Youth Unite for Equality

IWDA Youth Unite for Equality (YUE) was established in 2009 by young women graduates from IWDA’s inaugural young women’s leadership program ‘Global Youth Impact’.

Vision

‘Our vision is to live in a world where all people have equal rights and opportunities to access information about social justice issues, to have their voice heard and to be actively involved in developing passion and confidence within their community to create and implement innovative solutions which contribute to and reflect human rights values.’

GOALS

- Provide a two way link of communication and support between IWDA and youth

- Provide opportunities that empower youth to become active in social justice issues

Key milestones for 2010/2011

- November 25th 16 Days of Activism – Violence Against Women. Support IWDA campaign by linking IWDA daily website updates to the YUE Facebook page

- International Women’s Day – develop and deliver a presentation to schools  

- GYI program  - provide practical support to the 2011 GYI program

- Contribute youth targeted articles to IWDA newsletters and annual report

- Using existing GYI materials adapt resources to facilitate small group activities in their schools and communities

Rachel Tattersall, 2009 GYI participant and member of the IWDA Youth Advisory Group

In June this year, a 2009 Global Youth Impact participant and current member of the IWDA Youth Advisory Group, Rachel Tattersall, had the opportunity to attend the student program at Insights, the Girl’s Education Conference in Melbourne. From joining in a session with columnist and cartoonist, Kaz Cooke, to sitting in on a Global and Ethical Responsibility Panel, Rachel came together with 60 senior secondary students to explore a range of wellbeing issues.

Plotted around circle shaped tables chanting: 

“We promise that…we will not gossip. 

We will respect each other…body, heart, soul and mind. 

We will encourage and support each other. 

We will honour each other’s boundaries. 

We will look out for each other. 

We will surround ourselves with caring, positive people.” 

…made me feel as though I’d be cut and pasted into a scene from the ‘Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood’ – bar the American accents, campfire, nighties and “Royal crowns of our people”, of course. Sitting in The Grand Hyatt conference room, thousands of miles away from the shooting of this movie, however, there was a common thread. It’s not about the individual, but the power of the group, as Aesop put it “united we stand, divided we fall”. When you get a bunch of passionate young women together and give them the opportunity to see that they can, and will create change in their world, there’s always a certain magic about it. 

Every girl in that room, whether speaking or listening, knew that the way society educates women, not only in school but from nappies, needs to change. Our motto must transform from “don’t theorise, accessorise” (Bratz) or as ‘Gorgeous’ puts it, “don’t think, buy bangles”, if we are to truly attain the world which our predecessors fought for. This is the most potent message that came across in Insights, a National Conference on Girls Education. It’s one that seems so obvious, but was somehow missed by this generation in our attempts to do and be everything.   

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