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Australian Sikh Support, a Melbourne based community support group rendered helping hands during bushfire crises throughout Australia , working with their volunteers team in Victoria, NSW, South Australia. Helping with community support for emergency relief material, assisting in cleanup, fencing, fresh hot meals.

Celebrating South Asian Culture -BrisAsia 2020

The event was the first time it has been part of the BrisAsia festival, and was one of the highlights of the month.

Connecting culture to community is what great festivals aim for, and for the BrisAsia Festival this year in 2020, it was no different. The festival kicked off at the beginning of February, and for a month-long celebration of festivities, it has been the celebration of South Asian culture which has been the focus of the festival. The wider community has also been a part of embracing the South Asian culture, as there have been many events that have garnered the interest of Brisbane’s population. By Joseph F. Kolapudi

For the majority of the festival, there were special events which highlighted the impact of India on the culture to new heights. The Valley of Spices was a culinary experience for many, as well as the BrisAsia Bazaar, where there were many food demonstrations and opportunities for the public to sample the tastes of India from right here in Brisbane.

Download Our App In addition to the breakdance battles and the visual festivities, one of the standout symposiums as part of the festival were the BrisAsia Talks. Held at the La Boite Theatre, there was an impressive lineup of speakers from the wider community, including

CEOs of nonprofit organisations, performance artists and industry professionals. But the platform was also given to a number of Indian changemakers, including Bindhu Ravenjren, a cultural educator, Dr. Charulatha Mani, a musical composer, Pavetir Noori, event manager and catalyser, and Ari Palani, creator of theatre, amongst others. They were able to connect their cultural heritage to their work, and highlighted the impact it has had

on their passionate creativity in both the arts and society, which has become an inspiration for many.

One of the best aspects of the festivals is that almost all of the events on offer as part of the festival were open to the public, free of charge. This has made the festival increasingly popular, and a family-favourite for many in Brisbane.

In addition, the entire festival is run, managed and designed by an Indian director, which has added a special focus on the festivities. In partnership with the Brisbane City Council, the festival has grown in both size and stature within the community, and has also attracted talent from within Australia, and also internationally from India. This has added authenticity to the atmosphere of the festival, and has also been an important step in solidifying its mark on the city of Brisbane.

Every year, the festival has grown, both in its range and its remarkable impact on capturing the talent and tenacity of the Indian community. It has been able to encapsulate the culture of South Asian in a very unique way, and also continues to be a major festival celebrated across Brisbane.

For the month of February, the festival has been an important highlight of the Indian community, and the hope is that it continues to do so for many years to come, especially in light of the growing Indian diaspora.

For the BrisAsia Festival, the Indian community is one of the highlights of the year, and it is only going to get better as the years go by.

MARCH I 2019 Photo credit: Aimee Catt.

AN EQUAL WORLD - AN ENABLED WORLD

Every year March 8th is celebrated as International Women’s Day and every year the slogan chosen calls for gender equality and parity. But have we got there yet? In 2016 the call was for ‘Planet 50-50 by 2030: Step It Up for Gender Equality’ and four years later it has just been reworded to #EachforEqual. It seems like this world is in need of constant reminders for women have been fighting for their rights to better wages and better working conditions since 1909 and the fight is still on. So, is it then wrong to assume that parity is still a steep climb ahead? For more than 100 years, women around the world have been working hard to attain gender equality, but even today women continue to earn less and have fewer assets. Seventy-five per cent of women’s employment in developing regions is informal and unprotected and they spend more than twice as much time on unpaid care and domestic work than men. And the sad reality is that many men land up in jobs because they are not ‘women’. By: Poornima Menon

Unfortunately, the disparity of women unlike many other global issues is not isolated to developing countries. In horror stories from around the world, women are being wounded and mutilated among other things by having acid thrown on their faces. It is interesting to note that men do this as an attempt to break a women’s spirit, by scarring her external beauty. It is assumed that a disfigured woman is going to stay indoors. And added to these are the shocking cases of abuse and unnatural deaths. The most recent torching of Hannah Baxter and her kids by her husband sent shock waves

through the country. As long as men consider women as their possessions, their property, there can be no light at the end of this dark tunnel. Even in this day and age, a woman is identified by the various roles she has to play – that of a daughter, a wife and a mother. She is not seen as an individual, independent of all these roles. As long as the society continues to be patriarchal, there is very little hope for gender parity or equality. On the other hand, there are amazing stories of women and resilience. A recent Hindi movie I watched titled “Saand Ki Aankh” depicts one such true story. Women who have stood up and fought against all odds, have won. They have more resilience than they would give themselves due.

Women are key to economic growth and studies show that if women play an identical role in labour markets as that of men, as much as US $28 trillion could be added to global annual GDP by 2025. Yet, as recorded in 2019 only 33 women hold CEO positions in the Fortune 500 companies. Though a jump from 2018, this is a very deplorable 6.6%. Countries and communities that offer better socioeconomic opportunities for women not only have a better, faster and equitable growth, but they also see a massive reduction in poverty with better environmental sustainability. Studies have shown that the participation of women in the economy has far reaching affects as they devote more of the household budget to education, health, and nutrition than men. A child born to a mother who can read is 50 % more likely to survive and every year of education beyond grade four that a woman receives, reduces the risks of her child dying by 10%. Whether in bustling cities or rural villages, women’s income contributes to families, communities and societies.

Even in the field of Sports and Games, women athletes and players are paid lesser than their counterparts. Tennis Grand Slams are probably the only event where men and women are awarded equal prize money. Thanks to the great initiative by Billie Jean King. It was very heartening to see the amount of propaganda and support generated for the current ICC T20 Women’s World Cup 2020. All matches slated to be played at prominent venues, with the finals being played at the MCG on March 8th. But most of the ladies who are successfully representing their country on the cricket field will have a tale of struggle, discouragement, disappointments and upheavals to tell. And from the corporate side of things, women’s games receive fewer sponsorships than men’s games and the allocations for training, etc are quite meagre too. While the women cricket players in Australia have seen a huge jump in their payments, the same cannot be said of the women players in India. Despite the great performance by the Indian women’s team at the ICC T20 (they are now in the finals), the disparity in the pay is colossal.

We are still not living in a world where daughters are valued as much as the sons or encouraged to a make the same meaningful contributions to the world. Equal rights for women are still a debatable subject, that year after year the theme of the International Women’s Day remains the same, with the words juggled and a changed vocabulary. Will we ever get there? Will this world ever get closer to emancipating women or will we continue to be remorseful about the less fortunate, get momentarily indignant about the atrocities and let it fade away into oblivion until another Hannah Baxter happens? What is this meaningless slumber going to cost us?

“Each year 8 March provides us with the annual occasion to reflect on the great strides that women have made, and continue to make, in the workplace and beyond. However, it is also an opportunity to reflect on the work still to be done if society’s true potential is ever to be fully realised. Equipping women with the tools to achieve their full potential in the workplace empowers us all.” Sir Suma Chakrabarti, President of the EBRD.