Zonta International and White Ribbon Campaign, together, say NO to Violence against Women.

Imagine this ..... suburban Canberra, a high school full of boys and Matt Hollis is wondering if any of them are going to turn up.

Matt is a teacher at this school and he is also an Ambassador for Australia's White Ribbon Campaign. He is working hard in the school to raise awareness with the boys and his fellow teachers about having respect and care for the women in their lives. Matt has a special event planned and is hoping he'll get enough of the students to show the school that the effort is worthwhile.

So what is Matt's purpose?

To help these young men to grow up creating a world of safety and respect for others. Because currently, Australia is like most western nations - living with an approx. 30% of women reporting some form of domestic violence incident in their lives.

1 in 3

I'll stop for a moment to let that sink in.

That means in our daily lives, going to work, sport, Zonta - where ever - we are mingling with both the victims and the perpetrators. Just as White Ribbon suggest, it is likely we will come across such violence.

White Ribbon is the world's largest male-led movement to end violence against women. Launched in Canada in 1989, White Ribbon was brought to Australia by the then UNIFEM in 2003.

Today in Australia the White Ribbon Campaign is well established and is fast making in roads in supporting men to help their mates understand and live in respect. Of course, Aussie blokes make it their own with their "Hey Mate" campaign.

Stephen Carter, the White Ribbon Organiser here in Canberra tells me that the script for this commercial was from a real conversation overheard down at the local pub.  ummmm ..... struth!

The Zonta Club of Canberra Breakfast has linked up with the White Ribbon Campaign to plan a joint event to recognise November 25 - the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women - a day important to both organisations.

All Zonta Clubs across the world are joining together in 2013 as a united front in our Zonta says NO campaign. 

Here in Canberra we are hoping to join with White Ribbon in the conduct of an awareness raising event with some of the local boys schools, local White Ribbon Ambassadors and our Zonta club members.

I wonder if our kids will be as inventive as these Canadian school students?

EHHHH! Respected Ladies!! Wow!!

So I can hear you saying ... But Mrs Banks! What happened to Matt and his school students??

OH - yes Matt! Matt visited our Club monthly meeting and shared this story with us. Matt had arranged a large long sheet of black fabric and tins of white paint. The young men would leave their white hand print on the sheet as a pledge that hand would never be raised in violence against women.

The school had to delay classes.

Matt ran out of paint.

Kids were queued down the corridor and painted both hands.

All the male teachers then joined him on stage at the school assembly and together recited the White Ribbon Oath.

I am SO thankful to have Matt in Canberra, doing the work he is doing, changing the lives of these young people and making the world a better place.

What is your club planning for the Zonta says NO Campaign?

In Finland, men can't be President.

My niece is about to sit the Higher School Certificate and finish school! Wow! Gee they grow up in the blink of an eye and she will be 18 this year. Over the years, it didn't matter what we were speaking about, she had no concept of an applied gender differential. 'Anyone can do anything' seemed to be the way she approached life.

But it hasn't always been this way for women in our world, and still isn't. Michelle Bachelet came to Canberra and reminded us how it isn't and in what ways.

So let's go back a step: Michelle Bachelet is the Executive Director of UN Women, and an Undersecretary of the UN. She has also been the first female President of Chile. She is truly global person, having lived several careers, has a mantle covered in awards - all whilst being a single mother of three children.

Michelle was meeting with the Australian Government and AusAID in preparation of attending the Pacific Island Forum with Julia Gillard and Hillary Clinton. Whilst in Canberra she snuck in a quick speech - probably the same one she presented at the Zonta International Convention.

"100 years ago only 3 countries allowed women the vote. Australia was one. Now in every country people continue to stand up for equality"

Michelle primarily spoke about two things:

1. How UN Women operates, and how it is different to the now defunct UNIFEM; and
2. Why UN Women is still needed, using lots and lots of stats and stories.

Basically UN Women was formed from UNIFEM and a couple of other parts of the UN to create a body which works quite differently. Instead of organising and supervising projects targeted for women and girls (the work of UNIFEM), UN Women uses a gender mainstreaming approach. It seeks to co-ordinate the other UN agencies to ensure all their policies and projects are gender neutral and do not generate perverse outcomes for women and girls. In this way, gender issues are no longer silo'd within one agency, but there is the opportunity to embed outcomes across the board.

This new agency has three priorities:

1. equal economic participation, including political participation and engagement of women in peace talks
2. more inclusive society
3. end violence against women and girls

Huge leap forward - as long as the other agencies agree to play along.

And so why is UN Women, and by extension Zonta, still needed?

According to Michelle, 1/3 of all women will experience domestic violence; women still do the vast majority of unpaid work; women on average earn less than men. Even though 125 countries now recognise domestic violence and have made it illegal, 600 million women live in countries where it is not recognised. And for those women neither do they have land rights, travel freedom, permission to sign a contract or borrow money, or receive an inheritance.

Even here in Australia where we have a wonderful life, still only earn roughly 85% of the average of men's salaries; only 1/3 of our pollies are female and women make up less than 10% of ASX top 200 company board members. How can balanced decisions be made in these circumstances? The Australian Government has a target of 40% female participation in government appointed boards, committees and panels - and we are not there yet.

