Gosh, it has been a rocky road for women lately hasn’t it? On the one hand I think we’re all feeling a bit happier that flexible work conditions and working from home seems to have become part of the new norm. So that we can better juggle that old chestnut work/life balance.

And it was excellent that Grace Tame was named Australian of the Year. A fabulous speaker and a powerful advocate, fighting to ensure that women who are raped (and all rape victims) have a public presence, can tell their own stories and have their own voice.

And then on the other hand we’ve had the last week or two of federal politics - making it feel all pretty tokenistic.

If you’re concerned that our political institutions at the highest levels still think it is appropriate to undermine and minimalise women who name high powered men as their rapists, and brush allegations against the same men under the carpet without any investigation as to their veracity, you're not alone.

The March 4 Justice is an Australia-wide march and protest taking place in response to the manner in which recent allegations of sexual assault have been dealt with at the highest levels of government.

It is taking place in all capital cities (as well as in many regional towns) on Monday, March 15, with the aim of addressing (and ending) "sexism, misogyny, dangerous workplace cultures and lack of equality in politics and the community at large".

In Melbourne the event starts at 12pm at the State Library, but if you’d like to join a neighbourhood house crew, you can head to Jika Jika Community Centre, 1B Plant Street, Northcote at 11am. Then catch the train as a collective from Westgarth station.

And if you would like to make a banner for the March you can do so this afternoon (Friday) at Jika Jika, from 12-3pm.

If you've never made one before, need some help or resources, or just want to hang out in the company of other like-minded folk, pop past.

On Friday 12 March, we invite you to come along to a special morning tea following which we will officially open our new neighbourhood community art initiative, the Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery.

The Alphington Neighbourhood Gallery will feature 12 art works by an artist connected to the neighbourhood. The gallery will be paste up boards along our fence. The works will be accompanied by a bio and a QR code link so that anyone passing by can find out more about the artist. This project has been funded by the lovely Yarra Arts team at Yarra City Council, who we thank very much.

The first artist we are featuring is Ross O’Meara. His works will be up for one month. We plan to feature 10 artists over the coming year.

We’d love it if you could join us from 11.30am for morning tea followed by the launch.

Ross O'Meara, Untitled, 2019, ink on paper, courtesy of the artist and Arts Project Australia

Ross O’Meara, Untitled, 2019, acrylic on paper

Ross O’Meara, Untitled, 2019, watercolour on paper

Alphington CWA is joining in the broader CWA birthday celebrations with a scone drive for pick up on Saturday 13 March from the community kitchen at the Alphington Farmers Market (between 12-1pm).

You can order 6 scones for $9 or 12 scones for $18. Just click here to email your order through and one of our CWA friends will get back to you.

Note that you can also order lemon slice and other things (you’ll find all the details below). We’re so lucky to have a local CWA branch in the neighbourhood!

Yum.

Ruth Maddison, Box Hill Over 90s Club, from the series Women Over Sixty 1990-91, pigment print

Hi all, Leanne here.

This is a bit of a complicated story, but my mum plays tennis at North Fitzroy (Edinburgh Gardens), and was chatting to Professor Martha Hickey’s partner (I assume he plays tennis there too). And they talked about this upcoming exhibition at The Convent in Abbotsford that Professor Hickey conceived out of concern that the message to younger women about menopause ageing was almost exclusively negative and did not reflect the capability, diversity and achievements of older women.

Professor Hickey is a clinical psychologist and gynaecologist. She is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne, Director of Gynaecology Research Centre at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Head of Menopause Service at the Women’s and Visiting Professor at Harvard University.

And mum thought it might be interesting to share. And I think she is right. So here we go!

Flesh after Fifty - changing images of older women in Art is running at the Abbotsford Convent from 7 March -11 April.

The exhibition will explore and challenge negative stereotypes of ageing while celebrating and promoting positive images of older women. It will bring to the fore images that need revisiting or have been overlooked, plus 10 new commissioned art installations that explore social issues, health and empowerment of older women.

It is accompanied by curatorial discourse and community engagement in a series of forums, events and essays by key academics, artists and community leaders exploring the politics and social impact around the construction of images of older women, addressing this topic in the pursuit of a new visual dynamic and appreciation of the older female form.

A list of artists involved in the exhibition can be found here.

And the full program of events that sit alongside the exhibition are here. They include a host of movies, a women’s dinner hosted by Denise Scott, a writer’s panel including Melanie Cheng, Donna Ward and Catherine Deveney, a gogo dancing for over 50s workshop and other extra fun workshops including (the unique chance ladies, to make your lady parts out of icing!? in) the Hotham Street Ladies workshop.

Sounds pretty edgy and fascinating right? Just like all of us! And it’s right on our doorstep. This is an event that was delayed for a year by COVID, so it might also be nice to support the artists now that we can get back to things again.

Last Friday Anne (our chair) and I were delighted to show Cr Gabrielle de Vietri, Yarra’s new Mayor, around the house and talk to her about all the exciting and neighbourhoodly things we do here. Gabrielle came along with Kathy who is our main contact and lovely colleague at Yarra Council and Elly who supports volunteering across Yarra.

It was a great morning to visit as it was Brett’s birthday and we decorated him a pretty fancy cake. We’ve attached some photos so that you can admire our efforts and wish you too were here to partake of the sugary delight!

So, if you would like to eat cake and coffee with nice people in the neighbourhood any Friday during school term, just pop past at 11.30am. Alternatively join us from 10am for art, craft and gardening (and possibly some cooking/cake decorating). We hope to see you soon!