WOMEN OF THE WORLD UNITE ~ IWD 2014

FREEDOM FIGHTERS of any kind in any Age resort to violence when their civil demands and negotiations are frustrated, when Promises are made and broken, when the abuse of power and privilege of Prejudiced Parliamentarians, requires an impolite protest - 

'ENOUGH IS ENOUGH'!

New Zealand 1895 and Australia 1902 led the world in votes for women. Australia's first Socialist Prime Minister Andrew Fisher had "Welfare measures introduced by the Fisher government included the implementation of invalid pensions and old age pensions for women under the 1908 Act, and an increase in the pension in 1912. The Maternity Allowances Act 1912 granted European mothers five pounds on the birth of a child. The government also passed the Commonwealth Workmen’s Compensation Act 1912." LABOR IN OFFICE WITH ANDREW FISHER

MRS MARGARET FISHER, wife of Australian Prime Minister is part of the Australia and New Zealand contingent of the Votes for Women protest in London 1911. 40,000 marched

Australian democracy museum

This Page acknowledges the Truth of the battles FEMINISTS have fought over Time, within themselves, their families, their work, their society. My primary school motto was apt: Knowledge is Power & brilliant medical expertise and care by staff of my home town, Selly Oak, Birmingham!

I'm not sure if any of my relations were active women's rights campaigners - all I know is what my Nan told me when I was an adult and trying to initiate a conversation:
"I don't talk about religion or politics".

 Gulp...that's what I am keen to explore...perhaps survival and being a responsible mother more than filled the time of working-class women. 

By keeping your mouth shut and heads down one avoids challenge and conflict and they had enough of that with the husband and kids! 

Hednesford, Cannock cousins of the 1920's.

Nan came from coal-mining stock of Staffordshire UK - girls were ready for domestic service in and boys to use their muscle(or anything they liked really).
The girls could become pregnant consenting or not, the same as in many developing countries today. 
Unionism, socialism and feminism were in the public square, beyond Nan and Nan's sphere.

Both my Nans bore the brunt of sanctimonious attitudes of babies born 'illegitematly' with tragic consequences for their off-spring of not knowing their biological mother.
Did they feel the injustice of their lot in life? The fact they both had to keep a shameful secret at their core?

What makes me carry the torch for past and current cruel policies against women? Must have been all those champagne socialists of the BBC feeding me dramas; The Suffragettes!

What I do know is the Horses were a popular past-time, so the Nation was shocked when the extreme tactics of a womans rights campaigner stopped a Horse race, as seen in this footage:

ALWAYS EXCUSES, ALWAYS DELAYS, BE PATIENT MY DEARS THEY WOULD SAY

• In February 1918 the Representation of the People Bill received Royal Assent.  This Act  gave most women over the age of 30 the right to vote.
• For the same voting rights as men, women had to wait another ten years. The Equal Franchise Act 1928, which gave women the vote on same terms as men, received Royal Assent on 2 July 1928.

Westminster and The first duly elected M.P. for Sinn Fein(Dublin) - is an Irish Republican!!

THIS INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY is always a cause for celebrations for women's perseverence to achieve women's rights in HER LIFE. However, all is tempered to remind ourselves what it took to get there;  you can't accept the Bosses or the Law Makers being Men to even consider or prioritise the needs and wishes of the daughters of cursed by God Himself, Eve.

THE ROOTS of Patriarchy which resist, delay and frustrate rational, a just and respectful society has still to make waves and practical policies today.

Although Australian Labor is regarded as progressive in recent times there has been a "socially conservative - right faction" formed to combat the progress of  life and death issues of individuals. Where is this inteference coming from? 

WOMAN'S NEVER ENDING FIGHT TO HER REPRODUCTIVE AUTONOMY.

Even within Feminism, literate, middle-class women contested their 'inferiors' who wanted universal suffrage. They wanted to be equal to men of their own class, votes given to responsible people like  'responsible' property owners.

Putting barriers up to safe abortions when they are required by a woman (like myself) is about economic equity. Women with money can afford what they like and women who can't rely on secular charities like Children for Choice to help them with costs and travel expenses.

The ALP members who are actively pursuing an anti-abortion agenda, or reinforce the Victorian criminal codes which can put a woman in prison and ruin her life need to question their moral authority over another Sister.

But these debates and excuses against women's autonomy have been going on longer than you may realise...

In 1647 at a Church in Putney, London, the Leveller faction of Parliament's New Model Army petitioned the Generals for Universal(male)Sufferage.
Their wives and supporters demanded the right for women too, while you're at it! 
Who or what is behind all this discrimination? What excuses do they give?
Pakistani exile Malala says The Taliban doesn't want girls to be educated and make up their own minds.

