Why look at both Australian and Indonesian societies in interrogating equality and difference? And why focus on gender roles and status?

Equality:

When there is equal access to the resources people value…

health

education

Employment

political representation

recreation

Difference

• the way any society is made up of a diversity of people

• culture • Sexuality & gender• age• class • linguistic backgrounds• levels of physical and intellectual ability

commonality

• Social cohesion is ideal for most societies where, despite difference, people and groups cooperate for the common good of society. They emphasise commonality as in Hobbe’s notion of the “social contract”.

• Australia: Multiculturalism. Values?…

• Indonesia: “Unity in Diversity”. Values…?

The Australian Ideal

• Since European settlement, the state mantra has been that Australia would be an egalitarian paradise – unlike Europe

with its gaping class divide and hierarchical traditions. But is Australia really the land of the “Fair go”? Was it ever?

A narrative of the nation…

A speaker at a public meeting in support of the eight-hour-day campaign declared that, "the old British idea that one class was born to labour and another to direct that labour has no place here".

“The birth of a nation” - thesis by historian Marylin Lake

…the Anzacs had `given infinite confidence in the manhood and destiny of Australia’…`the first great fruitage of ... nationhood ... on a day of testing Australia became fully one with the Empire ... as a true man goes to his bride'.”

• Read the whole article here: http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5001351125

• (link is on wikispaces!)

masculinity and nation…

“the Australian is a better man than any of the recently imported, because he came of the pick of a bold and adventurous stock and his peerless country improved him in two generations out of all comparison with his grandsire'. The British in contrast were the `queer little weaklings' left behind by this migration, `whose grandchildren swank around to this day and criticise Australia with the bitterness of their own inferiority’

(Anzac era reflection on Australian superiority)

Questions for Australia:• Is multiculturalism working?

• Is nationalism necessarily racist?

• Is Australia a class-less paradise?

• Are men and women equal?

What about Indonesia?Indonesia is often perceived as the poor but “threatening

neighbour” to a rich and progressive Australia. Indonesia is referred to as “our backyard.” Australia’s r’ship w Indonesia questioned by human rights activists and independent journalists.

• exploitation of workers and the environment• brutal occupation of East Timor, Aceh, West Papua etc• religious fundamentalism • the lack of welfare • rights of women, LGBTI, people with disabilities and

ethnic minorities.

… Inequality in Indonesia has been supported by Australian foreign policies and the policies of Australian businesses.

Youtube clips:Timor Leste occupation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHW5N1cj4X8

Balibo Five cover-up:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMbdeUAzGZY

West Papuan asylum seekers accepted by Australia:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWivoLXvsIY

Police fire on gold mine protesters:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBc4WSNhsO4

Key concepts of the unit

ｷｷ Equalityｷｷ Differenceｷｷ Commonalityｷｷ Consequences of unequal accessｷｷ Socially valued resourcesｷｷ The ideal of equalityｷｷ Discriminationｷｷ Perception

Focus:

• In this unit you will compare the roles and status of women in Indonesia and Australia, evaluate strategies for change, and hypothesis possible futures. You will see that the way women are treated in society must be understood across local, national and global levels.