‘Enough is enough’: Women share why they marched

Thousands of people have rallied throughout Australia as part of the March 4 Justice rally.

In Adelaide, these women told the ABC why they were marched on Monday.

Angela

“I was raped when I was 21. My drink was spiked on a night out with friends, and I woke up in a motel room with a man on top of me and it was him and two of his friends.” She said when she told others, no-one believed her.

“I went to the rape crisis centre and I was immediately asked if I would report it to the police, which I decided not to because I was nervous about the court proceedings and felt I didn’t have the strength to go through that. I wrote this sign because I think it’s important to talk about, it’s important to empower women.”

Nola

“Everyone is just sick and tired of hearing about how stories just aren’t believed, and it just seems like there is a boys club that learn to protect each other instead of actually hearing about the problems that women are having. I know that a lot of women are angry, I know a lot of women couldn’t be here because of the trauma that they’ve been through or whether they are stuck at work because they don’t want to ask to have the day off to come to something like this because they’ll be judged on it. I think that women have had enough.”

Blaze

“With everything coming out in Parliament and everything happening over in the UK, I just think that women are fed up with the state of the world at the moment and we deserve to be treated as equals at every level, you know, socially, in the Parliament, through everything. So, I’m here to stand up for women’s rights because it should be equal — 100 per cent.”

Nat and Catherine

Nat: “As a mum of two boys it’s important for us to change the way that women are seen in society, not just the workplace. They shouldn’t have to worry about stepping out in a space by themselves, ever, and feel threatened. It is about making people realise that if they do have this idea that they can step out and harm women or make them shrink that they will be called out for it, that it’s not OK to just shut it behind closed doors anymore, that it’s something [that] needs to be spoken about.”

Catherine: “A lot of women are just fed up and we’re angry. The last two weeks a lot of women have been watching closely what’s going on in the political world, as well as both state and federal, and seeing what action will be taken. I think enough words and actions now need to happen and I think a lot of women here — and men who are supportive of no violence against women — I mean it’s just about equality and justice, isn’t it? Treating each other as you’d like to be treated as my Nan used to say. As a mum of two boys, I’m really keen to ensure that my boys grow up respecting women. To me that should be a given, but clearly, it’s not a given with the number of men who do rape women, who do acts of violence against women. This is something that’s really important in educating the boys of today on being a man.”

Jenny and Madeline

Jenny: “It’s time we stand out grand and make a world for us.”

Madeline: “I’m here not only for myself, but for all fellow women who have been victims of sexual assault, especially in the workplace. I’m hoping this can make a difference.”

Anne Marie

“I may not have personally gone through it, but I have friends and people I know who’ve had such a very difficult time going through things like this. I have three daughters and I want to pave the way and hope that they won’t have to deal with so much that we’ve been dealing with. I think it’s time and sometimes I feel like we are moving backwards instead of forwards in this, and I just came out today to show my support for diversity, for gender equality, for women all across all sorts of sufferings. I might not be a victim per se but I’m here to support all victims and all those who believe in women’s rights. It is time for us to move forward and be counted and considered.”

Talica

“We’re [a] big sisterhood [by being here], we have put up with enough rubbish from especially men for so long, they need to be held accountable. There’s so many different issues affecting women, so we’re all here today for something different, but also all to come together and just support each other and be like, ‘Yo, like enough is enough’. You do something wrong, you’ve got to be held accountable, especially when it’s happening again and again and again, how long do we have to be attacked before someone steps in protects us? People need to treat women better, that’s simply it.”