Happy Semester Two!
Or as my favourite character in Legally Blonde (who is also a total pisstake of everything I love, look up the Straw Feminist on Tropes vs. Women video here) would say, Happy OVESTER!
Thankyou to everyone who attended NOWSA 2013 and made it happen. We hope you left feeling empowered with new friends and skills to smash the patriarchy.
THERE IS SO MUCH GOING ON THIS SEMESTER
1. Regular weekly events
2. Judy’s Punch Submissions & Mudfest Launch
3. Women’s Mentoring Network
4. Self Defence
5. Rad Sex & Consent Week
6. Women’s Health 101 with MUOSS
7. NUS Unlock Your Vote Campaign
8. NUS Talk About It Survey
9. UoM Experience Matters Festival: Women at Work Event ON MONDAY
10. How to keep track of what’s going on
1. So our regular weekly events are happening!
Mondays 1pm in Wom*n’s Room: Wom*n’s Action Collective (WAC!)
A space to meet other activist and initiate and/or contribute to campaigns
Wednesdays 2pm at Lab 39 (café off North Court of Union House) Feminist Discussion Group.
Open to all genders, with a theme every week.
Thursdays 1pm in the Wom*n’s Room: Ladies Who Lunch With Ladies
Free lunch and chilled hang out times for queer and questioning grrls and wom*n students on campus
2. JUDY’s PUNCH FEMINIST REVIEW LAUNCH + CALL OUT FOR SUBMISSIONS
FACT: Feminist rants are a great way to procrastinate, feed the fire within and soothe the soul.
You can submit essays, stories, rants, poetry or articles to womyns@union.unimelb.edu.au
We are so excited to be relaunching Judy’s Punch as a blog at this year’s Mudfest with the UMSU Creative Arts Dept as a special edition of Wordplay!
It will be on Tuesday August 20 at 6pm in the Students Lounge on Ground Floor of Union House.
There will be some readings, some excitement and some launching of the pretty new website. And some bar tab.
3. WOMEN’S MENTORING NETWORK
Here’s a heads up for the calendar of our Women’s Mentoring Network months Networking Nights.
These nights are supplementary to the small groups that are the core of WMN and so women not participating in that side of the WMN are welcome to attend!
There will be guest speakers (TBC closer to date) and catering.
Monday August 12th 6.30pm– Ante Room & Formal Dining Room, Union House (accessible from North Court)
Tuesday 10th September – 6.30pm– Grand Buffet Hall, Union House
Wednesday the 9th of October – 6.30pm– Grand Buffet Hall, Union House
4. SELF DEFENCE
We are very excited to be subsidising self-defence classes this semester with Guardian Self Defence, starting Monday 19th August (week 4) from 4pm-6pm for four weeks, leaving the cost at $20 for a four-week program.
At Guardian Defence, 8-10 Peveril St Brunswick (off Sydney Rd, easily accessed from uni by tram.)
Register interest here because places are limited! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TM57GPU1Da_VEv2bY9W6eKJEvJTNf1XNmdAklS_7y08/viewform
5. RAD SEX & CONSENT WEEK: WEEK 5 (AUG 26-30)
A WHOLE WEEK OF WORKSHOPS to radically relearn sex ed with all the stuff they never told you in school (and would’ve been mighty helpful), with the Queer & Welfare Departments. More info to come.
6. WOMEN’S HEALTH 101: SEPTEMBER
Lunchtime sessions in the Wom*n’s Room for women international students with a doctor and free lunch to talk about women’s health, run with the Melbourne University Overseas Student Service (MUOSS).
7. NUS UNLOCK YOUR VOTE CAMPAIGN
Students, young people and women in particular have oft been forgotten by the major parties. So we are helping the National Union of Students run a campaign in the lead up to this year’s Federal Election to find out what matters to you. You can now register your top 5 issues at this election: http://myfutureourvoice.com.au
8. NUS TALK ABOUT IT SURVEY
The Talk About It survey has been reopened to get a bigger data pool. PLEASE spread it to people you know at ANY university in the country. The findings of the previous survey (it is biannual) were used to lobby universities for better facilities to improve safety on campus, and contributed in part to the establishment of the UoM Safer Community Program It is so important that the only student-run survey about women’s safety on campus is a success and that women’s voices are heard so please do spread it through your networks, especially to women at small and regional universities (but really, any university at all).
Trigger warning: harassment, assault, sexual violence
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/talkaboutit2012
9. UoM Experience Matters Festival: Women at Work Event
Careers & Employment at University of Melbourne are running a really exciting event ‘Women at Work’ on Monday August 5th. We’ll have a stall there so come say hi!
The event is an opportunity to network and engage with a range of employers who support diversity in the workplace. Hear from keynote speaker Meredith Fuller, psychologist and internationally renowned author of Working With Mean Girls: Identifying & Protecting yourself from Workplace Nastiness. Tickets are $10, the price will be donated to Fitted for Work (an amazing charity that assists women experiencing disadvantage gain financial independence and gainful employment).
https://careersonline.unimelb.edu.au/ViewEvent.chpx?id=643902
10.How to keep track of what’s going on
So we have a lot of “To be Confirmeds” in this email…We try to keep you updated here, on our blog, but also via twitter @umsuwomyn and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/umsuwomyns & www.facebook.com/groups/umsu.womyns
And on our page of the union website union.unimelb.edu.au/womens
In love, rage & sisterhood,
Your Wom*n’s Officers,
Amy & Mercedes