This year Cape York Partnership held their first International Women's Day Luncheon. The 100+ guests were welcomed to Country by Aunty Jeanette Singleton, heard a powerful poem from Cape York Leaders program alumna, Trinity Clarke and listened to a robust panel discussion from Fiona Jose, Danny Gilbert AM, Dr Rochelle Macdonald facilitated by emcee Kirsty Davis.
Guests also saw a special presentation to Aurukun Mayor and current NAIDOC Person of the Year, Keri Tamwoy.
"I have a lot of fellow sisters that are not blood-related, and I love each and every one of them," says Mayor Keri Tamwoy. "But it's also the support from the men. The men that push us to do better and be better. I myself – I'm a wife, I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother. I'm all that, apart from trying to mediate life's issues in Aurukun. Because my people matter to me and my community matters to me"
The room itself was decorated with original artwork from female students at Djarragun College and we were fortunate to have Karen Gibson, Graphic Facilitator from Pama Futures illustrate the conversations during the event.
Karen interpreted the concept of main ideas through her eyes and captured the key highlights beautifully. Her designs are expressive and details the discussions.
Below we share with you some of her thoughts from the day:
"It is always an eye-opener, knowing that women all around the world still today are fighting for equality. From past to present, we still see the on-going unbalanced unfairness of women's mistreatment.
"The psychology of some males' expectation of themself is very high, they get lost in the clouds and don’t want to see changes to better women's wellbeing and advancement.
Listening to the younger women talk about black girls and black women, like through Trinity's poem today should be highlighted out in the big world, especially to those men that think it’s a norm to continue to hurt women on many levels.
"The challenges of being a black woman are not only being female but the racism that can be attached. We forget that we are all apart of the human race.
"Although it's encouraging that women's equality has come so far, we still need to walk many more steps to get to where we want to be.
"I'd just like to say I enjoyed being a part of that day and it was a privilege to witness strong women talking about their experiences and hearing their strengths." – Karen Gibson.
You can view Karen's illustrations and a full gallery of the event below.