International Women's Day / March 2009

Last Updated on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 22:33 Written by Andrew Lai Monday, 06 April 2009 00:00

On the 6th March 2009, IFSA-Butler Australia continued its community engagement programme by being a corporate sponsor of the International Women’s Day breakfast organised by United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). IFSA-Butler staff, 11 IFSA-Butler students and several thousand gathered at the Bayside Grand Hall, Darling Harbour for the UNIFEM International Women’s day breakfast. UNIFEM provides financial and technical assistance to innovative programs and strategies that promote women’s human rights, political participation and economic security in more than 100 countries.

 The speakers were truly inspirational and included:

• Clover Moore, Mayor of Sydney.
• Verity Firth, Member of the Legislative Assembly, Minister for Education and Training, and Minister for Women.
• Meredith Bergman, Former President of NSW senate and Sydney City Councillor.

One of the highlights was from Ben Lee, one of Australia’s premier singer songwriters, he performed a song from his new album ‘I’m a Woman Too ’

The guest speaker was Fozilitun Nessa she had a truly amazing story, a story of horror, yet of inspiration.

Fozilitun was born in Comilla, Bangladesh in 1981. In 1999, soon after finishing secondary school, Fozilitun was the victim of an acid attack, because she
refused to marry her neighbour. Fozilitun was admitted to Dhaka Medical Hospital for many weeks, she underwent fi ve reconstructive operations. Although Doctors have advised her to continue these painful reconstructive surgeries she has decided not to, as she believes what happened to her was not her own mistake.

Instead she dedicated her life to raising awareness about this pervasive violent violation of women’s rights and her attacker was prosecuted and jailed. Through her work with the Bangladeshi Acid Survivors Foundation and as a Board Member she has worked to effect legislation to prosecute these attackers.

Fozilla is determined to bring these women out of the shadows and help give them hope for the future.

Everyone who attended was deeply moved by Fozilitun’s story of inequality and ultimate justice, this is an issue for women that remain with us, however the work of UNIFEM and Fozilitun’s story is helping to raise awareness and bring justice for women worldwide.

“I really enjoyed the International Women’s Day breakfast; it was a great feeling to be surrounded by men and women who support such a wonderful committee such as UNIFEM. The student speakers did an astounding job and they had so much confi dence for such young women. Forizilitun Nessa, the guest speaker, expressed great courage for sharing her story of acid-violence. Her experience made me aware of just how often this form of violence occurs around the world and how unnoticed it becomes to the public eye.” Brittany Smith Macquarie University S1 2009

Find out more

• More Information: UNIFEM website

Comments

Name *
Code   

Submit Comment