Women on the Line

This week on Women on the Line we hear from Madhuni from RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees discussing the experiences of women in detention. We also hear from Aboriginal spiritual healer Miliwanga Wurrben about the importance of spirituality. This episode was co-produced by Ayan Shirwa. Black Smoke - Emily Wurramara

Following the much publicised break up of the homeless and rough sleeping community outside Flinders Street Station in central Melbourne on February 1st, on this week’s episode of Women on the Line we’ll take a look at proposed amendments to by-laws by Melbourne City Council which would effectively ban homeless people from sleeping in the CBD. We’ll hear from Kelly from the Homeless Persons Union...

Ms Dhu's death could have been prevented if she had been given antibiotics, and found police acted unprofessionally and inhumanely - that was the finding of the coronial inquest into the death of Aboriginal woman, Ms Dhu, just 22 years of age. One of the most staunch campaigners and advocates for justice for Ms Dhu, is her grandmother, Aunty Carole Roe, and I had a chance to speak with her recentl...

We take a look at the new US political landscape to ask how can Donald Trump’s administration, with a specific nod to his chief advisor Steve Bannon, be both pro-Israel and anti-semitic at the same time, and what this could mean for Jews in the US, for the future of Israel and for the urgent need for justice for Palestinians. With Jordy Silverstein of the Australian Jewish Democratic Society.www.a...

We listen to a panel discussion called Arts + Sovereignty which was part of the Wominjeka Festival at Footscray Community Arts Centre. The panel was facilitated by Paola Balla who was joined by a wonderful panel of guests including Rosie Kilvert, Kamahi King, Miliwanga Wurrben and Léuli Eshraghi. In this excerpt we will hear from Paola, Rosie and Miliwanga as they discuss the intersections of art...

 This episode of Women on the Line we bring you two perspectives on barriers to film making for women in an Australian context. First we speak with Amy Browne about building networks in Melbourne to overcome gendered barriers to participation in the film industry, and then we hear from Sophie Mathieson of Women in Film and Television NSW about a recent protest about gender equality on the red carp...

Bersih, which literally means clean in Malay, is a movement that started in 2006 to build a mass oppositional force to corrupt government elections.  On November 19 2016, 40,000 Malaysians took to the streets for Bersih 5.0, this time calling for the resignation of corrupt Prime Minister Najib Razak. Police arrested 15 activists and opposition politicians, including Bersih chairperson, Maria Chin...

Elousie Cobell was a Native American tribal elder, activist and banker. While treasurer of the Blackfeet tribe in Montana, in the United States, she showed up many financial irregularities and deep mismanagement in trust funds held by the US government. This week’s show is about her case action lawsuit  which started in 1996, settling in 2010, where Cobell recovered royalties for 500,000 individua...

This week on Women on the Line we bring you an interview with the late Lisa Bellear. This interview was conducted by Women on the Line in 1992 and is part of 3CR's First Nations oral history project, Black Gold. In this interview Lisa describes her experiences growing up as an Aboriginal women of the stolen generation as well as her activism. Lady Lash - Memory Chambers

Clementine Ford is an Australian feminist writer, broadcaster and public speaker. She has a regular column in Daily Life. In 2015, Ford received abusive messages online and responded by making some of these messages public. In September 2016, Clementine Ford released her debut book, Fight Like a Girl, and here she reads the final chapter of this book to the Listen Conference, held in Melbourne in...

Clementine Ford is an Australian feminist writer, broadcaster and public speaker. She has a regular column in Daily Life. In 2015, Ford received abusive messages online and responded by making some of these messages public. In September 2016, Clementine Ford released her debut book, Fight Like a Girl, and here she reads the final chapter of this book to the Listen Conference, held in Melbourne in...

Mental health advocates have increasingly called for the need to reinstate female-only psychatric wards. These campaigns are about improving the safety and experience of women in crisis, including reducing incidents of sexual assault. This week’s edition of Women on the Line features an interview by Hope Mathumbu with Prof of Psychiatry Jayashri Kulkarni, director of the Monash Alfred Psychiatry R...

We listen to interview with activist, author, academic and prison abolitionist Professor Angela Davis during her visit to the Moroccan Deli-cacy on Lygon Street for a panel discussion organised by the Warriors of the Aboriginal Resistance and RISE: Refugees, Survivors and Ex-Detainees. Angela was here for Sisters Inside's 'Is Prison Obselete' Conference in Brisbane as well as the University of Mel...

