Women's History Month in Australia - some background

[gillpolack]

Given that the public side of WHM in Australia is officially past and the committee has stood down from public events, it's probably not a bad idea to write about the early history. Most of the public sites contain errors. They have lost either two years or three years of the celebration. It worries me when the event that's celebrating women's

Comments

[eneit]

you know, gently chiding someone for not doing more unpaid volunteer work, after they've already taken time out to meet with the current committee responsible for the event, seems somewhat counter productive...

[gillpolack]

Volunteerism often produces this - the event becomes more important than anything. I totally understand where they're coming from, but I refuse to be there.

[gillpolack]

And they recorded and took notes of what I was saying, so they could have farmed it out.

[ext_1131982]

Do you mind if i share this on to a couple of people?
I am tangentially involved in two time-intensive volunteer efforts at the moment, and I think some of the organisers need to think thoughtful thoughts about the issues you raise.

[heliopausa]

"Fiction is probably the most powerful tool for change there is." Yes! Which raises all sort of problems of its own.

[gillpolack]

Oh yes - power can be used in so many directions. Mostly unintentionally, too.

[anonymous]

Thank you for posting that. I find it incredibly disappointing that none of the "senior" women can remember the back-up from the earlier years. In those years I did the website, it seemed to consume my life for months, and that was nothing compared to the amount of work you did! As far as I was concerned, it was thankless work, not because I expected thanks, but because the attitude from the committee (as I perceived it) always seemed to be, "OK, so you did that (with the website), but it should be like this (list some new standard from some agency or whatnot) so go and add that too" without ever acknowledging all the work I'd already done or the time I'd already spent, and without having the faintest idea of how much more time or effort it would take to accomplish what they were asking. And there was no team, or money; there was just me and my donated web space, and my donated skills, and time. Not one person offered to help. Well, except to critique. There were plenty of offers to "review" the site and make suggestions. The final

[gillpolack]

I suspect that it was a *lot* more than 500 hours... and that was just my end. The two of us made a fine team, but yes, there was a dearth of other help for the web side of things. It really was a very small team, to do such a big job - far too small, I think. And you did all that from Louisiana, too! I still think you're an honorary Australian, because of what you did those three years. One day I shall send you some ugg boots

[anonymous]

I'm glad that work had some effect somewhere! And your work too. The whole thing would never have existed without you. I know others were involved before and at the same time as you, but do they not realise it would not exist now without you. That three years I was involved, it was 100% driven by, and done by you. It wouldn't have happened at all, otherwise. Without you, it would have gone to the grave with Helen. Maybe it would have risen in another incarnation, but it wouldn't have started then and it might not have started ever, what with the constant competition for resources

[gillpolack]

I remember we had bigger online issues (because of so many participants who were not web savvy) and I remember how some really interesting people turned up to chats to help make up numbers from time to time, but I can never forget how that one well-meant evaluation totally dwarfed things. It was a big learning moment for me, actually, because until a couple of years before I'd been involved in government standards on other things (which was why, I vaguely remembered, we let the students do their thing) and the moment I read that report I realised how seldom takeup and feasibility were given enough place in the standards. It took me right back to some federal Therapeutic Goods regulations, where I was the lone voice saying "We can't outlaw microbes in living pot plants!" at one frabjous moment.