High school seniors Bella, Zoe, Krystal, Aspen, Emra and Gabi are tired of looking over their shoulders when they walk home alone at night. Now the group of friends are holding a march to raise awareness for women’s safety and show the community and wider Australia that enough is enough.
On Sunday 15 July, the girls invite the Brisbane community to march alongside them in Our Walk for Change. Kicking off at 5pm under South Bank’s Wheel of Brisbane, the march is set to take walkers across the Goodwill Bridge and through the Botanical Gardens with the final destination being Parliament House. Year 12 student Bella Beiraghi said, “The main goal for this event is to raise awareness around the issue of violence against women. We aim to stand in solidarity with our community to make each other feel safe and supported. Ideally, we want a world where women feel safe to walk home alone at night, but until we do reach that point we will walk together.”
The group of six girls from Queensland Academy for Creative Industries said the idea for a march was sparked in a group discussion surrounding the issue of women’s safety. “We were in our group chat online when we started expressing our grief surrounding the recent tragic death of Eurydice Dixon. Our group were discussing our fears around walking home at night alone, and we were at a loss about what to do.” And so the idea for a march was set in motion.
What was initially intended as a small gathering between friends and family quickly turned into much more. “The event soon grew to one hundred people in the first hour. After a couple of hours, the Brisbane Women’s March Facebook page reposted our event on their forum. This sparked a huge growth in numbers and we woke up the next morning to around eight-hundred people going.” the girls said.
At present, the number of people who have indicated they will attend the event sits at 2000 while an additional 11,000 have shown their interest. This is a massive achievement and demonstrates the commitment and sense of solidarity the Brisbane community has for this significant issue.
Readers also enjoyed this story about Brisbane’s cycling festival.
