Whittlesea councillor, Kris Pavlidis has seized on the 2010 theme for International Women’s Day (IWD) to launch a new woman’s advocate network, Women Matter Two (WM2).
The launch, which celebrates the IWD theme, ‘equal rights, equal opportunity: progress for all’ took place at the Whittlesea council offices on Tuesday as part of the council’s IWD Award Ceremony.
Cr Pavlidis thought the formation of the network was necessary, following her convening of a workshop that revealed that Whittlesea women wanted more information, and opportunities to participate in decision making levels.
“There is still a strong stream of women that feel politics is a man’s domain,” said Cr Pavlidis.
“Some of the women, several of which were first generation Greek said that they often voted how their husband asked them to, although this was starting to change. Therefore it is important that women are given enough information and support to become better informed… and to know that it is OK to have their own opinions.”
However it is not only first generation migrant women that are facing issues of equity, according to Cr Pavlidis.
By this she highlighted that the majority of people in politics and in senior management positions are men, which does not equitably represent the 51 percent female population of Whittlesea. “The sacrifices that women have to make to advance in their career paths are a lot greater than men,” she said.
“The gap is starting to close however that glass ceiling is still very much intact that we are still looking through. We know where we want to go but there are still real obstacles to attain.”
WW2 will seek participation and public consultation in its next meeting in May, which will provide the community a chance to input to the network’s mission statement and values. Its mission statement is, ‘promoting and advancing opportunities for all women in the municipality of Whittlesea to participate equitably’.
For more details, contact Cr Kris Pavlidis on 0407 689 032.