Title: Here’s To Strong Women — May we know them, may we be them. (WORKING)
Format: Photo-essay (with ambient soundscape? Undecided how well this will work)
Proposed Length: 13 plus photos
Synopsis: The photoessay will begin with establishing setting shot of Storey Hall. They will be edited so that they fit in with the era they would have taken place in. From this, the photoessay will consist of pictures depicting what occurred during the time that the Women’s Political Association occupied the hall in 1903. This will include things such as feasts, women only protests, supporting other groups under attack from authorities (such as the waterside workers walking off the job in 1917 in protest against rising prices) and, subsequently, what they did for these workers, which included supplying 60,000 food parcels, 30,000 meals, 6,500 haircuts and distributing 30,000 items of clothing, repairing 2,000 boots and collecting donations. As the photoessay progresses, it will show how as time passed, the WPA grew more and more in popularity and had much more success in dispersing a message to the masses. This includes forming the Women’s Peace Army in 1915, who worked to abolish conscription. This will be shown through meetings being packed to the doors, with people being denied entry. When depicting the WPA, I will predominantly feature Vida Goldstein. Vida was a forerunner of the WPA and educated many women in her time on the importance of feminism in society. Interestingly, she went on to become the first woman in the British Empire to stand for election to a national parliament. This shows how she played a prominent feature during the suffrage movement that took place in, what was then Guild Hall. I will show how the most active members of the WPA, Vida Goldstein, Adela Pankhurst and Cecilia John, devoted themselves solely to peace propaganda through the WPA by means of the WPA newspaper, the Woman Voter. While they weren’t a very raucous organisation, they had their effect and peace was the underlying foundation of it. I want to contrast the society of then, how important feminism was compared to how it’s treated now and how it’s look at — is it a more quiet affair now? Is it louder? I want to finish with a person holding a sign with a feminist quote on it outside of Storey Hall. This’ll be a firm salute to the work of the WPA in Storey Hall and how they’ve helped to pave a way for women in our modern society.
Why you have chosen this idea: Being a woman myself, I am obviously a feminist and so, as soon as I learnt about the history of feminist organisations in Storey Hall, a place I would have never have guessed would ever be occupied by women — I was immediately intrigued. I think it’s very important that we are educated on the rich history of this building, particularly the feminist movement, and we respect the fact that there was a feminist movement at all. The Women’s Political Association occupied Storey Hall literally 8 years after voting became legal for women, and before women had the right to stand for parliament. This shows the bravery and tenacity of these women, an undoubted minority in society that had lots of troubles with authorities and gaining respect initially. I feel that while showcasing this aspect of the history is emphasising the rich history of the former Hibernian Hall, more importantly, it’s educating a lot of people on the even richer, sometimes poignant and oftentimes beautiful evolution of women’s rights in Australia. When I was looking around on YouTube for speeches from the 60s and earlier on feminism, I literally found nothing. There is nothing. And so, I think that speaks for the importance of representation for the feminist work done in these early does that is so often overlooked as being redundant in days of such oppression.
Inspiration: I found a photo essay from 2013 of the centennial anniversary of the Women’s Suffrage Parade in Washington DC.
The photos used in it are all historical, not modern and recreated but it’s still so beautiful to see the power and force of all the women (it is believed to be close to 6000) marching down an avenue.