Living Justice Living Peace

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and… you shall love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:29-31)

It sounds like a fairly simple idea, and for people in our community we try and act everyday with this love towards each other. So when certain events arise like International Women’s Day, it is surprising that there are murmurings of discontent in Australia. 

On these particular days, what can be a cause for celebration is sometimes overshadowed by hostility with comments or questions such as; “but women are equal to men”, “ why do women need a day?”

A lot of these comments warrant a conversation around the difference between equality and equity, which brings me to this year's theme for International Women’s Day; #embraceequity.

I remember having a conversation with one of my colleagues about equity and equality.  As a parent it is sometimes challenging trying to enact equity because siblings often keep the score on equality; so many of us at home have heard; "remember the time that you did this for them, you never do that for me".  The reality is, at any given time, one might require something or need more than the other, so maintaining the equilibrium is challenging.  As a teacher, this is a common response we hear from students also; “why does so-and-so get this and I don’t,” and in a child’s mind I can understand why they might perceive this as an injustice as they are wanting things to be equal. However, in reality their situations or backgrounds are far from it.  Some students might need extra assistance, attention or time for a SAC to make them equal, and therefore it comes back to equity.  Sometimes, it is not always going to be equal, because someone needs more assistance than another, or needs extra assistance and extra help to create true equality.

Particularly when we look at the history of women's rights we can see the injustices that women have faced throughout the years, and their achievements deserve to be celebrated. Our very own St Joseph’s College, Echuca, founded by the formidable Brigidine Nuns from Ireland, despite women’s lowly position in society. The Brigidine Nuns that worked tirelessly for over 100 years to keep this school in operation. In 1956, married women were finally able to teach in schools on a permanent basis.  Australian women workers weren’t awarded equal pay until 1969.  And in 1962 Indigenous women (and men) were afforded the right to vote.

But despite all these amazing achievements we still have statistics that do not fare well for women; “one woman a week is killed in Australia by a former or current partner”. And if we look more broadly there were more than 700 million women married before they turned 18. More than a third of that number — about 250 million — were married before the age of 15.

International Women’s Day is not a fight between women and men, which it is often mislabeled as. As a woman myself, my greatest supporter as a female growing up was in fact my Dad.  We need men standing up for women just as much as women stand up for women.  

So this year, let's turn the conversation towards equity instead of equality so there truly is justice for all.  And let’s celebrate the wonderful women who have paved the way for us, so that our Mothers, Sisters, Daughters and Grandmothers are now awarded more freedom today, than yesterday.  

Brooke O’Brien

Living Justice, Living Peace