In France they have a saying: "If a woman becomes involved in politics, she is changed. If lots of women become involved in politics, the policies are changed"

Michelle asks how can people make good decisions if participation is not 50/50? She points out that women's participation in peace talk negotiations has been less than 10% of the participants, and that peace talks, on average, fail within 5 years. And that research has shown that the most important success factor for a child is the education level of the mother. That when the economic status of women is advanced, women are more likely than men to put their money into their family and reduce hunger rates, reduce illness, increase education rates of children and this generates more jobs in the local economy.

So let's take a break and you can see this short video, filmed by AusAID, (with Canberra in the background). Michelle speaks of Australia's foreign aid program and support to UN Women, and some of the successes of the UN Women programs.


However, the picture is even worse in the South Pacific, where conditions for women are pretty much the worst in the world on every count. How bad? This AusAID poster summarises some stats:

So let's just check that again:

• 1/3 of Australia's women experience domestic violence, but in the South Pacific it is 2/3rds! And the UNHCR has pronouced that the Solomon Islands has a rate of domestic violence that is pretty much the highest in the world.
• In Australia, we average 1/3 of our pollies being female, the South Pacific is less than 5%, and in some countries it is 0%.

Michelle came to recognise Australia's foreign aid contribution to turning around this situation. Australia is one of only 2 countries in the world to be growing our foreign aid budget, to now $7.5 billion. And an increased chunk of it is heading towards the South Pacific women's projects, such as their "Women leading change" program, aimed at increasing the number of women as parliamentary representatives.

Take a look at this AusAID video:


So AusAID have increased their funding for South Pacific projects, expanding with projects for:

• Peace and security - helping more women to be involved in peace talks and anti-violence projects
• Women leading change - supporting women in the Solomons and PNG to enter parliament and step up their role as leaders in their communities

In closing her presentation, Michelle took a question from the floor about what inspires her to keep going:

"In Finland, A woman was head of state for over 12 years (Tarja Halonen), and she was visiting a kindergarten asking the kids what they wanted to be when they grew up. She was getting the usual answers: a doctor, a teacher, a fireman. She asked one boy: "Would you like to be President one day?" and the boy replied "Men can't be president!".

Michelle closed by saying this story made her realise: in changing mindsets, role models help more than policy.

So gentle reader: who have been your role models for advancing the status of women & how have they changed your mindset and driven you to action?

Karinya House: Advancing the status of our most vulnerable women

This week our Zonta Club returned from our summer holiday break. To open the year we had a great guest: Jacqui Gallagher from Karinya House.

Karinya provides supported accommodation, transitional housing and outreach services to pregnant and parenting women, particularly younger ones, who are in crisis.

So what does that mean in real terms?

Imagine a pregnant teenager - homeless, perhaps the father is gone, perhaps she has problems with her family. Mostly likely she has dropped out of school and at worst may have been involved with drugs or the victim of violence.

Karinya provides a safe place where she can go.

In the past year Karinya hosted 38 women with 37 babies; and provided outreach services to 235. 64% of these women where below the age of 25. Unfortunately 316 young women were not accommodated.

Karinya's clients are truly among the most vulnerable and at risk women in our community. Can you imagine one of these young women without supporters, any possessions, a place to live. Many times she has given birth in hospital and with no where to go, she is referred to Karinya. Young women in such a position rarely have skills in parenting, home life, employment and personal care. Without Karinya's services these young families could face a very uncertain future.

This is where Karinya's outreach services come into play. Their case work support is wide ranging and can include:

• Birth preparation support
• Health care advice
• Budgeting and financial planning advice
• Public housing applications
• Support accessing education to finish school studies
• Referral to other services for medical, antenatal, legal, welfare, and housing organisations
• Assistance moving and maintaining independent living
• Practical assistance with household goods, clothing, baby goods and maternity requirements

Club members Penny (centre) and Ceri (right) deliver kitchen starter packs to Karinya

Karinya's clients provide regular and positive feedback on the services. Jacquie shared a card recently recieved that expressed one young woman's appreciation for the support, care and compassion experienced.

 Jacquie shared another story of "Lisa". Lisa was escaping violence, she had a 2 yr old daughter and had a new baby son recently delivered by caesarian. Lisa was living in a car, had no income and was not a permanent Australian resident so she didn't qualify for welfare benefits. Lisa said she had "no voice and no dignity".

Once moving into Karinya her life instantly changed for the better. Beyond the safe environment, Karinya helped Lisa get a scholarship to a Toddler Parenting course, achieve her drivers license, gain permanent residency and access welfare benefits and now is planning to access independent housing.

"I couldn't imagine Karinya could do what they did. They brought back my dignity as a woman and a mother."

Karinya have a hope for the future. They are currently negotiating with the government to access a tract of land and are developing a plan for a cluster housing project to provide more refuge housing so women and their families can transition into a safe and independent lifestyle.

The Zonta Club of Canberra Breakfast is proud to be among many who have continued support for Karinya House over many years. Our club is supplying kitchen starter packs, ready to go maternity bags, a spring cleaning working bee, financial donations, 2nd hand baby goods and furniture, linen and towels.

Karinya is providing a vital service to so many of the young women of Canberra and helping them move forward and become valuable participants of our community.

How about your club? What are your service projects that support vulnerable young women in your community?

All photos sourced from Karinya House Annual Report 2009/10

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