Womyn’s Department
Womyn’s Department
The Womyn's Department helps women to express their concerns, campaign around issues and improve conditions for women students, and provides representation, funding and support. It aims to politicise and empower women to fight for women's rights, on and off campus.
The Womyn's Department also provides several Womyn's Only Spaces/Rooms at various sites across RMIT. Womyn's
Room Locations:
Swanston St > Building 8, level 3, next to the Queer lounge
Carlton South > Building 56 level 4, down the corridor from the SU Office
Bundoora > West Campus: Building 202 level 2
Bundoora > East Campus: Building 251 opposite Cafeteria
Tivoli/Business > Building 108 level 3, Room 34 next to the Student Union Office
Womyn’s Rooms:
exist in recognition of the oppression and inequality experienced by women, both on campus and in society more broadly
act as a vital point of information, advice and referral to women in crisis or experiencing problems such as domestic violence, unplanned pregnancy , rape and sexual harassment
provide a supportive face for women to meet, and politically organise against attacks on women’s rights, in an environment where their opinions are valued
are a space where women can empower themselves and each other, through learning new skills, using the women’s library, discussing new ideas and thoughts and collectively organising
a place to organise women’s only events such as surf camps, yoga, self defence and parties.
A place to relax in a comfortable environment, get tampons and pads, have a sleep, breastfeed, get information about safe sex, counselling, women’s issue.
Womyn students at RMIT elect the Womyn's Officer. The Womyn's Officer position is currently vacant. A new Womyn's Officer will be elected at an upcoming by-election in April. Until then, if you have any queries about the Womyn's Department, please email HYPERLINK "mailto:studentunion.womyns@rmit.edu.au" studentunion.womyns@rmit.edu.au.
The Womyn's Officer/convenor works the women's collective to organise political campaigns, social events, provide support and advice to women students.
Think feminism
sorted all that out
in the 70’s?
Think again.
Did you know that for every $1 earned by men in Australia today, women earn just 84c? And the gap has actually widened since 2004. If you take into account casual and part time work, women only make 66c of every male dollar.
If it was all just about the right study, and work alongside men, why are there so few women in decision making roles? In the case of boardrooms, women’s participation has only increased from 8.4 percent in 2003 to 8.7 percent in 2006.
Did you know that as many as 1 in 3 Australian women are affected by domestic and family violence? Domestic violence is the leading contributor to preventable death, disability and illness in Victorian women aged 15 to 44. (VicHealth (2004) The Health Costs of Violence: Measuring the burden of disease caused b intimate partner violence, Vichealth, Melbourne) HYPERLINK "http://hreocblog.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=33" \l "_ftnref3" \o "_ftn3"
Nearly 1 in 5 Australian women have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15and that 80% of women who have experienced sexual assault know the perpetrator? (Australian Bureau of Statistics (2005) Personal Safety Survey, (Cat. No. 4906.0).
This is not gender equity. This is not equality. This is not a post feminist victory.
This is why we need a vibrant Womyn’s Collective on campus, and greater public awareness of the issues and an understanding that feminism is not a dirty word. It is the movement that continues the fight to achieve equality, in the home, workplace and society.
More Information Online
Official sites
Equal Opportunity Commission
Office of the Status of Womyn
Sex Discrimination Act
Victorian Womens Trust
Alternative publications
Green Left Weekly
New Internationalist Magazine
International Women’s Media Foundation
Women’s enews (US)
Campaign sites
V Day campaign against violence http://www.vday.org/ http://www.vday.org/
No Sweatshop campaign HYPERLINK http://www.NoSweatShopLabel.com
Centre Against Sexual Assault (Melbourne) http://www.casahouse.casa.org.au/
Campaign for survivors of sexual violence http://www.grrlactivistas.org/
Reclaim the night http://www.isis.aust.com/rtn/
Women defending Human Rights http://www.amnesty.org.au/women/fact-womenhrd.htm
Women against war http://www.codepink4peace.org/
Search engines
Feminist history search (US) womenshistory.about.com
Feminist site search www.feminist.org/gateway/1_gatway.html
Article search (US) http://www.findarticles.com
Womyn’s Health
Womyn’s Health Info http://www.rwhmelb.org/wellwomens/index.cfm?doc_id=169
Feminist womyn’s health info http://www.fwhc.org/
Education sites
National Union of Students (NUS) www.unistudent.com.au
Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA) http://www.capa.edu.au/
Australian Vice Chancellor’s Committee www.avcc.edu.au
Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA) www.detya.gov.au
Federation of Australian Muslim Students and Youth
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~famsy/
Misc
List of political bookmarks (surf for hours!!!)http://www.feminista.com/womanslist2.html
US Campus feminists http://www.feministcampus.org/fl_gateway.asp
US feminist site with links and info http://www.feminist.com/