Greek Australian Stella Boyages is a lawyer with vast experience on a local and international level pertaining to human rights – particularly women’s rights. One of the inspiring speakers at the inaugural Women’s Global and Hellenic Conference in Ioannina, Greece in September, she has chosen to speak about ‘HERstory of HIStory – Marginalisation of women across history.’
Stella’s expansive experience includes employment with the Federal Court of Australia, almost a decade with the Aboriginal legal service and private practice. While now in her 60s, she continues dedicating her life to striving for the acknowledgement of women’s contributions to society, such as showcasing and preserving Greek culture via organisations like the Castellorizian Association of NSW and the Hellenic Lyceum of Sydney where she is a Board Member.
Her work in women’s emancipation is ‘intersectional,’ whereby it inherently incorporates striving for world peace, exemplified by Stella’s current role with the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILFP), not to mention being part of UN Commission of the Status of Women in New York.
“One of the reasons I studied law was that I felt it would give me the skills and knowledge to fight injustice in the community… to advocate for the rights of Indigenous people, refugees, women, the marginalised, the disadvantaged etc,” Stella said.
I’ve probably left out other important aspects of Stella’s diverse and impressive professional experience, though speaking with her – credentials aside – I was intrigued by the woman herself; down to earth, glowing, vivacious, and subsequently joyful to speak with.
Leaving Greece at the age of four with her mother and sister, to join her father who’d been in Australia for a year already, Stella described one of her experiences on board the ship ‘Patris.’
“I was left on my own in the cabin for a brief time and proceeded to take my mother’s lipstick from her bag and smear my face and all the bed sheets with it. After seeing the mess I had made I became concerned about the trouble I would be in and decided to hide in the furthest corner possible under the bunk. When my mother arrived and couldn’t find me she alerted the Captain,” Stella explained.
“I remember hearing all these people in the cabin, my mother crying, younger women consoling her and the ship’s Purser and Captain discussing the likelihood of me falling overboard and preparing to turn the ship around to check the waters.”
As for attending Kindergarten in 1962, a few months after her arrival, Stella narrates: “My mother would drop me off and as she left from the front gate I would slip out of the back gate… when I saw the neighbourhood kids walking past in the afternoon I knew that school was over and I would then go into the house and pretend I had been at school all day. I was eventually found out.”
Cheeky girl humour aside, Stella said, “There was no intensive language or English as a Second Language (ESL) classes for us new arrivals in those days. We just got put into a class and had to manage. I remember being in a perpetual daze of confusion and despair for the first few months… It was also tough for my parents. A constant struggle to find work… usually menial labour work in factories etc, facing racism and discrimination along the way for being a foreigner.”
Stella explained that although often labelled a ‘difficult child’ by family members, she was a curious and perceptive soul, confirming that her experiences led her to study law.
“I suppose you can say my initiation into social justice advocacy began the moment I set foot in Australia as a young four-year-old migrant girl from Greece. I realised quite early in the piece how much of a handicap it was to be a migrant…” she said.
She related how as a child she served as an interpreter to her 1st generation family for doctor’s or bank appointments for example, and “how humiliating it must have been for them.”
She also tells of a suspenseful yet heart-wrenching tale of a bleeding, severely injured man who, in the vicinity of her home, was asking for help from her parents and relatives visiting that day, and how she had to call emergency services as the adults spoke no English. The operator didn’t believe the child – Stella – on the other end of the line and insisted on speaking to an adult. Luckily, Stella’s desperation convinced the telephonist to send help.
“Apart from the struggles I faced… it was hard for me to come to terms with how disempowering the migration experience was for all the adults in my life,” Stella said.
I ask Stella why she chose to speak about the topic ‘HERstory of HIStory – Marginalisation of women across history’ at the inaugural Global and Hellenic Women’s Conference, to which she immediately and unhesitatingly replied, “Women’s true voices have been invisible and silent for too long…”
“In History, in Politics, in Science, in Peace Building, in Literature etc. In particular their representation in History has been depicted through a male memory and lens. Depicted and remembered in certain ways that perpetuate and preserve the patriarchal notion of what a woman should ideally be. Those who don’t conform to the traditional are represented as unnatural, monstrous, flawed or worthy of punishment,” she said.
And in relation specifically to her personal history, added, “In my day to day life I interacted mostly with the women and saw soon enough how much more vulnerable their position was in this migrant experience. As Greek women in a traditional Greek patriarchal family they didn’t seem to have control of their own destiny, body, person, future, identity etc. This was exacerbated by their situation as migrants in a country in which they had limited language, few support structures and even fewer rights…”
In regards to Stella’s upbringing in Australia, she said, “My education was encouraging me to openly question and challenge some of the inequality and sexism I was observing around me and when I asked questions about this or tried to discuss this with my mother or her female friends it was like I was the ‘demon child’ who was challenging the norm and conventionality of their very existence.”
“I towed the proverbial line…” she continued. “I studied the conventional and only left home when I got married at 22 years of age… too young and naive to fight the system. I completed a BA DIP Ed at Sydney University, taught English / History/ Modern Greek, got married, had children and raised them… and only then returned to university, completing a Post Grad Law degree at the same time and at the same university as my children who were also studying Law there.”
“Whilst considering myself enriched for having experienced two cultures and two countries I also felt embattled because I had to struggle and juggle with growing up in a conservative, traditional, patriarchal Greek household whilst living in an Anglo/ English speaking country with a different culture and traditions.
“Choosing to have my own identity, changing careers, and travelling alone to international conferences has been exciting and sometimes challenging. I have the support of my husband and family and I believe I am an important role model to my children.”
In response, I said, “Stella, you are a role model to the world.”
