Upcoming Events
International Women's Day
March 7 th 2007
In Front of PK Building
Prahran Campus
12:00pm – 2:00pm
International Women's Day
March 8 th 2007
Under the Sails
Hawthorn Campus
12:00pm – 2:00pm
Women's Survey 2007
A short survey will soon be available on this site on the 7 th March 2007. Please take the time to let us know your thoughts and experiences. The information we collect will allow Vicky and the Women's Collective to better meet your needs as a female student.
Women's Collective Meetings 2007
This information will be available in the first week of Higher Ed classes!
Women's Reports to Council
Women's Stuff
Why Does the Union Have a Women's Officer?
What Does the Women's Officer Do?
What Is the Women's Collective?
Phone: 9214 5440 Email: |
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Why Does the Union Have a Women's Officer?
The Student Union has a Women's Officer on its peak decision making body in recognition of the fact that women in education and in society at large face barriers and discrimination based on their gender. Any enrolled female student may nominate during the Unions Annual Elections for the position.
What Does the Women's Officer Do?
The Women's Officer provides a point of contact for all women studying at Swinburne University who are experiencing personal or education related difficulties. The Women's Officer, together with the Women's Collective organises educative campaigns on feminism and also highlights issues that women face not only on the campus but also at a local and international level. Social events are also coordinated by the Women's Officer as directed by the Women's Collective.
What Is the Women's Collective?
The Women's Collective meets weekly on the Hawthorn Campus and organises educative campaigns and political campaigns to assist in eradicating gender bias. For example, issues that have been tackled in the past include sexual harassment on campus, reproductive rights, pay parity, safety and drink spiking. The Women's Collective also encourages and organises social events for women.
The Hawthorn Campus has a safe space for women to meet in the SC Building (corner John Street and Burwood Road ). It allows women to organise political campaigns in a safe and non-judgmental environment and also offers a women's friendly space for social events. A range of feminist, health, welfare and support information is also provided free of charge. Free pads, tampons, condoms and dental dams are also available.
NOWSA is the Network of Women Students of Australia. It is an annual mid year conference which is an amazing opportunity to work collectively on campaigns with women from all over the country, to disseminate information and to actively challenge women's oppression in all areas of life. The Student Union funds women to attend this conference each year. In 2007 the conference will be held at the University of Sydney sometime in the mid semester break. Keep an eye out on this page for details sometime in late May 2007.
‘Some might say, what's the point of changing the language we use? A famous quote from William Shakespeare declares "What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet." (Romeo and Juliet). However, anyone who's ever been called a derogatory name knows that language is not harmless.
The use of the male term to refer to all people, male and female, meant that women were linguistically invisible for many years or their identity was based on their male counterparts.' ( http://www.su.rmit.edu.au/rights/gender.html ). Some feminists like to replace ‘man' in the word ‘wo man ' with variations such as ‘womyn', ‘wimmin', ‘womben', or ‘wom!n'. The reason behind this is not because feminists hate men but rather because it gives ‘womyn' a separate identity to men. The alternative spelling is part of the wider political struggle that women face in the twenty first century. As we said earlier, words are powerful and making a simple change to the spelling of ‘woman' can be an empowering mental tool for womyn across the world.