In September 2016, producer Aoife Cooke joined the 'Walk with the Valley' event, walking 100 kilometers to demonstrate commitment to a ‘just transition’ for the Latrobe Valley in Victoria. Participants were walking for the creation of sustainable, dignified jobs for communities working their way out of the climate crisis. With guests Anna Boddenberg and Laura Williams of the Earthworker Cooperativ...

Today on Women on the Line, we look at a dispute at Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India factory in the North Indian State of Rajastan. The workers there have been on a hunger strike for over 3 weeks now following their dismissal over a campaign to try to form a union. Shivani Kaur discusses the issues specific to this dispute, strategies that work, and strategies that don't work to win industrial d...

This week on Women on the Line we bring you an interview with Alok Vaid-Menon from trans south asian performance art duo DarkMatter. Women on the Line was able to speak with Alok in New York City in August earlier this year in anticipation of their current visit to Australia and appearances in Melbourne this week. In this episode we chat about Alok's work, labour and social media, the relationship...

It's an exciting time for art in Australia and on this week's show we speak with two wonderful artists, Thando Sikwila and Amie Batalabasi about the work they're doing. Thando is a musician and actor, currently playing Shug Avery in the upcoming Australian production of The Color Purple at Chapel off Chapel launching on October 13. We chat with her about what it means to for Australian theatre to...

This week on Women on the Line we play a repeat of a show from June 2016 where we look at climate issues, specifically coral bleaching in Australia. Listeners may have heard the news that on average 35% of the coral across the Great Barrier Reef is dead or dying. To take a closer look at this phenomenon, first we speak with Dr Mia Hoogenboom from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies...

During Melbourne Writers Festival, we spoke to two writers making significant waves with their literature this year. Charlotte Wood picked up the Stella prize for The Natural Way of Things, while Fiona Wright won the Kibble Literary Award for her memoir Small Acts of Disappearance. Books available to purchase: www.readings.com.auAlso mentioned: www.archermagazine.com.au

[Image: Menstrual Designer Jen Lewis and Photographer Rob Lewis]This week’s show is about periods - the monthly mess we both celebrate and shy away from. There is recurring taboo around monthly cycles in pop culture, but at the same time, a neverending supply of goofy jokes have worn thin. But new levels of comfort talking about periods is shifting from the comedy circuit to both the union floor a...

This week’s show tells the story of the ‘Jobs for Women Campaign’ of the 1980s in Wollongong, New South Wales. Feminist-socialists and migrant women took on Australia’s then biggest employer, and won the right to work in male-dominated spaces. We’re joined by activist and former employee at the steelworks, Robynne Murphy. To support the Jobs for Women film, see their Facebook page, email jobsforwo...

What is gentrification and how does it work? This week on Women on the Line we bring you a snapshot of activism around gentrification, racism and police violence from Brooklyn, New York City. On August 13 community group Equality for Flatbush held a march against Gentrification, Racism and Police Violence in Flatbush and East Flatbush. Flatbush is a neighbourhood in the heart of Brooklyn, and Wome...

Karen Pickering is a feminist presenter, writer and educator and founder of Cherchez La Femme is Melbourne’s monthly talkshow of popular culture, news and current affairs from an unapologetically feminist angle. Her latest achievement is the publication of a book through University of Queensland Press, Doing It: Women Tell The Truth About Great Sex. We chat to Karen about her motivations, her expe...

Cash Savage and the Last Drinks are one of Melbourne's stalwart live bands, well-known for their magnetic on-stage performance. We speak to Cash Savage (singer and songwriter) and Kat Mear (fiddle and back-up vocals) about their new album, touring, grief and being women in music. Trigger Warning: This conversation includes brief discussions of death, grief and suicide. For support, call Beyond Blu...

This week on Women on the Line we’ll be bringing you a sonically diverse show featuring excerpts from “Poetry and Noise,” an evening of contemporary performances presented by Molten Upset which took place at West Space on 30 June 2016. Molten Upset is the collaborative project of poet Autumn Royal and noise musician Lisa Lerkenfeldt, who co-curated the evening with the intention of generating spac...