Charlotte Cameron Firstly, I’d like to acknowledge country – the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people’s country that we’re on now. The Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people are also the traditional custodians of the lands I live and have grown up on in the western suburbs of Melbourne; I’d like to pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging, and any First Nations people here tonight. I’d also like to acknowledge that all of the work we’re doing is only possible because the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people have looked after this land for tens of thousands of years, and continue to do so. I won’t pr ..read more

Maddy Markovski Trigger Warning: Violence Against Women I love to go outside and go for a walk. I have my music blaring, I am with my dog and the sun is shining. I’m at my happiest. During lockdown, going for walks was one of the only things that kept me grounded and sane. It became a part of my everyday routine, and it was something that I would look forward to after a long and boring day. However, this is not a story about how much I love to walk and all of the positive health benefits it can have. Instead, it’s a story about how a girl whose love for going on walks was stripped away from h ..read more

Georgia Ransome It is bittersweet to announce that Banksia Gardens’ Gender Equity Officer, Emily Sporik, will be leaving the Good People Act Now (GPAN) Project after five years. ​ Emily joined the GPAN Project as a volunteer in 2018. After graduating from GPAN training that March, she quickly became an indispensable asset to the GPAN team. In 2019, she led the GPAN School Hubs pilot project, creating bonds with the students at Hume Central Secondary College that would extend beyond the life of the hubs project.  In 2020, Emily assumed the role of Gender Equity Officer, helping me to co-f ..read more

Maryam Hanani As a young girl growing up in Iraq, I would always stare at myself in the mirror, focusing on my long hair which my mum prided herself on and my feminine features which my relatives always commented on telling me I would never struggle to find a husband. And I hated that! I hated these comments! I hated the reflection staring back at me! And I hated me being a girl! So I tried, I always tried to hide this feminine side of myself.  Tying my long hair back, acting the same way a boy is expected to act, distancing myself from all feminine influence just to feel like I am good e ..read more

Chloe Falzon I, Chloe Falzon, am a feminist, and I know that people might question why. ‘Sexism is in the past, we don’t need feminism anymore!’. ‘Feminists are still a thing? But women are equal now!’. To these people, I have a few questions. ​ Where would women be without past feminist movements that have been set into motion? Where would we be without the suffragettes? Not voting. Where would we be without the National Organisation of Women? With worse employment opportunities than we have now. And, as a feminist, I recognise that there are women across the globe who have it ..read more

Bree Dodd ​Trigger warning: Abuse, Sexual Assault Feminism. It’s a big word in the media at the moment, a controversial one to say the least. A lot of people are scared by the word. They get defensive, they claim that feminists are just overreacting “man haters”. That feminism is not actually needed anymore, we got what we wanted, why are we still fighting? Well, we are still fighting because gender inequality is still a prominent problem in 2021, even if it’s not always seen. The problem is systematic and acts as the building blocks for the patriarchy our world is built upon. There is not the ..read more

Danielle Farah and the GPAN Youth Action Group Dear Cr Joseph Haweil and team, ​My name is Danielle Farah and I am writing on behalf of the Good People Act Now (GPAN) Project from Banksia Gardens Community Services (BGCS), to bring your awareness towards the lack of female representation and diversity within Hume City Council’s leadership team. The GPAN Project’s key focus is preventing violence against women in Hume by addressing its major driver, gender inequality. The following proposal comes from the perspective of a lifelong Hume local and young female, with my own experiences with gende ..read more

Renée Leader I was 17 and I was pregnant, which is never ideal. There was no celebration, no baby shower, no gender reveal party. Just harsh whispers, nasty comments, and two families at war. In a small ultrasound room inside a modest country hospital, I found out that my baby was a boy. And I was instantly flooded with relief. Relief that my son would not have the same experiences that I, and almost every other teenage girl, have had. But what if he became the perpetrator?   My son is very much a stereotypical 15-year-old boy. He loves sports, hanging out with a big group of his friends ..read more

Aria Nanai & AJ Brennan What does the Eurydice Dixon Gender Equality Champion Award mean to you both? ​AJ: It means to me that a tragic incident gets to be turned into something positive and the story gets rewritten.  Aria: I feel pretty similar to what AJ's saying and acknowledging the good that also comes with the Hume area. It was was something tragic that happened but [this award] let's us say say that there are also really good things happening. Why did you apply or get put forward for the award originally? AJ: You guys [GPAN] made me feel so welcome and understood and ..read more

Chris Arnold My name is Chris. I’m a 26-year-old male, primary school teacher from Geelong, Victoria. I would consider myself a fairly stereotypical middle-class man and because of this, I am conscious of my privilege. I joined GPAN at the beginning of 2020 after attending the previous two GPAN Trivia nights in 2018 and 2019. The GPAN team asked me to answer some questions from the male perspective and hopefully I can share some of my thoughts and experiences. ​ Would you call yourself a feminist and why? I definitely call myself a feminist, although it is only in the last couple of years that ..read more