Access Denied: Women of the World
2 - 10 July 2016
In 2016 we gathered again to seek to engage and grapple with the reality that many women around the face: Globally, over 63 million girls are currently out of school. Of all women aged 20 to 24, one in four were child brides. In as many as ten countries, women are still legally bound to obey their husbands. The trafficking of women for sex continues to reap huge profits. Domestic violence continues to be a way of life for many. And women are still denied pay equal to that of their male counterparts in most countries.
Performing to a sold out audience, our speakers and performers helped us laugh and cry and fell empowered to speak out again the injustices we see around us.
Profits were donated to assist the ongoing work of Hope for Health.
Performing Artists included: Bonnie Curtis (dance), Becky Eversit (song writer), Cherie Lee (writer, actor), Coleen O'Connell (composer), Ellana Costa (playwright), Steve Koroknay (song writer), Kelia Terencio (theatre, puppet), Pauline Manley (theatre), Rachell Dade (dance), Stephen Davis (poetry)
Visula Artsist included: Alla Mellman, Anni Linklater, Balla Ann Townes (installation), Bonnie Cowan (performance installaiton), Carlos Agamex Garcia (installation), Florence Gengoul (film installation), Hannah Robertson (painting), Lousie Merrington (writer/interactive media), Mady Thieme (illustration), Neda Farrahi (painting), Rozee Cutrone (painting), Sepideh Mousavi (painting). Vittoria Oriana (painting).
Speakers: Amber Hawkes (IJM) adn Natalie Williams (Common Grace)
ACCESS DENIED
For so many women around the world today, ACCESS to fundamental rights and opportunities is still DENIED.
Globally, over 63 million girls are currently out of school. Of all women aged 20 to 24, one in four were child brides. In as many as ten countries, women are still legally bound to obey their husbands. The trafficking of women for sex continues to reap huge profits. Domestic violence continues to be a way of life for many. And women are still denied pay equal to that of their male counterparts in most countries.
In the year 2000, world leaders established the eight United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which set concrete, fifteen-year targets for progress in areas of global critical need, including environmental sustainability, universal primary education, and the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger. Goal 3 was the promotion of gender equality and empowering women. Some extraordinary outcomes have since been across all areas. But progress toward goal 3 has lagged sorely behind that of others.
Now, as the world looks to further feats of social development that were unimaginable only a generation ago, many women from all over the world still continue to face the same trials their grandmothers did. From the ten-year-old girl in Afghanistan, about to be married to a man older than her father; to the new mother in Sydney who returns to work only to find herself demoted; from the asylum seeker detained on Nauru who is denied sufficient access to sanitary products; to the citizen denied a place at peace talks in the war-ravaged Congo. For women around the world, the fight for access is still far from over.
This creative conversation seeks to bring together artists, performers, activists and thinkers in reflection on the ongoing trials faced by women around the world today. This is an invitation to transmit stories, to connect experiences, to ask questions, to examine underlying issues, and to imagine the future our daughters, and mothers all over the world deserve.