HERSTORY - 400 years ago the MPs tried to make a demeaning joke about women getting the vote and imagining what would happen!

A Satirical woodcut on the idea of women voting in the Westminster Parliamentary elections!
 The worse case scenario in 1648 and in the New/Old Tories of 2014...

"International Women’s Day this week/year, it is worthwhile looking at what changes have helped us achieve greater gender equality in our parliaments. History shows that when you change the rules, and don’t just rely on the passage of time or goodwill, only then do you get change. The Australian Labor Party’s adoption of the Affirmative Action (AA) quota in 1994 demonstrates this to be the case for women’s representation in the Federal Parliament." Affirmative Action in the ALP

CONCLUSION:

There is still so much to argue and persuade and march for, even within the membership and hierachies of the ALP. Women's lives everywhere are at stake. 

The Religious Right who want to reinforce a moral authority in Parliament with lawful interventions against Health professionals and consenting Patients who want to terminate an unwanted pregnancy are leading us all on a garden path of a theocracy.

Don't let their Willful Labor votes against reproductive services be done! This is not only for you and your Sisters, it is for those impoverished women overseas who require our aid for contraception and sex education, giving them choices in family planning. Do what you can with the talents you have. Keep up the argument against abortion as a criminal act from the attitudes and knowledge of the 1800's. 
The Pope or any other Patriarch should not be continuing to influence the minds of our politicians on your biological management. http://www.queenslandlabor.org

JOURNEY TO WOMANHOOD - PRO CHOICES & PROGRESS

1974 was a good year - 

puberty prostrated

me on the couch,

blooded by biology and

the BBC's  story

of the Suffragettes

struggle and stress,

strain and stamina 

in long dresses and

tresses under hats.

it seemed a fact we

females had to work

bloody hard to get a

bit of empowerment;

autonomy unheard of

like the peasants and 

proletariat in feudal

times, and even today

girls and women are

commodities. 

all over Mother Earth,

power corrupts, lies and

cheats us by laws and

and the fist, but shoulder to

shoulder the Truth is laid

bare and marches to it's

own beating drum.



for International Women's Day 2012
(c)Julie McNeill
all rights reserved

PRO-CHOICES & PROGRESS

One reason I joined the Australian Labor Party was wanting to contribute my female experience to the treasury of  knowledge where policies are formed  from.MENTAL HEALTH CONSUMERS - PERSONAL ACCOUNT

Since the election of recent Labor governments and Labor women in Australia we have seen a recognition of the cruel attitudes and practices inflicted upon women and children in the 20th century. 

The most recent was a call for another National apology by the Parliamentary Senate Inquiry into forced adoptions of the illegitimate babies of unmarried mothers.

http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2012/02/23/3438175.htm

Even in these more liberating times with access to information, single parent supports, and women in parliament there is always a strong resistance towards focused funded action to advance the autonomy of women - shortage of room at the domestic violence refuges and follow up housing - or maybe for once the bloke could be taken away and made to find a new place to live?

The Opposition leader, TONY ABBOTT'S insistence in providing more advantage to women who are already doing very well in his Paid Parental Scheme shows a complete lack of judgement. 
To prioritise such a scheme over a major reform like the National Disability Scheme shows contempt for all the weary carers(who are mainly women who have sacrificed their own work and health and saved the taxpayers huge amounts of money).
People with disabilities have a right to make decisions about their needs and have them provided for so they can contribute their talents to society.

Millais - The Blind Girl 1852.

Birmingham Art Gallery UK

The growth of evangelical Christianity and their methods of political influence is copied from the U.S.A. where politicians deliver a severer form of life sentence on women when they deny them contraception and abortion services.

Since joining the ALP I have become gradually aware of the Catholic Right dominance and as I despair, it makes my need to remain with the party in order to balance their anti-woman stances. 

The power of retired Independent Senator, ex-Labor and Roman Catholic Brian Harradine representing Tasmania comes to mind. His deals with the Howard government to deny aid to abortion counselling in the Pacific Island nations meant that there has been a high fertility rate, contributing to women having 6-7 babies. 

No matter the mothers become poorer, unhealthier and their children have no employment and end up in gangs. The stresses on the family, destruction of the environment - no thought for the consequences of disabling women's rights to choose what's right for them or their society.

In PNG the maternal death rate is high. The rate of HIV is increasing. Child mortality is high, and yet the religious organisations will not dispense condoms or the pill. The use of a drug like  RU-486 which is cheap and accessible in Europe is denied to the vast majority of women here at the bottom of the world thanks to the pious blokes in suits.

