ICAQ observes International Women’s Day

Indian Council of Australia, Queensland (ICAQ) celebrated International Women’s Day on March 12th, 2022 at the Indian Brother Taringa. It was a family friendly event with men, women and children being a part of the celebrations. The event also recognised women of Indian origin who have significantly contributed to Brisbane’s economy, the arts, entertainment or social services and achieved success through their work, business, family care or volunteering.

Research and statistics has shown that it is not easy for ethnic women to sustainably keep working and contributing to society. Some may also have trouble getting a job as their overseas degrees are not recognised. Even if they get the job they face many hurdles such as the lack of childcare support which hinders their desire to work. As a result, migrant and refugee women most likely end up working in low income, low skill, insecure jobs. Australian Bureau of Statistics data also shows that culturally and linguistically diverse women have a significantly lower rate of workforce participation compared to CALD men (47.3% and 69.5% respectively).

Yet, women of Indian origin have paved significant pathways for themselves and their peers. Hence, ICAQ felt there was the need to recognise these women and applaud their contributions.

ICAQ PRO Amrita Deshpande says, “As mother, sister, daughter or wife, we created our paths of survival coming to and living in Australia and it has not been easy to do so to live your daily life in a country culturally different from the country of your origin. You have to alter yourself right from the way you look to the way you think, the way you conduct in a workplace, or the society you live in. Many of the comforts have to be let go of, challenging yourself to adapt to the new. Yet, many of us have broken those barriers and risen above and beyond, standing strong and surviving everyday. Kudos to all women who dared to pave the paths for themselves and achieve a respectable status. I am thankful to the Indian Council of Australia for giving me the opportunity to organise International Women’s Day to recognise the women of Indian Origin.”

Indeed, the achievements must be celebrated and a program to recognise the efforts must be implemented by every community organisation.

At the event ICAQ President Mr. Parminder Singh gave a speech on how religion has seen women’s role in its practices.

He said “All religions describe the importance of women in our life. Sikhs have an obligation to treat women as equals, and gender discrimination in Sikh society is not allowed. However, gender equality has been difficult to achieve”.

Cultural Coordinator for ICAQ, Ms Neetu Singh Suhag, gave a motivating speech on how we can overcome our fears. She soon became popular among the women present at the event by her humour and bold statements about women’s equality.

Mr. James Martin MP, member for Stretton presented the awards. In his speech he mentioned that Australia has been striving hard to achieve gender equality and women’s equal representation in the Government and today Queensland has its Governor General a Woman and its Premier also a Woman.

ICAQ was also happy to receive a message from Lord Mayor Mr. Adrian Schrinner and Lady Mayoress Ms. Nina Schrinner who could not attend the function but sent ICAQ a beautiful message which included the following “International Women’s Day is an incredibly important occasion which encourages us to reflect on the contribution and value that women from all over the world make. We have always admired the contributions of Indian women in Brisbane. Indian women are brave, kind, generous, smart and incredibly communityminded. They are the first to put up their hand to help, no matter what that help may look like.”

“We and our children have been warmly welcomed by Indian women at many community events and we have also admired the entrepreneurism, agility and business sense that we see day in, day out in Indian Businesswomen.”

Ms. Sudha Manian who is a known Sitar player, graciously offered to co-MC with Ms Amrita Deshpande at the award ceremony. It was a great pleasure to hear Ms. Sudha Marian’s composed piece of Sitar recital as a background score to introduce all the award winners.

17 women of Indian origin living in Brisbane were felicitated at the IWD event by Indian Council of Australia. Queensland. They are:

Adhikari, Bina nominated for Social Work

Ahuja, Shelly nominated for

Community Work

Apte, Ketaki nominated for Business

Bandiwadekar, Pallavi nominated for Business

Chauhan, Seema nominated for Business and Community

Chitti, Kavitha nominatied for Community work

Ghurye, Anjali nominated for Business

Jehu, Manju nominated for Social Work and Community

Kaur, Adjiab nominated for Social Work

Kaur, Amanpreet nominated for Entertainment

Kaur, Charanjit nominated for Social Work

Kaur, Gian nominated for Social Work

Kaur, Surinder nominated for Social Work

Lathker, Seema nominated for Social Work

Nishi, Saran nominated for Community work

Pinky, Singh nominated for Social Work and Government

Pragya, Sharma nominated for Social Work and Entertainment