HeForShe

Give a flower. Get a smile

UN Women Solidarity Movement for Gender Equality, Wednesday, 23 August, 10AM

Gender equality is everyone’s responsibility.

UN Women’s HeForShe movement is about making a change to this. But it’s not just up to women. Every gender plays an instrumental role in facilitating change. Graduate House is about inclusion. It’s about equality. That’s why our Residents have started the ‘give a flower, get a smile’ campaign. When you share a flower with someone, it’s representative of your commitment to pursuing gender equality. Make a pledge, and push for gender equality today. Learn more.

Why 23 August? 

It marks the day the most influential petition organised by the Australian suffrage movement, was presented to South Australian parliament. The petition included 11,600 signatures collected within South Australia and the Northern Territory and was presented to the Parliament of South Australia on 23 August 1894.  It was also presented when the 1894 Bill that led to the enfranchisement of South Australian women was read in Parliament. Women achieved full voting rights in South Australia during a time when women in Australia and throughout most of the world did not have the legal right to vote in most elections.

Give a flower, get a smile is back this year, following from its inaugural success in 2016. This year will see even more activities devoted to raising awareness for gender equality, as well as fundraising for the Royal Women’s Hospital Foundation.

 

Gender equality is everyone’s responsibility.

Statistics show that we still have a long way to go with gender equality. Around the world millions of girls are deprived proper education, suffer from gender discrimination, miss out on opportunities, and earn less than their male counterparts. UN Women’s HeForShe movement is about making a change to this. But it’s not just up to women. Every gender plays an instrumental role in facilitating change. Graduate House is about inclusion. It’s about equality. That’s why our Residents have started the ‘give a flower, get a smile’ campaign. When you share a flower with someone, it’s representative of your commitment to pursuing gender equality. It’s time for change because everyone’s lives matter. Make a pledge, and push for gender equality today. Learn more.

Let’s make a difference, together.

Make a pledge

Working towards equality

When? Wednesday 23rd August at 10.00AM
Where? Graduate House, 220 Leicester Street, Carlton, VIC 3053
Bring some more flowers on the day and participate in this awareness campaign:

• 10:00AM President of The Graduate Union, Dr Ken V Loughnan AO will speak
• 10:15AM Walk around University Square
• 11:30AM – 12:15AM Panel: Multiculturalism and Gender Equality

Cupcakes will also be on sale throughout the morning.

RSVP

Panel Members

Viv Nguyen a successful business leader and a former refugee, Viv understands the need to support the disadvantaged, close the gap on inequity, social exclusion and drive successful integration, participation and contribution from everyone. She initiated the Dual Identity Leadership program for young Australians of Vietnamese background to embrace their cultural heritage to be great participants in domestic and international civic responsibility.
Professor Kwong Lee Dow OAM retired from The University of Melbourne as Vice-Chancellor in 2004, having earlier been Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Education over a twenty year period.
Molina Asthana is a principal Solicitor at the Victorian Government Solicitor’s Office. She is committed to education, community contributions and mentoring, and is on the boards of the Law Institute of Victoria, the International Law Association and the Asian Australian Lawyers Association. She is also the founder of the not-for-profit Multicultural Women in Sport.
Tim Carroll is the Austrade State Director Victoria and the senior representative for Austrade in Victoria. He had a long career at CSL and has worked with the US Centres for Disease Control and WHO on projects bringing improved and affordable healthcare in to a number of developing countries.
Ria Bleathman is one of the few management consultants in Australia who has held executive line management positions for both the private and public sectors, in Australia and overseas, having worked on Wall Street and for Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt.

Moderated by CEO and Head of College, Dr Kerry Bennett

We have an opportunity to work together to be advocates for change for gender equality. The promotion of gender equality in our communities is an important expression of our respect for all of humanity. It is essential that girls and women are treated as equals, with respect and given equal opportunity. 

Gender equality is not just a women’s issue, it’s a human rights issue that benefits everyone. It is imperative that we continue to raise awareness and take positive action about equality. This is something that everyone of us can do something about – and we can do it right now. I strongly encourage you to join your fellow residents at Graduate House in their HeForShe Campaign to support gender equality. Sometimes an intention is not enough. Let’s come together in order to ensure a future where, in particular all of our girls and women, know that their lives matter, that we’re looking out for them, and that everything can be, and will be, OK.

Invite others