Experience the main stage action of All About Women, streamed live from Sydney Opera House on Sunday 10 March. Byron Writers Festival will be streaming two headline sessions from this preeminent festival on gender:

Session 1: Feminism in the Arab World, featuring Aya Chebbi, Randa Abdel Fattah & Dima Matta
Session 2: Leading while Female, featuring Julia Banks, Julie Bishop, Linda Burney & Sarah Hanson-Young

All About Women features emerging new voices from around the world speaking to future directions in feminism.

Event details

When: Sunday 10 March, 2.45pm – 5.30pm
Where: SAE Theatre, SAE, 373-391 Ewingsdale Road, Byron Bay
Tickets: Members FREE; General Admission $10, bookings essential.

Session Details

Feminism in the Arab World
3.00 – 4.00pm

Aya Chebbi, Randa Abdel Fattah & Dima Matta

In a global feminist movement, our understanding of women’s rights needs to go far beyond the English-speaking world.

Arab women are so often pigeonholed, orientalised and othered in western discussions about feminism. But the reality is there are strong feminist and LGBTQI movements across the Arab world.

This panel, co-curated by artist, poet and activist Sara Saleh, challenges the assumptions so frequently made by westerners, that Arab women are subjugated and oppressed, by giving space for some of the loudest activist voices across the Middle East. This session will demonstrate that discussions about women in the Arab world can go much deeper than “Why do you wear hijab?”, and explore the issues and concerns, both political and personal, for Arab women and LGBTQI people.

Leading while Female
4.15 – 5.30pm

Julia Banks, Julie Bishop, Linda Burney & Sarah Hanson-Young

Why is it so hard to be a woman in politics?

While some of our most popular politicians are women, they are still frequently overlooked for leadership positions, are subjected to personal scrutiny to a level not inflicted on their male colleagues, and they cop all sorts of sexist garbage while just trying to do their jobs. Yet women have a huge amount to contribute to public life, and our society would benefit from greater female representation in parliament.

So what needs to change to make more women want to run for public office in Australia? Join this frank discussion about the pitfalls and rewards of working in the sector, and how we can shift the culture so girls who want to grow up to be PM are inspired, not discouraged.