17 November Weekly Round-up

[N]o matter what, we don’t let it end with feeling disempowered. We take it as a challenge to fight harder and be stronger. We’ve got to stand up for ourselves.” For other analysis of the election result, see Patricia Williams, Arwa Mahdawi and Robin Morgan writing for The Guardian on “What does the US election result say about misogyny?” and Katie Dupere on positive ways to take action, including “take allyship seriously”, “listen to those most impacted” and “start planning for the future”.

 

 

• The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has filed a case in the Fair Work Commission calling for 10 days of paid domestic violence leave for employees subjected to violence. The governments of Victoria, South Australia and Queensland have taken the lead and support ACTU’s claim, which would make the leave a national employment standard.
• Asylum seekers and refugees who have left Nauru and Manus for medical treatment in Australia, including for sexual assault and mental illness, will be forced to return to the islands in order to access resettlement in the United States under the new deal announced this week.
• In New South Wales, the Port Stephens Council has reversed its decision to name a domestic violence shelter after its mayor, Bruce MacKenzie, after it was revealed that almost 20 years ago he was charged over an incident of domestic violence and issued with an Apprehended Violence Order.
• In Queensland, members of the Cairns community together with police officers have held a Red Rose Rally as a vigil for the four Queensland women allegedly killed by partners or family members in the last four weeks.

 

 

 

• In Malta, the Full Cooperation: Zero Tolerance project, a two year endeavour under the Government’s Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme, has been awarded €305,651 to strengthen multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary cooperation among professionals towards responding and preventing violence against women.
• In Malaysia, Soroptomist International have organised the fifth annual Walk the Talk – Stop Violence Against Women campaign to be held on the 27^th of November in conjunction with the United Nations 16 days of Activism to Eliminate Gender Violence Against Women.
  In Nottingham England, hundreds of women have marched for the Reclaim the Night Rally, the third to be held in the area since 2013. This year’s rally has highlighted the issues of street harassment and victim blaming.
• In South Africa, Sisters With Blisters has organised its first walk, to be held in the north of Johannesburg on the 26^th of November. The walk is intended to raise funds for two organisations engaged in preventing domestic violence,: Men and Women against Child Abuse, and the Centre for Community Justice and Development (CCJD).
• In Canada, the victim-blaming of a rape survivor during court trials by a judge and a defence lawyer have provoked outrage across the country.
• In Syria, refugee women who fell pregnant as a result of sexual assaults have been facing further hardships due to the lack of maternity care in camps.

 

• Noal Kelly in collaboration with HACK*BLOSSOM has written and developed a guide to a Do-it-yourself guide to cybersecurity, which internet users can follow to protect their digital accounts, encrypt computers and phones and the data contained in them.
• The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Center for a New American Security and the United States Institute of Peace have formed the Fragility Study Group, developing a policy brief Gender and Fragility: Ensuring a Golder Hour. This brief stresses the importance of recognising the impact of gender equality on the nation’s economic, political and social advancement.

 

 

 

• The National Women’s Alliances, including AWAVA, are preparing our submission to the Australian Government on its priorities for the next session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW61) and we would love to hear from you. In 2017, the CSW’s priority theme is women’s economic empowerment in the changing world of work. We have tonnes of information about this theme, but we need to focus our submission down to key areas… and we need your help! Please fill in our brief survey here.
• The Waratah Support Centre is holding “It’s No Secret” – Sexual Assault, Sexual Abuse and Domestic Violence” a national conference on 24 November, from 8:30 -5:00 at the Bunbury Regional Entertainment Centre, BUNBURY, WA. For booking details click here.
• The UN Women National Committee Australia invites everyone to the celebration of the 2017 International Women’s Day events in March happening simultaneously in 6 major cities around the country. For more information click here.
• 1800RESPECT will be holding a webinar on “Improving Cultural Understanding and Engagement with people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities” on 1 December 2016, 1pm AEDT. The presenter will be Craig Rigney of Kornar Winmil Yunti (KWY). Register here.
• Law Trobe Law School will be holding “Online/Offline: Sexual violence, activism, and justice”, a free seminar, on 25 November, from 4 to 6pm at the La Trobe University Franklin Streets Campus, Melbourne. Register here.
• WESNET is hosting the Inaugural Technology Safety Summit in Sydney on 21 November 2016. This one-day conference will focus on the various complex issues and concerns that come from the intersection of technology and domestic and sexual violence, and stalking. The Tech Summit will bring together those working with women and their children experiencing violence and other stakeholders from government and corporate Australia. Attendees of the Tech Summit will learn how technology can be misused as a tactic of abuse, how women experiencing gender-based violence can use technology to improve their safety and privacy, how digital evidence can be collected to hold perpetrators accountable, and how agencies can strengthen policies and practices to improve service delivery, and what other support technology and telecommunications companies can provide.  Registrations close Thursday 17 November. To find out more and register please visit the conference website.
• The National Rural Women’s Coalition is launching “Brave Danny” a picture book for children on 24 November from 5-7 pm at Melbourne Ether Conference Centre, 265 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne. The book was written by Robin Adolps for children and illustrated by Nicky Johnston. For more information, contact [email protected].
• The Adelaide White Ribbon Breakfast will be held on 25 November at the Adelaide Convention Centre from 6:45 am to 9:00 am. The guest speaker will be the Honourable Marcia Neave, chair of the recent Victorian Royal Commission into Family Violence. Book here.
• The University of Melbourne has created a website called ‘NotTheOnlyOne’where women can anonymously read and share stories about experiencing family and domestic violence.

Credits for the photo, artwork and campaign materials used in this round up:
WESNET
westbridgfordwire.com (photo of rally in Nottingham)
HACK*BLOSSOM
UN Women National Committee Australia

Sharon Rose Dadang (artwork used in Get Involved!)