Monday 16 July 2012

Wellington launch of NZ 'Who needs feminism?" campaign


Many thanks to Sara for sending through the blurb used in Salient to promote this.  Facebook event here.

The VUWSA Women’s Group will be challenging misconceptions about feminism and demonstrating its relevance in today’s society with an exciting event this Thursday.

Inspired by a group of students at Duke University in the USA, The National Council of Women of New Zealand (NCWNZ) has this week launched its own NZ-based version of the ‘Who Needs Feminism?’ campaign – and the VUWSA Women’s Group is urging Vic students to get involved.

VUWSA Women’s Officer, Sara Bishop, explained: “This is a really great photo campaign which allows people to share a message about why feminism is important to them and we really encourage everyone – students and staff – to get involved.

“The idea is to show that feminists are not ‘man-hating’ and ‘bra-burning’ – feminists are people who believe that men and women should be equal.

“We also want to overcome the perception that we don’t need feminism anymore. There’s a pretty widespread belief that equality has been achieved. Even in forward thinking New Zealand, there are plenty of shocking statistics on pay equity, women in leadership and family violence. And that’s before you even consider things like street harassment and the pressures on girls and women to achieve a singular and unrealistic standard of beauty.”

The VUWSA Women’s Group will be taking photos for the campaign in Library Foyer on  Thursday, July 19 from 1pm. Paper, pens and even some suggestions will be provided, so all you need to do is come along and get involved. Pictures taken at the event will be shared on the NCWNZ ‘Who needs feminism?’ campaign tumblr page (whoneedsfeminismnz.tumblr.com).

Here's the NCWNZ trailer for the campaign:

1 comment:

ChundaMars said...

I wonder whether part of feminisms "image problem" with some sectors of society has something to do with the word itself. "Feminism" doesn't exactly sound all inclusive (the word itself does suggest being a movement that is interested in the opposite of masculinity) so it's no surprise to me that many men (and some women) struggle to think of themselves as feminists. Hell, I still haven't made up my mind whether I can call myself a feminist or not, despite probably passing the main criteria for being a feminist: believing in the equality of women and men.