Women Postgrads Network 
Being a woman and a postgraduate can be a challenge. The SUPRA Women's Network is a social, academic and policy-support forum run by, and comprised of, female postgraduates at the University of Sydney. It is there to support you and help resolve the issues you may encounter as women postgraduate students. It is dedicated to making your postgraduate experience as enjoyable and hassle-free as possible. The Women's Network is coordinated by the SUPRA Women's Officer, Rashmi Kumar. You can contact Rashmi at women@supra.usyd.edu.au
Page Content
(click on link to be taken to section)
- Upcoming Events
- Introduction from the Women's Officer
- Women's Network Mailing List
- Postgraduate Parent's Network
- Thursdays in Black
- Pregnancy Counselling Services
- Results from the Child Care Survey
- Sydney University Network for Women (SUN)
- Past Events
Introduction from the Women's Officer
As this year's postgraduate women's officer, I'm excited about the many possibilities for engaging with postgrad and women's issues in the student community. There are a number of issues that women and postgraduate students face which SUPRA has worked on in the past, and which interest me personally. I’m interested in working with other student organisations at Sydney Uni to further women’s rights and put postgrad issues on the agenda.
In particular, I'm interested in the National Union of Students' women's department campaign to Stop Violence Against Women. Having had input into this campaign, I think it offers a strong possibility of both empowering women to stand up against violence, and engaging student interest in the social issues surrounding violence against women. Working together with SUPRA councillors, SAAOs, and the SRC, a new campaign around Safety on Campus shows prospects of increasing the capacity of women students to use campus spaces, including postgraduate study areas. The Thursdays In Black campaign and Reclaim The Night march have potential to increase the engagement of SUPRA with women’s community groups, and to publicise social issues around violence against women.
I am also heavily interested in the intersections of women’s issues with racism, disability issues, sexuality. As well as engaging with students working in these areas, I have been participating in the National Women of Colour Network, as a founding member, since 2007. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to extend the operations of the network into the postgraduate community.
It will also be incumbent upon SUPRA to respond to the University’s review of the Harassment and Discrimination Resolution Procedure, which is shaping up to be a policy that limits University accountability for harassment or discrimination, and makes it hard for students to seek redress.
The USU is also conducting a review of childcare provision, which I will be monitoring for opportunities for postgrad student input, as these services are currently extremely difficult for students to access. The work my predecessor, Estelle Noonan, did on producing a student parents’ guide is something I hope to build on, and officially launch it sometime in second semester.
Overall, it looks to be a very involved year, with a lot of exciting initiatives. Contact me at women@supra.usyd.edu.au if you’d like information about anything I’ve mentioned, or if you’d like to get involved.
This mailing list is an opportunity for women postgrads to share information relevant to your experiences on campus and elsewhere; to let each other know about upcoming events; to discuss whatever is important to you. Additionally, it will be used by the SUPRA Women's Officer to communicate important news about campaigns and events. Click on the image above left to subscribe to the list.
Many postgrad parents have told us that they would appreciate a way of getting touch with each other more easily so a postgrad parents network has now been added to the SUPRA forums. This a place where ALL parents can get together and discuss the experience of being both a parent and a postgrad and get in touch with some other similarly situated people. Being a parent and student presents a wide range of challenges which are most often best understood by those who are in the same boat. Hopefully this network will be a useful way to find those people. Remember that these forums are not secure and are open to anyone who registers so please be aware of privacy issues when posting.
If you want more information on the childcare services offered by the University follow this link to Student Services' Childcare Information Office website.
A war against women is raging all over the world, and has continued for centuries. Its weapons include domestic violence, sexual assault, rape, murder, female infanticide, genital mutilation, sexual harassment,
discrimination, sex trafficking. In short, sexism.
Every Thursday people around the world wear black as a symbol of strength and courage. Black represents our solidarity with the victims of violence and our demand for a world without rape and violence against
women.
Wearing black on Thursdays indicates you are tired of putting up with violence in your community and demand a community where we can all walk safely without fear; fear of being beaten up, fear of being verbally abused, fear of being raped, fear of discrimination. It shows that you want to be free.
Thursdays In Black is part of an international movement demanding a world without rape and violence. It has its roots in groups such as Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina, mothers who gather every Thursday in silence to protest the loss of loved ones under the military dictatorship; Black Sash in South Africa; the Women in Black movement in Bosnia, women who expressed outrage at the rape-death camps in war torn Bosnia; Women in Black movement in Israel, women who opposed the Israel occupation of the West Bank and the abuse of the Palestinians.
There is something wrong with a world that will allow the human rights of women and children to be abused and threatened. This campaign focuses on ways that individuals can challenge attitudes that cause rape and violence. It provides an opportunity for people to become part of a worldwide movement that enables the despair and pain and anger about rape and violence against women to be transformed into political action.
In September the Women’s Network at SUPRA and the Women’s Department at the SRC are launching the Thursdays in Black campaign at Sydney University. It is unacceptable that women continue to be raped and
abused in their own homes and in the streets of our communities. We are angry, and we are going to raise our voices in support of our sisters.
This action is primarily aimed at women but everyone is encouraged to show solidarity by wearing black on Thursdays or buying a badge or a t-shirt.
For more information or to get involved, email the SUPRA Women’s Officer Kate Barnsley: women@supra.usyd.edu.au, or call 9351-3715.
