Victorian Women’s Trust ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18 1 Annual Report 2017/2018 Victorian Women’s Trust ANNUAL REPORT 2017-18 What does equality for women teasing out what gender equality means and girls mean to you? How can to us as individuals, we are illuminating the stuff that binds us together as a we work together to accelarate movement. the rate of progress for women and girls? On the following pages, you’ll hear from a whole range of people. Some have In this Annual Report, read all about our partnered with VWT on events; received shared efforts over the last year to make a Trust grant for a crucial project; or gender equality a reality, made possible volunteered their time and skills to the thanks to donors and supporters like cause because they share our belief that you. equality for women and girls is critical to a healthy society. We have also put these big questions to our friends and supporters, as part Their passion for social change and of what we like to call the Trust Story making the future brighter spurs us on. Project. In capturing people’s stories and We hope you feel the same. 2 3 CONTENTS VISIONS OF AN EQUAL FUTURE 4 JOYCE THORPE NICHOLSON 38 REFLECTIONS FROM THE CHAIR 5 VALE MIRKA MORA 39 BEGIN AS YOU MEAN TO GO ON 6 TRUST NEWS 40 COMMUNITY GRANTS 10 KOORIE WOMEN MEAN BUSINESS 44 SUB-FUNDS 17 OUR BOARD 47 TRUST STORIES 23 OUR STAFF 49 MAJOR PROJECTS 25 FRANCES CANNON 50 RESEARCH & ADVOCACY 29 HEARTFELT THANKS 51 Full gender equality = TRUST STORIES 33 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 54 Our vision_ MARILYN WARING 37 MADISON GRIFFITHS 66 a world where women & Annual Report 2017-18 Esther Davies-Brown Victorian Women’s Benevolent production team Trust Design Ally Oliver-Perham & ABN 80 989 689 839 Writers Mary Crooks AO, Esther Davies-Brown girls take up all of life’s Alana Johnson, Bryony Green, The Dugdale Trust for Women Leanne Miller, Ally Oliver- Proofing Casimira Melican & Girls Perham, Casimira Melican, ABN 45 242 265 341 Maria Chetcuti, Maddy Artwork Alice Lindstrom (cover) Crehan, Sophie Bliss Follow @VicWomensTrust Image Staff and volunteers, Visit Level 9, 313 La Trobe opportunities with respect, Financials Wilfredo Zelada, Breeana Dunbar (left) Street Melbourne 3000 Gillian Barnes, Lieu Le Phone (03) 9642 0422 Victorian Women’s Trust PTY Email [email protected] Interviews Ally Oliver-Perham, LTD Donate www.vwt.org.au/ safety and dignity. Casey Duong, Jess Naylor, ABN 20 006 403 256 donate Annual Report 2017/2018 Victorian Women’s Trust VISIONS OF AN EQUAL FUTURE REFLECTIONS FROM THE CHAIR WITH MARY CROOKS AO, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR ALANA JOHNSON AS TOLD TO ESTHER DAVIES-BROWN AS TOLD TO ESTHER DAVIES-BROWN “Another year with a huge workload churned out I love the artwork created by Alice Lindstrom that have to feel an attachment to the work we do, that by a small outfit punching well above its weight, all features on the front cover of this Annual Report. “As a not for profit organisation that relies they want to give their money and time to it, they the while trying to marshall funding and resources. To me, the richness in her work depicts that in want to support us. That all comes from the heart women’s stories and the struggles we’ve had to on philanthropy, people’s hearts are our as much as from the head. The year began with the Economic Security achieve women’s rights. The fact that there is lifeblood.” Summer Intensive with Marilyn Waring, who was another river to cross in the artwork, summons the As a not for profit organisation that relies on 4 the anchor of a terrific group of people who came 5 kind of bridges we have to build to achieve full philanthropy, people’s hearts are our lifeblood. together to help with our Breakthrough thinking. gender equality. The gold landscape in the horizon, Their hearts are important to us, and therefore we We haven’t necessarily gone public with a lot of our “When you track back to Socrates, right to the that land of great promise, represents gender the Chair from Reflections Breakthrough thinking, but boy, there’s been a lot early human development of democracy as a do an incredible amount of creating the space for equality because we know that it’s a better society of work done in the past year. movement, he talked about three things: logos, people’s pathos, feelings, commitment and heart. when it is based on equality between all people. pathos, and ethos. In Febuary, we relaunched the new digital platform Ethos is ethics. I think we misuse the word ‘ethos’ for Here She Is, our directory of women experts, It also makes me