International Women’s Day in Sydney: Be Inspired

BY ATHINA MALLIS

International Women’s Day is on March 8 and to celebrate there will be a number of events around Sydney commemorating the astounding work and positive influence of women.

One of these events is All About Women, a conference being held as a precursor this Sunday. Thirty women from the United States, Canada, Mexico, North Korea, Russia, France and South Africa will discuss issues such as equality, unconscious bias and violence through to the economy, masculinity, female incarceration, Indigenous activism, and the power of the female memoir.

Co-curator of All About Women Ann Mossop believes it’s imperative to create a platform for women to be a part of the public conversation.

“If you look around you at who is writing in newspapers, who is having their books reviewed in newspapers, [and] who is speaking on television and on radio, in spite of the fact that things have changed a huge amount, you still find that a majority of those voices are men,” said Mossop.

Mossop explained that All About Women isn’t about one particular version of what feminism can be. “It’s really important to hear from different people and different kinds of experience,” she said. “What we try to do, is not to just have a diverse program in a token way. It’s really about finding interesting people who have got something they’re passionate to discuss.”

For any women working in the arts industry, The Boys Club is a perfect pick. It’s a panel discussion, which talks about the vacancy of women in leadership roles within the arts sector. Mossop raises the question of why there are seldom any women in leadership positions within the arts, when there are so many women who work in the arts.

“If you look at the arts now as a sector, where most of the people who work in it are women…if you look at that layer of people who hold artistic director positions, people who are theatre directors or directors of various kinds of productions, it’s still very predominantly male.”

She added: “So why is that still the case? What has changed since we started having this conversation, what should we think about it, and what can we do about it?”

One event Mossop highly recommends is the panel discussion What Needs to Change, which features a number of respected women such as Ann Sherry, Crystal Lameman, Masha Gessen and Mallory Ortberg. Jenny Brockie will be chairing that discussion.

Memoirist Piper Kerman, whose bestselling memoir was turned into the popular Netflix series Orange is the New Black, will also be presenting a talk on women in the federal justice system and her own experiences.

Australian vocalist and hip-hop artist Sampa the Great will be a panelist on a special International Women’s Day edition of monthly literary event Women of Letters. This is a writing seminar reigniting people’s love for letter writing. Curators Marieke Hardy and Michaela McGuire regularly bring together writers, poets and musicians to each pen a letter on a certain topic, then read it out to an audience. This month they’ve teamed up with All About Women. Sampa is thrilled to be a part of this panel with the topic being ‘A letter to my unfinished business’.

As a woman in the music industry, she knows there are a myriad of things that should and hopefully will change, but one that strikes a chord with her is content.

“Not everything will inspire you, but not everything shouldn’t,” she said. “It feels a bit one dimensional at this point: same song, different artist.”

Journalist, novelist and screen personality Gretel Killeen will be hosting the Sydney leg of the AIM International Women’s Day Great Debate. Killeen will be wrangling two teams of well-credentialed speakers who will share some witty arguments and insights as they take a refreshingly raw look at the provocative topic of ‘Men and Women – Equal at Last’.

To her, International Women’s Day is about a celebration of how far women have come in striving for equal opportunity. She explained that when she first started in the industry sexism was so ubiquitous she thought it was the norm.

“When I was pregnant with my first son I was told I couldn’t appear with my stomach on camera [because] it would ‘put people off their dinner’,” said Killeen. “It’s come a long way since then. I think it’s really important, in any battle, to acknowledge the victories, that gives us hope and shows there’s progress.”

Another event applauding women is the Sydney International Women’s Poetry and Arts Festival, honouring and supporting female poets, writers and everyone in between. There will be talks from prominent writers and poets such as Jenny Munro and Judith Beveridge as well as writer and social commentator Jane Caro.

Some of the ideas Caro will be focusing on are the importance for expression for women, and the tremendous amounts of difficulty women have getting their work published and taken seriously.

Working in the media and advertising for 30 years, Caro has witnessed change in society towards women in the arts, but she says there is still a long way to go.

“It’s become a little harder to say ‘women aren’t that good at writing, they aren’t that good at painting [or that] they’re not funny’,” she explained. “Suddenly, even though people may still hold those beliefs, there’s still an embarrassment around saying those things out loud. That’s not huge progress, I’d have to say, but it’s better than it was before.”

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
March 8. Everywhere. Info: unwomen.org.au

ALL ABOUT WOMEN
March 6. Sydney Opera House. Various events, times and prices (multipack tickets available). For more info: aaw.sydneyoperahouse.com

WOMEN OF LETTERS – A LETTER TO MY UNFINISHED BUSINESS
March 6, 6-8pm. Sydney Opera House. From $27. Tickets & info: aaw.sydneyoperahouse.com

AIM INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY GREAT DEBATE
March 8. Doltone House, Jones Bay Wharf. $185-$199 (group bookings also available). Tickets & info: aim.com.au/iwd-2016

SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S POETRY & ARTS FESTIVAL
March 16, 5.30-9.30pm. NSW Parliament House, 6 Macquarie Street, Sydney. $20. Tickets & info: eventbrite.com.au

Other Events:

Women and Words
March 5, 3pm-5pm. Stanmore Library, Douglas Street, Stanmore. Free. Info: marrickville.nsw.gov.au

International Women’s Day Fair
March 6, 10am-1pm. Steel Park, Illawarra Road, Marrickville. Info: internationalwomensday.com

2016 International Women’s Day Breakfast
March 7, 7.30-9.30am. NSW Parliament House, 6 Macquarie Street, Sydney. $27.12-$44.88. Info: internationalwomensday.com or eventbrite.com.au

International Women’s Day Art Prize
March 8–15. Tap House Gallery, 259 Riley Street, Surry Hills. (Presentations March 8 at 6pm.) Info: tapgallery.org.au