Momentum | WOW (Women of the World) Australia
“How will you create momentum?” – Anisa Nandaula
Momentum was a series of events presented by WOW (Women of the World) Australia, an organisation that acknowledges the work, achievements and creativity of women and non-binary people. The series explored what the notion of ‘momentum’ means for the feminist movement and how it differs dependent on various intersectional feminisms. The three events – Women Who Dare, First Nations First, and The Making of Men – each opened up important conversations and placed a spotlight on feminist and other social issues.
In a year that has been tainted by news of so many gender inequities, disparities, and violent acts against women, it was both inspiring and confronting to dive headfirst into three massive discussions about these issues. At every single one of these events, I found myself tearing up and getting goosebumps, but most of all I felt passionate. I was passionate for the change that the speakers were proposing, passionate about a positive future, passionate about the progress women have made so far, and passionate for a spotlight to shine on gender injustices!
“My whole career is finding momentum where none exists” – Huda Fadlelmawla
Women Who Dare was an excellent event to begin a series of critical discussions. The event was split into three activities: a workshop, a performance, and a talk.
The badge making workshop – led by Indigenous artist and illustrator Tori-Jay Mordey – was so much fun! I adore arts and crafts and I loved that we were able to be as creative and imaginative as we wanted – so long as that creativity fit into the badge press – while we expressed ourselves and our values in a custom badge (or in my case, badges). I made three badges – one of which was a vag-badge – and I love them so much that I’ve been wearing them almost every day since the event.
Anisa Nandaula performs. Image: Nadia Jade. Cover image: Hastelow Photgraphy.
I was introduced to a Brisbane based arts collective called Voices of Colour. The group creates a space for migrant, refugee, and first nations people, providing opportunities for their voices to be heard. We heard from three femme members of the collective who each responded to the theme of momentum in their preferred art forms.
The first was Anisa Nandaula – co-founder of Voices of Colour, poet, comedian, and author – who presented a spoken word piece that discussed abusive relationships and the momentum required to remove yourself from toxic situations. I was amazed at her story and her strength in telling it. Through her words, I was confronted for the first of many times throughout the series of events by questions of what I can do to create momentum. Nandaula asked us, “What will be your act of bravery?”1
Nandaula’s speech was followed by a vocal performance from soulful First Nations singer, Keely Eggmolesse. She skilfully sang in an almost spoken-song-like way that sounded so similar to her speaking voice but just elevated. I really loved her performance but what I enjoyed most was how honest she was when talking about her work. She explained that working in the arts means shedding a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, often with minimal payoff.
The final performer from the group was poet Huda Fadlelmawla who spoke about starting and continuing BIPOC conversations. She said that her “whole career is finding momentum where none exists”2 and needing to do so as an act of survival. Fadlelmawla was so incredible that I am not even the slightest bit surprised that she was the winner of the Australian Poetry Slam 2020. She touched on such powerful and confronting issues in such a beautiful and awe-inspiring way.
Image: Nadia Jade
For the conversation, three incredible women shared their stories of harnessing and building momentum within communities. The three women – Janine Hendrey, founder of March4Justice; Angela Fredericks, one of the founders of the Home to Bilo campaign; and Carla McGrath, Chair of GetUp – each discussed the challenges of confronting various social issues at the big men’s club we call Parliament House. I am astounded at how these women get hit with setbacks but just keep getting back up, standing strong, and being loud about their beliefs.
It was powerful to hear how each of these women harnessed the anger and energy of so many to stand up for incredibly significant equality issues. What I most enjoyed was listening to these three women discuss what looking forward looks like and whether there is any light. Hendrey sees “a big dark tunnel”3 but hopes that some light may eventually shine through. Fredericks sees some light and expresses that it has to get brighter soon because “the world is a pendulum”4 that has long been going in one direction; it’s about time that the pendulum swung the other way. Finally, McGrath beautifully said that “we are the light”5. She says that we carry the light with us, sometimes it is brighter and sometimes it dims, but the light is always there.
“I can’t wait. Life is good in 2031” – June Oscar
Event number two, First Nations First, was such an amazing concept! Instead of directly discussing current issues for First Nations Peoples, the three speakers were to imagine the future of Australia ten years from now. What unfolded over the next hour was beautiful, poetic, and most of all made me feel hopeful.
Image: Hastelow Photography.