reflect on our values. Being an He says that you have to have all three of those these days, because we tend to think it means things happening in order to influence people to speakers, mentors and more. We also launched effective feminist agency is predicated on being something broader than it is, but it really is values create a movement. It’s very relevant for politics the Humanitas Sub Fund, which will be dedicated clear on core values that underpin our feminism. and ethics. towards supporting women and girls with African today, I think. heritage. Our feminist values have not changed, but we have Logos is logic and evidence. We are in the era of In that sense, the ethos of the Victorian Women’s Visions of an Equal Future an Equal of Visions evolved in our understandings of how to interpret fake news and people denying climate science, Trust remains stable, because the values that we A power of work has been put into Club Respect, those values. For instance, we have understood the so we have a crisis around logos because people had at the foundation of the Victorian Women’s an innovative violence prevention initiative made need to practice our inclusivity with respect to the are not taking enough notice of evidence; they’re Trust remain. Our feminist, social, and community specially for sporting clubs of all sizes, which will LGBTIQA+ communities and to be less binary in our creating spin for their own ends. values, are the essence of how we operate, how be publicly released in October 2018. language. These are not easy issues. the office operates, the model of how the staff Similarly, our menstrual research is now likely to Logos is really important part of what the Victorian work together, of how the Board fits in, it is how I think we have intellectually evolved in our be made public in 2019. The upcoming document, Women’s Trust does. We do the research, we get we relate to our supporters and people in the understanding of the menstrual taboo, knowing the statistics, we talk to people, and we get input. provisionally called About Bloody Time, will be a community. We want the Trust to belong to all that it remains part of the edifice of a patriarchal game changer out in the community, helping to women. It’s not exclusively ours nor does it belong world where women are inducted into womanhood We create logos ourselves because we don’t rethink the way we concieve of menstruation and to a few. menopause. feeling awful shame and secrecy about their cycle. go out there and just have opinion; we ground Why should that be so for god’s sake? things properly, and we have all these wonderful Over the next 30 years at the Victorian Women’s And last but certainly not least, we have volunteers, researching, accrediting all the things Trust we have to be the accelerators. reinvigorated our digital platform for young Any progressive organisation - including the Trust that we say. women, Rosie.org.au. It now also includes free has to keep moving with the times. We are evolving resources for educators, Rosie in the Classroom, in our understanding, making sure the Trust is able Over time, logos has been a really strong We talked about this at Breakthrough 2016, foundation of the Victorian Women’s Trust; you created to help guide discussions around big and to change generationally. I think the way that we we have to be the next wave. The VWT has to only have to go into our archive room to see important topics, like sexting and mental health. are approaching that question right now is really accelerate the process of gender equality, we have how much effort we have put into evidence and We have only been able to move forward in all exciting. to be at the forefront creating activism, because research. of those initiatives because of the incredible it’s not going to change; unless ordinary everyday teamwork across the office. people want to take action to change it, want to The planning we have underway focuses on further Pathos is how you feel about things, your stand up, want to call it out, want to stop things. building our record of successful advocacy and emotions. If you don’t have things that appeal to action, ensuring the next generations of women “Being an effective feminist agency is people’s emotional state or hits their heart, you’re and girls have a strong, effective voice and a not going to get far. I think pathos has always We have to be the catalyst for activism, otherwise predicated on being clear on core values springboard for action which makes a lasting been a really important part of what the Victorian the 75 years before we reach full gender equality that underpin our feminism.