Among the more surprising discoveries filmmaker Catherine Dwyer made while researching the women's movement in Australia from 1965 to 1975 was the existence of ASIO footage taken of protesting women.
Key points:
- Brazen Hussies is a documentary about the women's movement in Australia
- Until the 1960s, women were not allowed to drink in public bars
- The founders of Perth's first women's refuge needed their husbands' help to sign a lease
In it she saw women holding banners in the street, and also a "12-year-old Sigrid Thornton waving a women's liberation flag with her mum, Merle, who kicked off the women's liberation movement in Brisbane when she chained herself to the Regatta pub."
The footage, along with an array of interviews, is in Dwyer's new documentary, Brazen Hussies, which charts the establishment and rise of women's liberation in Australia.
"I became so interested in it because I was raised by a feminist, and I consider myself lucky in that regard," she told Geoff Hutchison on ABC Radio Perth.
"But I found that people my own age, I'm 38, didn't understand why it's important to call yourself a feminist or why feminism is relevant today, as I think it is.
What she found was the story of a world where women had to fight to be treated equally in every sphere of life, even the pub.
"Women could not drink in public bars with men. The word 'public' did not apply to women back then," she said.
"That was pretty shocking. It was standard around the country, but it was even written into the law in Queensland and that's what Merle Thornton was protesting [against]."
Women could drink in pubs, but only in side-rooms known as the ladies lounge.
Women also couldn't get a chequebook without their husband's permission, apply for a mortgage, or access affordable childcare.
And even others fighting for justice did not recognise the struggles women were facing.
"A lot of women came to the movement via the anti-war movement. Liberation politics was very big in the 60s with the anti-Vietnam war movement, the anti-Apartheid movement," Dwyer said.
"Women were fighting for liberation around the world but then were fighting that their brothers beside them didn't treat them equally.
For Perth activist Michelle Kosky it's a familiar story.
She was one of the women who founded Nardine Wimmin's Refuge in 1974, when a woman still needed her husband's help to sign a lease.
"There were five of us who met together on a Sunday in March 1974 and two of the husbands of the women present said they would both guarantee the lease and the bond," she said.
"But we were very grateful for their assistance.
"Much of that hasn't changed 50 years later."
Loading...
Listeners to ABC Radio Perth also had memories of when women weren't on equal footing with men when it came to finances.
"I commenced nursing in Perth WA in 1968. By 1969–70 more males started applying for nursing training and demanded more money than their female colleagues. They reasoned because they were males they deserved more!"
"When we came to Perth in 1973, I got a teaching job immediately while my husband had not got a job at that stage. I needed a car to get to work as he needed our one car to get a job. I had the guaranteed income but the bank would not give me a $5,000 loan without my husband's consent. I was told it was the law!"
For Dwyer, the film is an important reminder of how far women have come, and how they can continue to fight for their rights.
"I think one thing that is telling about how far we've come is the way that women think about themselves and the confidence they have today," she said.
"I spoke to a 22-year-old the other day and I asked her if she was familiar with the term 'brazen hussy' and she said she hadn't heard it before.
"And the women's movement reclaimed the term and wore it proudly as a badge of honour and that's probably why you don't hear that term anymore, because it has lost its power."
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIwLTExLTA2L25ldy1kb2N1bWVudGFyeS10ZWxscy1zdG9yeS1vZi13b21lbnMtbGliZXJhdGlvbi1pbi02MHMtYW5kLTcwcy8xMjg1MzQ0MtIBJ2h0dHBzOi8vYW1wLmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvYXJ0aWNsZS8xMjg1MzQ0Mg?oc=5
2020-11-06 04:31:00Z
52781170727483
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar