Former editor Nancy Bates warns women's rights are being 'washed away'
Former Fraser Coast editor and Citizen of the Year Nancy Bates has warned women's rights are being "washed away" in a powerful speech marking the anniversary of Turkish reformer Ataturk's death.
Former Fraser Coast Citizen of the Year and editor of the Fraser Coast Chronicle Nancy Bates has delivered a scathing account of the situation of women in 2025, in a speech marking the anniversary of the death of a world leader who helped empower women.
Ms Bates’ speech was one of several delivered at a service in Queen’s Park in Maryborough on Monday morning beside the Ataturk memorial to mark the anniversary of Ataturk’s death.
“This is an image of a man who reshaped a nation a century ago,” Ms Bates told the crowd.
“(Turkey’s founding father) Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, once a worthy foe of the Anzacs at Gallipoli and later a friend,pulled together the remnants of the old Ottoman empire and built in a remarkably short time a progressive nation that led the world in so many fields.
“He built thousands of schools, gave his people names and called for world peace.
“Above all he championed the rich contribution women could make in the nation as they become politicians, engineers, doctors, lawyers and teachers.
“Ataturk started a tidal surge of empowerment of women.
“Sixty years ago I was able to ride that wave as I started my career and blundered through a few barriers into areas of journalism usually reserved for men.
“Now I see on so many levels here and around the world that the tide is ebbing.
“Respect for women and their rights is being washed away.
“Women need to understand the sinister forces that have targeted their weaknesses both physical and instinctive.
“Crises such as the Covid pandemic, soaring food and fuel prices, and the undermining of democratic institutions are not just slowing progress – but actively reversing gains.
“Women who have the vote need to rise above distractions of shallow causes that target their nurturing nature and look at the big picture before they unwittingly tip the balance in the downfall of Western democracy.
“Alarming numbers of nations are now being controlled by repressive, authoritarian, undemocratic regimes.
“When democracy is eroded, women’s rights are eroded too.
“The rise of authoritarianism has a very clear connection to the repression of women’s rights.
“Women need to beware of letting their nurturing natures lure them into supporting evil influences hiding under the cloak of humanitarianism.
“They need to resist calling for nanny state laws that undermine the strengths and freedoms of individuals, thereby undermining the strengths and freedoms of our country. “They should take care that their vote does not undermine democracy because they will usher in an even bleaker future for women.
“Last year, one in four countries reported a backlash against women’s rights.
“In March, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “if women and girls can rise, we all thrive”. Yet, “instead of mainstreaming equal rights, we are seeing the mainstreaming of misogyny.
“He said that together, we must stand firm in making human rights, equality and empowerment a reality for all women and girls, for everyone, everywhere.
“An estimated 650 million women and girls alive today were child brides forced into marriage.
“That’s around 21 percent of all young women globally. Aged between 10 and 18, they were regularly forced to marry men four times their age.
“This year, another 12 million girls under the age of 18 will become child brides. Do we care?
“More than 200 million women and girls in the world today have undergone ritual female genital mutilation. Migrants from 31 countries in Asia, Africa, and Middle East where female circumcision is rife have taken the mutilations in secret to other countries, including Australia, Britain, America, Japan, and New Zealand.
“Are we doing enough to stop this in Australia and help stamp it out in the world?
“Is the United Nations doing enough?
“Half a century ago I believed women around the world were heading towards the equality Ataturk preached but a report this year said at the current rate that could take 300 years.
“Half a century ago I would not have believed that in 2025 domestic violence would surge and would be experienced by 1 in 6 women in Australia. What has happened? “Alarmingly, the UN reports that a woman or girl is killed every 10 minutes by a family member or intimate partner.
“Half a century ago I could not have foreseen women today would get so sucked in by relentless appeals to their vanity, with pressures coming from other women and corporations who are making fortunes from cosmetic surgery and pitiful promises of beauty and postponed ageing.
“Half a century ago I would not have envisaged the red-carpet focus of a salivating audience on plunging necklines and slit skirts of celebrities, school graduates and WAGS hanging on to sports stars.
“The focus is not on what they have achieved but on how sexy they look for men.
“Half a century ago I would have been appalled to know that, in 2025, instead of respecting women as equal partners young boys would be exposed to sinister online hard-core pornography and violence and would be pressuring young girls to take part in repulsive sexual acts.
“In court here last week we had a 15-year-old boy charged with extorting a 14-year-old girl to commit gruesome sexual and violent acts on herself, animals and friends.
“Half a century ago if I could have looked forward to 2025, I would have expected to see women strong, confident and educated, equal partners in a society that combined the strengths, intelligence and characteristics inherent in both sexes.
“Ataturk showed us the way. Let’s go there.”
- by Nancy Bates
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