Parramatta will celebrate women at a host of different events across the city this International Women’s Day (IWD), but one local Councillor has questioned why the same isn’t being done for men.
Celebrated annually around the world on March 8, IWD recognises women’s achievements while also raising awareness about discrimination and progress towards gender parity.
To mark the occasion, City of Parramatta will be hosting the City of Parramatta IWD 2024: Invest In Western Sydney Women event at Parramatta Town Hall for invited community members and Council staff. Events at PHIVE and Riverside Theatre, as well as online, will also run.
However, Our Local Community Councillor Michelle Garrard, who is supportive of the IWD events, also queried why the same efforts weren’t being extended to International Men’s Day, which is held on November 19.
“I don’t want to take it away from the women but, you know, men have things that need to be celebrated too,” she said.
“There’s a lot going on in the man world that needs to be acknowledged.
“I want to celebrate international women’s day with them, as long as we do one for the men.”
But Labor Councillor Cameron Maclean hit back, saying that women have been prejudiced against throughout history in a way that is incredibly different to men.
“It’s a scourge that men commit suicide at the rates that they do and it’s awful that there is such severe rates of mental illness among men but their plight throughout history is not at all in any equivalence to that of women,” he said.
“For thousands of years women have been prejudiced against in a way incredibly different to men. There’s still so much more work to do and the idea that we need to elevate the status of men in the same regard as we elevate the status of women on International Women’s Day, I think, is absurd.”
This year’s IWD theme is ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress’, which examines the pathways to greater economic inclusion for women and girls everywhere.
Sharing her own experience with the gender pay gap, Independent Councillor Kellie Darley said it’s very important to continue to advocate for equality.
“I know when I first started working in Australia I was employed in a role, which I grew, so the organisation then employed someone else, a man, from overseas actually, in New Zealand,” she told the Chamber.
“It turns out over a few drinks I found out he was earning 15 grand more than me, so quite a significant pay difference.
“For me, frankly, everyday is International Men’s Day because men generally still get treated very differently to women.”
City of Parramatta will also recognise the first female alderman on the Council, Anne Walker, who was also the youngest at 22-years-old back in 1971. Councillor Lorraine Wearne is also set to be commemorated as the first women in both Parramatta and the region of Sydney to be elected as Lord Mayor from 2000-2001, and again in 2011-2012.
To find out more about the IWD events taking place in Parramatta go to http://www.atparramatta.com.
Ellie Busby is a news reporter for Western Sydney Publishing Group. A graduate of the University of Hertfordshire and Western Sydney University, she is a journalism Major. Ellie has worked with Universal Media, The Cova Project and for a range of other organisations. In 2024, Ellie was named Young Writer of the Year at the Mumbrella Publish Awards.