ÃØÉ«´«Ã½

The Student Leadership day saw a hive of activity as our 2018 Student Representative Council (SRC) members prepared themselves for the busy year ahead. The focus of the morning was leadership, specifically what it means to be a Dominican leader. The students listened as Mrs Robson-Garth described the unique and special leadership style of the Dominican tradition. She touched on the number of leaders – 67 students – and described how very Dominican this large number is in that Dominicans pride themselves on strong democratic traditions where an open floor is given to many and varied voices and opinions.

This linked in well with the College theme for 2018, One Body Many Parts, which Jen Levett, Deputy Principal Mission and Identity then spoke about with the leaders. Of note was Ms Levett’s discussion of the strong history of female leadership within the Christian faith. The rest of the day focused on preparations for International Women’s Day (IWD) on Thursday, 8 March. While the annual breakfast is a sell-out, there are still many ways that the College community can get involved.

1. Press for Progress Selfies

All staff and students have been invited to select a pledge that is in line with the IWD theme #pressforprogress and add the photo to our selfie wall (see photo examples below). More information on the theme, including links to infographics highlighting the gender gap across the different continents) can be found here

2. He for She Campaign

HeForShe was created by UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The movement was created as the world is currently at a turning point where people in all corners of the world understand and support the idea of gender equality. This is not a women’s issue. It is a human rights issue. HeForShe invites people to stand together and create a bold and visible force for gender equality. This year, ÃØÉ«´«Ã½’s visible action will be to ask the significant men in our lives – teachers, brothers, fathers, friends – to make a personal commitment to gender equality. These commitments do not have to be large promises to put an immediate stop to structural inequality. Rather, they should be small yet meaningful statements that support the end goal of true gender equality and a closing of the gender gap.

Commitments may include:

• I commit to call out sexist comments when I hear them
• I commit to not repeating sexist jokes or forwarding sexist memes and images.
• I commit to encouraging other men to stand up for gender equality
• I commit to reading more widely about the gender pay gap
• I commit to raise awareness of gender equality in my workplace
• I commit to attending an AFLW game
• I commit to reducing the use of gendered language such as 'man up'
• I commit to learning more about intersectional feminism
• I commit to making dinner for my family instead of just assuming that is 'mum’s job'
• I commit to reading a book with a strong female protagonist

You can write your own commitment and send it to school with your daughter to drop in the box outside my office, by downloading the following file. Commitments can remain anonymous if you wish. Hopefully we can fill a display board of commitments at the IWD breakfast and leave the display up for the duration f IWD. Hard copy commitment cards will also be available to students.

{module_literature,i,183522}

Finally, one effective thing that we can all do as we move towards true gender equality is to stop subscribing to gender norms. This may seem like a small thing, but rigid gender norms regarding women as care givers and men as protectors feeds the toxicity of rape culture. Watch this terrific one minute video showing a group of men breaking stereotypes as they learn to braid their daughters’ hair:

3. McAuley’s Toiletries and Stationery Drive

Your daughter(s) has been allocated a toiletries or stationery item to collect as part of our annual drive for McAuley’s community services for women. The charity is run by the Sisters of Mercy and provides:

• A 24/7 safe house which provides crisis accommodation to women and children who are escaping family violence
• McAuley House: a unique and ground-breaking approach to homelessness services for women
• A specialist employment program which provides intensive support for women who've been homeless or experienced family violence to find and sustain work
• Children's programs: early intervention services to address the trauma that children experience when they are exposed to family violence
• Engage to change: an innovative preventative education program helping employers and their employees proactively address family violence in the workplace.

We encourage all families to become involved. The allocated goods for each year level are:
Year 7: Stationery (useful for preparing for or attending job interviews). Pens, notebooks and journals are greatly appreciated
Year 8: Skin Care (such as body moisturiser, hand cream, face cream)
Year 9: Shower gel and soap
Year 10: Shampoo and Conditioner
Year 11: Make up (This does not need to be expensive. The make up is used by some of the women trying to re-enter the workforce and helps many of them with their self-confidence). Tinted moisturisers, lip-gloss / balm, mascara and nail polish are all appreciated. Make up wipes are also useful.
Year 12: Pads and Tampons

Collection boxes will be outside my office. This is an opportunity for all of us to make direct and meaningful change on International Women’s Day.

Kate Gotlib
Head of Student Formation and Justice Education