By Tuntuni Bhattacharyya
SYDNEY — About 12,000 people attended the second Sydney Women's Festival in the Domain on March 8. The festival was initiated last year by a group of women in business and at art college who believed that the traditional International Women's Day march and rally were too political, old hat and not inclusive enough of their interests.
The group pursued corporate sponsorship for a festival focused on fun, networking and celebration. This year's event was sponsored by Westpac, the Body Shop and computer transnational Hewlett Packard.
With big bucks behind it, the Sydney Women's Festival was able to put together a line-up of big name entertainers, such as Del Shannon, Vika and Linda, Indira Naidoo, Monica Trapaga and Ita Buttrose.
Other activities on the day included "retail therapy", "massage therapy" and "beauty therapy", all of which could be obtained from the Body Shop's stalls. The crowd was saturated with Body Shop sample bags.
The festival, which was presented by the organisers as the International Women's Day event this year, received extensive prior publicity in the establishment media. This was not surprising given the conservative politics of the event.
The event included no discussion or demands (indeed, very little mention at all) of the many issues of concern to the majority of women at the moment, such as child-care, unemployment, abortion access, sexual harassment, rape and equal pay. Instead, the festival's theme of "go girl!" was supported by a list of objectives including to enhance women's lives through creating an environment which celebrates women.
Almost all feminists would agree with such a general objective. However, the nature and ferocity of the attacks on women's services, rights and standard of living by the Liberal federal government and Labor state government weren't even acknowledged by the Sydney Women's Festival.
It's all very well women learning how to network and use Body Shop products to enhance their feeling of well-being, but how empowering is it to learn to use Body Shop massage oil? How liberating is it to learn how to take out a mortgage with Westpac?
Without equal pay, access to higher education and control over their reproductive lives, most women will always be struggling to achieve well-being, even with regular massages.
The danger here is not that women will have a festival of their "own" in Sydney, but that such events will come to be seen as representative of IWD. The traditional marches, rallies and feminist demands for urgent, progressive change for all women may be subsumed by a lifestyle festival sponsored by institutions which exploit women every day.
I for one won't be send my "favourite recipes" in to Sydney Women's Festival Inc, (as we are entreated to do by the "go girl!" leaflet). Nor will I be joining it for a chance to win a Katies clothes voucher. On March 8, 1999, I will be marching, rallying and campaigning for equality for all women in the proudly radical tradition of IWD.