Women In Media SA, WIMSA - our story

The 2019 Women In Media Conference is over. One feels a little bit melancholy. There are some wonderful people on the state committees and one wishes one had had the chance to get to know some of them better. With the vitality and professionalism of our two national convenors, Cath Webber and Kathy McLeish. the states have been rallied so that we now are truly national. We are an officially independent national entity. There is also a sense communicated by some that South Australia is considered to be a minor place in the scheme of things. That has long been an eastern states perception.

Perhaps we need to shout louder.

Certainly we have been a successfully established WIM body for longer than many of the other states and we have not been slack in having events and covering the issues of the day - often ahead of the curve, as is our wont in South Australia.

Considering that we started out in substantial debt to MEAA for the expenses of bringing the Sydney presence to town for our launch, we have come far.

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Indeed, there is a certain pride in the way in which WIM has grown since those early days. Perhaps to the surprise of MEAA, we just forged forward and did our own thing.

It all began in 2014 when Angelique Ivanica, the union's branch secretary, was tasked with asking me, as a woman and as President of Journalists in SA, to step up and form a WIM committee.

COMMITTEE:

Arna Eyres-White, Louise Pascale, Amber Cordeaux, Collette Snowden, Jayne Stinson, Tory Shepherd and Dana Wortley MP….a top band of woman gathered. At first we tried to meet in cafes but they are too noisy. My home, known as the SaMahal and later as “the Tardis” because it is bigger than it looks, became the monthly meeting place. Wine, cheeses and wursts on the 400 year old oak table became our tradition, with rowdily collegiate and only loosely formal meetings. Over the years, our committee has changed shape. Louise took a sabbatical. Dana melted back into Parliament. Tory Shepherd had to leave when her celebrity demands overwhelmed her timetable. Jayne Stinson left to run, successfully, as a state politician. She is now shadow minister for the arts. Angelique retired when we left MEAA. Louise returned. PR goddess Karyn Foster joined the ranks. Former editor Megan Lloyd came aboard. Senior ‘Tiser journo Kara Jung followed, freelancer Kate Hannon also and most recently wine writer Katie Spain. Laila Ferrier is waiting in the wings and now Catherine Zengerer has moved over from Hobart where she was Convenor of WimTas. She is automatically a popular inclusion. We’re a big committee.

For the record, WIMSA EVENTS:

On February 18, 2015, we launched WIMSA with an address by Adelaide-born Walkley Awards superstar Adele Ferguson. This significant event drew an official Sydney WIM presence in the form of Tracey Spicer who was Sydney convenor. Seira Atkins of MEAA also came from Sydney to give the formal MEAA imprimateur. It was a huge and successful event.

We hit the ground running and attracted another big crowd to an armchair interview with Anne Summers in May of that year held in the Lyceum Club of SA. In July we celebrated our lineup of WIMSA Mentors with a networking event in a chic laneway bar. In December we held a ritzy event celebrating the Walkley Awards and new sponsorship by women winemakers. Channel 7 provided its board room and roof garden.

We opened 2016 with another Mentors networking event at the 2KW rooftop bar. Huge success. In May a Sliding Doors panel event with discussions on the transitions between journalism and PR packed a reborn east end pub to the rafters.

In 2017 we hit the #me2 and bullying issue for the first time when Tracey Spicer came over to speak on her book #goodgirlstrippedbare. It was a very popular event hosted at UniSA. We also had an Adelaide Fringe Festival event based on the show of a feminist comedian and her failures in media. She was a bit of a failure and it was our worst event. In June at a chic new apartment development foyer we held Fireworks, surviving trolls and paving your own way on the Internet. This was a panel event with journalists who have been stalked, hate mailed and trolled. It included an in-depth account of a columnist’s relationship with her troll. Lastly, the trendy East End Cellars wine bar hosted an extremely indulgent Christmas party. Much merry networking.

2018 became the year of the painful issue beginning with a state election. WIMSA hosted a complete lineup of all the political party leaders to speak on What’s In It For Women. Held in February at the Mercury Cinema, this gained major media coverage and also featured “democracy sausages”. When the Story Breaks - how trauma reverberates through the media. This was a panel session in the Hawke Centre of UniSA with journalists, psychologist and a woman completing a PhD on the subject. In October we held Kicking Goals, a panel session of and about Women in Sports coverage. It was hosted in the gym of a state football club.

2019 featured The #MeToo Backlash, a panel event featuring media women of all ages who have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace and also a lawyer who specialises in that issue. It was a champagne event hosted by a leading legal firm, Finlayson, in its top floor boardroom. It was a sell-out.

To celebrate 125 years of female suffrage in SA, the state which led the way for women, we have had to compete with many other groups and securing the right speakers on the right dates has resulted in seemingly endless deferrals. October 29 brings it all together in 5 by 5 which is a thrillingly diverse celebrity feminist panel event to be held at UniSA.

In no partical order, some of our posters:

Reflection: There were some good people working on WIM’s behalf in its birthing days with MEAA but there were sometimes crossed wires, delays, rules, booking issues and a feeling of powerlessness.

It has been an agreeable separation on both sides and WIM and MEAA remain warmly related and mutually supportive.

The energy and impetus of the two national convenors have rallied reborn WIM into a body of significant national status. It is a force with which to reckon. It cannot be ignored by proprietors or politicians. Dare I say that it is a new form of union, united women who can stand together and stand up for themselves and each other. We have only just begun. We have yet to flex muscle. But the power is growing. It really is very exciting. I am so glad to have been a part of its emergence - and will always tip my cap to Vickie Laurie who set the ball rolling in WA.

History Footnote: Adelaide journalist Michelle Daw created a pioneer WIM, too in the 1990s. It came to a rather embarrassing end following a great, big, triumphant networking party after which I think I was the only female journalist fronting up to work the next morning - only because I didn’t eat the chicken sandwiches.