While the focus of Thursdays in Black is, in part, to show that women will no longer be cowed by violence, the reality of it is that many women do suffer violence of many kinds. If you or someone you know is a victim of sexual assault or domestic violence there are places you can go to get help and support. Rape Crisis NSW has both a 24 hour telephone counselling service and an online support service, call: 1800 424 017 or go to www.nswrapecrisis.com.au. If you need help to deal with a domestic violence situation contact New South Wales Women's Refuge. They have a 24 hour domestic violence hot line call: 1800 65 64 63 and their website is at www.wrrc.org.au.
Pregnancy Counselling Services
As you may be aware there has been some recent controversy over the types of advice offered to pregnant women about the options available to them. It seems that some innocuous sounding, and state funded, services are refusing to make women aware of all of the choices available to them and, in some cases giving them gross misinformation about potential side effects of abortion. We have available in the SUPRA offices a Guide to Pregnancy Counselling Services. This brochure, prepared by the Greens, lists the All Options pregnancy counselling services by state and territory, as well as the ones considered deceptive. In NSW the brochure recommends the Bessie Smyth Foundation: 02 9649 9744 and FPA Healthline: 1300 658 886. If you would like more information come and pick up a copy of the brochure, alternatively you can visit Greens Senator Kerry Nettle's website at www.kerrynettle.org.au and download the information.
Results from the Child Care Survey
Childcare is a contentious issue at the moment, both in the wider community and on campus. As the Federal Government attempts to lure women into having children, they are paying little attention to the issues surrounding childcare especially cost and access. Things are no different at Sydney University. With the added pressure of VSU and the increased threat to many of the services that are a part of the student experience, parents might find themselves left out in the cold when it comes to finding care for their children in order to continue or complete their studies. This has been an ongoing concern in the Women's Office and in July I took my worries to the Registrar in our Senate/SUPRA Liaison Committee. The result was a survey conducted in August of Postgrad parents. My brief analysis of the results of the survey can be downloaded as a pdf by clicking HERE. If you have any comments or queries or if you have suggestions about ways to continue the campaign to ensure students have access to quality, affordable childcare, please email me: women@supra.usyd.edu.au.
The Sydney University Network for Women (SUN) aims to support the leadership, development and advancement of women within the University.
SUN was established in 1998 and now has close to 500 members. The Staff and Student Equal Opportunity Unit has played an instrumental role in the establishment and ongoing support of SUN.
While the network is primarily aimed at Academic and General staff, SUN recognises that many Postgraduate students are also employed by the University and aim to continue working in Universities after completing their studies. SUN is an invaluable resource for Postgraduate women and I would encourage you to sign up.
For more information contact Bronwen Morrison: bmor5848@usyd.edu.au
PEER MENTORING:
The SUN network runs a peer mentoring programme. One of the groups that ,may be of most interest to PG women is the Research Group. This group deals with all things research related and some of the topics covered are:
- grants
- publishing
- research teams
- academic and general staff research roles.
There is also a series of talks being presented throughout the year and below is the programme until August.
Monday 7 May 1.00 – 2.00 pm Guest Speaker Assoc Prof Helen Irving : US Studies Centre, from Inception to approval
Darlington Centre
Monday 4 June 1.00 – 2.00 pm Guest Speaker – Research Office to be confirmed
Darlington Centre
Monday 2 July 1.00 – 2.00 pm Guest Speaker – Sara Hofman: The role of the Business Liaison Office
Darlington Centre
Thursday 2 August 4.00 – 5.00 pm General Discussion
Darlington Centre
For more information go to www.usyd.edu.au/sun/peer/index.shtml or email the coordinator Denise Wenderoth (Office of University Relations) at d.wenderoth@vcc.usyd.edu.au
WOMEN'S COLLECTIVE:
The SRC Women's Department is always very active on campus. If you would like to get involved in some feminist activism or just meet and hang out with other like-minded women, the Women's Collective meets every Thursday at 1 p.m. in the Women's Room in Manning House. All women are welcome.
There are also weekly discussion groups on Mondays at 5, these alternate between Women's Only events held in the Women's Room and events to which men are also invited held in Holme Building.
Finally the SRC Women's Department is organising the 2007 Network of Women Students Australia (NOWSA) Conference, to be held at Sydney University from the 2nd to the 6th of July. If you would like to be involved in organsing this event the group meets Tuesdays at 5 p.m. at the SRC.
For more information about any of these activities go to: www.src.usyd.edu.au click on Departments and then click on the Women's Department. Or email me: women@supra.usyd.edu.au
In August as part of the University’s NAIDOC week and the University of Sydney Union’s Women in Education Week, SUPRA, SUN and USU invited Linda Burney to speak to us about Indigenous women in education. Ms Burney is uniquely qualified to discuss this topic as she has been heavily involved in the education sector throughout her career. She was elected as the Member for Canterbury in 2003 and was the first Indigenous woman to be elected into the NSW Parliament. Linda has a high profile at state and national levels, in education and training as well as in Aboriginal affairs. She was Director General for the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Linda’s work has been recognised through many awards, including the NSW Department of School Education Director General Award for Outstanding Service to Public Schools. The event was a great success. Ms Burney is a fantastic and inspirational speaker. It was great to hear not only about the wonderful things happening in indigenous communities around the state and the country but also her passionate commitment to correcting the gross injustices still suffered by Indigenous people in Australia. I would like to thank SUPRA’s co-Indigenous Officer Leona Oliver for her fantastic introduction of Ms Burney on the Day, also Bronwen Morrison, SUN Secretary and Emma Dunlop-Hill of the USU for all of their help in co-ordinating the event.
Pictured left to right: Leona Oliver (SUPRA Indigenous Officer 2006/7), Linda Burney, Kate Barnsley (SUPRA Womens Officer 2006/7) and Bronwen Morrison (SUN Secretary).
