Pub, women gathered to discuss the importance of IWD and the issues we support. Women spoke to IWD Web Media later in the evening ...

Becky International Women's Day is a day for women all around the world to struggle for justice for women and equality for women. And, a day for us to get out there and join together, and a day for us to join together with other women, and to show solidarity with other women, and struggle for justice for all women.

Kiri Native Title is one of the most important things that we can be supporting for International Women's Day this year. The basis of so many cultures and communities is where they are from, and the concept of land title, Native Title is just paramount to our belief system and how we are actually able to interact with the world. Unless, we as women from all over the globe support this, we will be undermining actively, the basis on which so many cultures are based, and I think that is one of the reasons we have to do the best we can to support Native Title.

Melanie I think it is very important to link any racism campaign with the Women's Liberation Movement because separately women cannot win liberation by themselves, and separately people who experience racial oppression can't win liberation by themselves. It is very much uniting all campaigns against oppression, uniting all campaigns where people are exploited whether it be white collar workers to women in third world countries to migrants in Australia. I think it is very important to link all these people together. This system is very much based on profit motive. It is only when people start putting their concerns first, above profit, that actually something can be done about it.

Polly I think it is important to have Native Title as the focus because this is an issue which speaks to something totally fundamental in every single person. And, women have to take on that role and try and lead in this, and not just sit back and follow; because, it is something which every Australian has to look at in a very, very fundamental way. I think it is really important that women take up this fight and lead from the front and make their opinions known.

Rebecca IWD means to me, a day to get together to celebrate being a woman, to remember the struggles waged on our behalf, by our foresisters, and to focus on the things that we still really need to fight for, because there is a hell of a lot to keep fighting for. And, I think IWD is a chance to be visible and to be loud and to just get out there and go, go, go! I feel that the theme for IWD this year is really important. And, I think as women, we need to really unite and send out a loud and clear message to John Howard, that what he's doing just sucks! I also feel quite strongly about what is happening in WA with abortion laws, so I'll be thinking of those things when I'm out marching on Saturday.

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