Anti-Science and a theocratic bent is more of what the Coalition forces are all about. 

We progressed to the first world status when our ability to plan how many babies we had in a life-time was achieved and the power of the male cleric had reduced influence on legislation.

I still shake my head when thinking how in my mother's fertile time during the 1960's, you could only get the contraceptive pill if you were married!

1926 - Fitzrovia, London - Marie Stopes clinic.

Eternal gratitude to women like Dr.Marie Stopes(1880-1958) who campaigned and confronted the ignorant status quo -  so by 1980 my virginal trip to the Family Planning Association of Victoria, in preparation for sexual intercourse of my own choosing was successful with no conceptions!
I showed my daughters where they could find out about the latest in contraception and sexually transmitted diseases and they told their friends when needing some advice.

Women are still carrying the burden of inequity(and iniquities), from superannuation to sex trafficking, and shortage of affordable housing.

That is nothing though compared to the awful situation of girls and women who suffer such horrendous situations like genital mutilation.

Coming from an English working-class, broken home, the best thing I could do for my Australian- born daughters was to educate them to a level of being economically independent. 
(It wasn't as easy as it reads!)

2012

• • Julie says: (re: www.thepunch.com.au/articles/can-you-put-a-dollar-figure-on-human-suffering/)

    09:18pm | 02/03/12  

    Sex and Money, Church and State: The fact of this article is many young women were treated brutally for being unmarried and pregnant. Who starts this kind of punishing edict? Thankfully feminists have lobbied over time to prevent some suffering going on. Its amazing there are still hateful comments rather than compassion and non-judgement that many of the Christian citizens and establishment perpetuated.

    Until 1973 there was no financial support for unmarried mothers. There wasn’t much at all for women over the decades. Male politicians avoided spending money on ‘fallen’ women or their illigitimate progeny.

    My maternal grandmother was forced to put my mother in a brutal RC orphanage so she could metal-press munitions, so mum was one of of the so called ‘child migrants’ brought over as child labour to make this country prosperous.
    http://www.julie-mcneill.blogspot.com.au/2010/10/boomerang.html

    Many women of 30’&40;‘s era were ‘in service’ from 14 - my other Nan was raped by the Master’ son, but had parents who could protect theirs and her reputation by imprisoning her at home until the baby was said to be her mothers. Both Nans held secrets for a long time and very common, and the hurt and suffering borne by the women and children to this day. The biological fathers got away bearing no responsibility or caught out by their wives.
    We know the ignorance of sex was abysmal and access to contraception and safe abortion was for those with money.(still is today in some areas and countries).

    All of these abuses of power and punishing moral stances from Church and State are about preventing a woman’s autonomy. Religious zealots still try to prevent family planning choices, STD’s or keep abortion in the criminal code written in 1841(Qld).
    Knowledge is Power and we have chaplains boosted in schools, not thorough sex education.
    It is an age-old tug of war over sex and money. It’s not about compensation for the harm done by policies of church and state - my mother wanted recognition, for society to learn from what happened and because the orphanage ripped out her teeth to avoid filling them - be able to get dental work so she can eat without pain, and not end up in an aged care institution and be brutalised again when she is most vulnerable.
    The Senate Committee said what happened to those young women and their babies was wrong.
    Reparation is whatever their needs are - you will find like the Forgotten and Stolen Generations, Child Migrants - all they want is to live out their life with some dignity and respect, money for ongoing counselling and other health problems which are directly caused by these judgemental practices.

    THORNS IN THE SIDE FROM EVE'S DAUGHTERS:

  FEMINISM is secular and humanitarian. 
  We wouldn't have paedophiles taken to court, the Churches being exposed for hypocracy, rape recognised internationally as a war crime, sexual slavery and trafficking on the political agenda if the deeds of activist women were invisible.

SUFFRAGETTE CITY - documentary 

We will remember them...... and March on....

Emily's List Australia

Wearing the purple this International Women's Day will be Senator Claire Moore, Chair of the Community References Committee which produced the report on forced adoptions. 

She also worked with the 'Stolen Generations' and 'Forgotten Australians' - she must have a big pile of handkerchiefs in deep pockets!

Senator Claire Moore with myself at a Wivenhoe Branch
function seeking education on global warming and planet changes 2008

Whatever her personal spirituality the Queensland Senator is a tireless attendee and supporter of a woman's right to AUTONOMY in their choices and decisions. 

President of pro-choice Labor women's organisation;
Emily's List. 
(provides financial support to female candidates to enter Parliament).

BACK TO THE 1970'S  - good on ya Helen Reddy and for your liberating and ageless song , I AM WOMAN