The version of the future proposed by June Oscar – first female Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner – was liberating equality for all as she discussed collaborative and collective policymaking between all dominant and minority groups in Australia. Dr Jackie Huggins AM FAHA – Co-Chair of the Treaty Advancement Committee – suggested that though life may be thriving in the future far better than it is currently, the work to build a better, more inclusive world never ends. In esteemed First Nations leader Dr Mary Graham’s future, men and women work together in balance with one another and people will have learned to be more respectful to other people and their lands.
I felt quite sad considering some of the changes that these women have suggested for the future because it baffles me that some of these things aren’t already in place. For example, Oscar exclaimed that the legal age of criminal responsibility has been lifted to eighteen in 2031 and that there is less need for jails because the government focuses on rehabilitation instead of incarceration. Further, Graham said that she hopes in the future we can have lawful law-people with no more deaths in custody. How is this not already the case?
I loved the idea to incorporate more Indigenous values into the Australian curriculum: learning First Nations languages – Oscar imagines that in ten years we will have awoken sixty nearly dead languages – and sacred ways to look after and protect the land on which we live. The children of the future could learn to respect the land and its First Nations Peoples. I hope what these women were manifesting can become a reality one day! That would be an Australia that I would be so proud to live in. However, as was addressed in Raelee Lancaster’s beautiful poetic address, we can’t fix something that so many don’t believe is broken.
“We don’t need to redefine masculinity; we need to reclaim masculinity” – Andrew Taukolo
Michael Jeh talks with Rhys & Danielle Carroll. Image: Hastelow Photography.
For the final conversation of the series, The Making of Men, we heard from a selection of ‘gentle-men’ who fight for gender equality and a safe world for all people to grow up and live in. The premise of the talk was to discuss ways in which we can build momentum together as a community, to move away from the need to have conversations about gender equality and injustices. Michael Jeh – MATE Bystander trainer – was such a good facilitator and made the chat open, safe, and casual. It was very natural the way the five men interacted with each other, bounced off each other’s thoughts. This event was the hardest to attend and listen to because they spoke about domestic violence and manipulative relationships. Nonetheless, it was an essential conversation about nurturing human values of empathy in young people.
I loved the way Gavin Webber discussed his creative process of devising This Ain’t No Pussy Show. The concept of the show came from his partner, Kate Harman, who wanted to perform a piece of theatre that explores raising a young boy and the many complex questions they may have about gender issues. Webber explained that he tried to “be a good antenna” and express “her voice”6 instead of his own. What was interesting is how he said that men are conditioned to put themselves forward and share their own voice, but instead he needed to explore hers. This idea of placing oneself in another’s shoes was shared by Andrew Taukolo – Men4Respect Coordinator for YFS – who said that in his work as a youth trainer sometimes just talking to young men helps to clear up gender issues before things might escalate. In one classroom the young women were asked to explain why certain things made them uncomfortable and many of the young men had lightbulb moments because they were completely unaware of how certain actions made their classmates feel.
This talk reminded me of a time when I was working as a nanny. One day, the 12-year-old boy I nannied wolf-whistled at a girl from the car. I explained to him that it wasn’t appropriate and can make people uncomfortable. He thought I didn’t want him to do it because I found it annoying, which wasn’t the case, and so we had an open discussion about the connotations behind the wolf-whistle. While it was uncomfortable and challenging trying to explain to a young boy the history of women being sexually objectified, it was an important discussion to have. Following this chat, he was more respectful about certain topics, and always trusted me enough to ask questions about hard-hitting issues. There is always a fine line between exposing kids to dark things at a young age and making sure that they are both educated and feel respected enough to have difficult conversations with you.
Image: Hastelow Photography
The Momentum talks were not always easy to listen to and often have been more challenging to think about after the event has finished. The most significant takeaway from this series is that if you keep speaking up for what you believe in, you can be heard. It might feel like you are hitting your head against a wall and getting nowhere, but you never know when momentum will build. The more you talk, yell, and protest about injustices, the closer you are to creating a tsunami of voices screaming out about the same things you feel.
I thought it best to finish my review by discussing what momentum means to me. Momentum is asking someone to consider why their words may be offensive. Momentum is choosing yourself. Momentum is choosing to get up every morning and do something productive, even if that productive thing is doing absolutely nothing all day to recharge your batteries. Momentum is slowly getting louder. Momentum is re-claiming terms like ‘bossy’, ‘feisty’, ‘shrill’, ‘dramatic’, ‘diva’, ‘unladylike’, ‘emotional’, and ‘oversensitive’. Momentum starts small, like a whisper, but if every one of our whispers were stitched together, we might become a hurricane.
Quotes:
4. Angela Fredericks
6. Gavin Webber
