Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every year on 8 March women all over the world join together to celebrate International Women's Day. In South Australia, we really get behind and support International Women's Day, and this year I was fortunate enough to attend a number of events and meet some wonderful and inspiring women.

The first International Women's Day was held in Europe on 19 March 1911. Meetings and protests were held across Europe with the largest street demonstration attracting some 30,000 women. The day sparked great public debate and advocates for attention to the absolute necessity of extending the right to vote to women to make parliaments more democratic. In 1913 International Women's Day was transferred to 8 March and has been held on that day ever since—and has become a global phenomenon. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and their communities.

The events held in South Australia last week were an occasion to look back on past struggles and successes and to point out what obstacles stand in the way of women achieving equality and how women and men can collaborate to overcome those obstacles to equality. Last Thursday, I was fortunate enough to represent the Prime Minister Julia Gillard at the International Women's Day Committee of South Australia's 75th anniversary celebration luncheon.

In 1938 the first official meeting of the South Australian International Women's Day Committee was held, attended by, amongst others, the Women's Council of Trade Unions, the Women's Peace Pledge Union, the Friends, the League of Women Voters, the Women's Welfare League, and there were many other women's groups there. Since 1938, the group has held a variety of public functions to celebrate International Women's Day in a variety of formats and 75 years on hundreds of people are still attending those functions. Last week's lunch was no exception. More than 600 women of all ages, from school students to pensioners, attended the lunch in high spirits to celebrate IWD 2013. I congratulate the current committee, including President Miriam Silva and Vice President Toni Jupe for yet another grand occasion.

Each year, the committee has endeavoured to host interesting and motivating speakers. This year, although the intended speaker was a last-minute withdrawal, the Director and Chief Executive of the Butterfly Movement, Dalice Kennedy, stepped in and spoke compassionately about her work in creating a shoe appeal that collects and sends new or barely worn shoes to children, women and men in need in Australia and around the world.

In previous years, memorable speakers at SA IWD functions have included Molly Byrne MP, the first female member of the Australian Labor Party to be elected to the House of Assembly in South Australia, who spoke about women in parliament in 1966. The following year, the legendary South Australian Attorney-General and former Premier Don Dunstan spoke about 'the role of women, not only as wives and mothers, but as those who quite capably can combine career with marriage'—a revolutionary topic for the time.

Other just-as-great speakers have included then Justice, later Dame, Roma Mitchell, the first woman Supreme Court judge in Australia, together with the feminist author and journalist Anne Summers, and that was in 1971. In 1973 we had my friend, and the former President of the Legislative Council in South Australia, Anne Levy, still the only woman to have held that position. We had the Hon. Elizabeth Evatt in 1978 and, in 1986, the project officer for the trades and labour council and current South Australian member of parliament Stephanie Key. The South Australian International Women's Day committee really has done a fantastic job over the years in ensuring women's voices are heard and their achievements are recognised. This year, three major awards were presented: the Young Women's Community and Spirit Award, the Irene Bell community award, and the Irene Krastev Award 2013.

While all the nominees and winners were more than worthy of winning an award, I would like to make special mention of award nominee Tara Fatehi. Despite a tragic childhood fleeing her war-torn country of Iran and being relocated by the United Nations to Australia as a refugee, Tara is an inspiration to the young and the older alike. Upon arriving in Australia, Tara did not let her past difficulties stop her working for justice and hope for Kurdish women or breaking the stigma of women in leadership within her community. She is the founder of the Adelaide Kurdish Youth Society, co-founder of Kurdistan Health, the cultural/ethnic coordinator of the Kurdish Ethnic School in Adelaide, and currently a full-time PhD student in medical science. She is a very impressive young woman.

The winner of the Irene Bell community award was Polish-born Krystyna Luzny. Arriving in Australia in 1950 as a displaced person from Poland, Krystyna made it her never-ending passion to heal those affected by the war, as well as to promote her Polish traditions and history to the Australian community through dedicated volunteering, fundraising and art. She sent parcels to Poles awaiting resettlement in camps in Germany soon after she had arrived in Australia. She mobilised her resources, networks and skills to develop and implement Polish activities and organisations to help those less fortunate in her community. Using her artistic and creative abilities, she has also been involved in countless exhibitions showcasing Polish culture. She has curated a number of exhibitions and was actively involved in the establishment of the South Australian Migration Museum. She is the honorary curator of the Polish Hill River Church Museum and a former member of the editorial committee of the Glos Seniora or Seniors' Voice publication, and throughout the 1980s and 1990s was a frequent visitor to schools, where she talked about Poland and Polish traditions. Despite her age and failing health, Krystyna is still a force to be reckoned with as she continues her work as treasurer for the Polish Women's Association, and she is a very worthy winner of the award.

Tara and Krystyna, together with the other nominees in all the award categories, are examples of women who have come from tough backgrounds and given their all for their communities.

As I mentioned earlier, South Australia hosts a number of IWD events each year. Another one is the UN Women IWD breakfast, hosted by Senator Penny Wong, and it is the largest IWD event in the country. It was first held in 1993 with 279 participants, and was originally hosted by former Labor Senator the Hon. Dr Rosemary Crowley. Attendance numbers have continued to grow almost every year, with this year more than 2,400 people attending the breakfast.

One of the things the breakfast does, as well as bringing together women from across the community, schools, and women of all ages, is to raise money to go towards important programs elsewhere in the world where women are in need. In its 20 year history, the Adelaide UN IWD breakfast has made donations to many UN women's programs and has donated more than $60,000 towards programs for women's rights, economic rights, and political participation in 2012 alone. The money raised at last week's breakfast will go to the Critical Services Initiative in Papua New Guinea, to support women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence.

Considering that the breakfast was raising funds around violence against women in PNG, it was fitting that the first event I attended last week for IWD was an evening with Papua New Guinea's first and most accomplished woman judge, Justice Catherine Davani. Justice Davani was appointed as a judge to the National Court of PNG and, after 18 years of practicing law at both the public and private bar, mostly in the civil litigation area, became the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court there. She spoke of the many domestic violence issues in PNG, including the fact that 67 per cent of women in Papua New Guinea experience domestic violence, and that figure tragically rises to 100 per cent in the highlands of Papua New Guinea. She took many questions from the audience and spoke passionately about the problem of addressing the issue of domestic violence in Papua New Guinea.

So IWD is an opportunity, as I said, for women to learn about the plight of women in areas much less fortunate than Australia, and it encourages all, especially women who have the opportunity and ability to work together, to support women in the rest of the world who need our assistance.