Identifying the Hidden Disaster: The First Australian Conference and Natural Disasters and Family Violence with international keynote speakers

The Conference on Identifying Hidden Disaster is creating enormous interest. It will be the first Australian conference on natural disasters and family violence and will be held in Melbourne on 9th March 2012.

Keynote speakers are international US expert Elaine Enarson and Manager of the refuge in Christchurch, NZ Lois Herbert. New research on family violence after Black Saturday will be presented, entitled The Way He Tells It.

A panel comprising representatives from the key emergency response and family violence sectors will be facilitated by Nelly Thomas, and workshops will conclude the day.

This is an initiative of WHIN, Women's Health Goulburn North East (WHGNE) and the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse.

Booking details here.

WHIN Leads the Way...

Over 60 people from healthcare organisations, local government and more attended the Health Promotion and Sustainability Forum held at Sustainability Victoria on 8 November, 2011. The keynote speakers outlined the links between healthcare, climate change and sustainability more broadly. They were followed by a panel of practitioners who discussed the learnings from their project.

The Health Promotion and Sustainability Report, launched at this forum features WHIN as one of the organisations leading the way! Our Chairperson, Kristine Olaris, was one of the panellists.

The full report and an executive summary are available online.

Pridentity stands for pride + identity and is an education program to help students become informed about sexuality and sexual diversity, the myths and facts about same-sex attraction and transgender issues, homophobia and bullying, and gender stereotypes.

Developed in 2011, the Pridentity Resource Kit is the culmination of many years of successful in-school workshops focusing on inclusive sexuality education for secondary school students. The Kit is designed for teachers and community workers. It  provides lesson plans, activities and links to further resources to support teaching practice that is inclusive, interactive and fun.  

WHIN launched the Kit and held a workshop on how to use it on Tuesday 23rd August 2011. To access the Pridentity Resource click here.

In October 2008, the Victorian Parliament passed legislation to remove abortion from the Crimes Act. Women's Health Services in Victoria had been advocating for this change to take place. Women’s Health Victoria (WHV) produced It’s About Choice in 2010, a documentary which documents the campaign that led to removal of abortion from the Crimes Act in Victoria, Australia.

Providing valuable insight into the campaign, the documentary includes interviews with politicians, health experts, and women’s health advocates. With this documentary, WHV hope to share the story of abortion law reform in Victoria, and to inspire others working to change abortion laws across Australia and internationally.

Connect to the WHV website and watch the documentary here.

Women the world over are more susceptible to the extreme weather events linked to climate change. Women have lower incomes and fewer resources than men and are more likely to live in places and in housing that are vulnerable to climate-change related disasters. The Carbon Tax Package announced on 10th July 2011 is an important first step towards addressing climate change and the threat it brings to health and wellbeing, especially for women.

To read more click here.

'Collected Wisdom': A Manual of Family Violence Group Work Theory and Practice

The second edition of this 145-page manual of ideas and insights shared by group workers in Melbourne's Northern metropolitan region of Victoria has been launched. It has broad applicability for group work with diverse groups of women in many settings. It includes sections on family violence group work theory and practice, group work planning, outlines for 50 session activities, and options for further reading and learning as well as a section on culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) group work.

The 2011 edition is available here.

As a Women’s Health In the North (WHIN) copyrighted resource we are happy for you to use COLLECTED WISDOM as a community education tool and for the purposes of research, planning or review as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968.  However, no part of it may be reproduced, copied, and/or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical or graphic) without the prior written permission of Women’s Health In the North.

On Monday 16^th May, Fair Work Australia found that Social and Community Service (SACS) workers are not receiving equal pay for work of equal or comparable value and that gender is the cause of the pay gap.

However, Fair Work Australia have not made a decision on how much increase, if any, should apply to SACS rates of pay in the future. The court has asked to hear more from the ASU and other parties about what type of increase should be awarded, the potential costs of increasing rates of pay and whether governments will fund this.

So while the legal and moral arguments have been won, a decision on a remuneration increase rate and its funding is still pending.

WHIN supports the ASU Equal Pay Campaign as a strategy to improve women’s economic participation, and more specifically to reduce the gender pay gap.

Many women contacting the Royal Women's Hospital about their unplanned pregnancy have already decided on their path. Other women will spend some time considering the difficult decision to continue or terminate their unplanned pregnancy. The Unplanned Pregnancy Decision-making Guide seeks to reflect the experiences of these women and their need for clear, impartial and evidence-based information on the choices they can make.

WHIN Celebrates International Women’s Day

2011 marks the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day (IWD) which is celebrated around the world on March 8 to honour women’s actions and achievements.

On 19 March 1911 over a million European women united in calling for the right of women to vote, work and hold public office. The rally was motivated by a protest held in New York in 1908, organised by the Women’s Social and Political Union to rebel against poor working conditions and child labour. The women wore the colours of green (hope and new life), violet (dignity and self respect) and white (purity).

In 1910 an international conference of women voted to celebrate IWD around the world each year on March 8.

Without gender equality, women will continue to struggle to fully participate in the economic, social and political life of their countries. WHIN’s mission is to advocate, enable, mediate and embody so that all women in Melbourne’s northern region have voice, choice and power in all aspects of their health and wellbeing.

Women’s economic participation is core to their health and wellbeing and their ability to participate in their communities as they choose. The Australian Services Union (ASU) is running an equal pay case with the emphasis on women as the main employees in the community services industry. As economic security affects every aspect of women’s lives, and women still earn 17% of that earned by men, WHIN is supporting the ASU’s campaign and we urge you to join the union and get behind their campaign.

WHIN held its Annual General Meeting on 28th October 2010. The theme this year was Prevention of Violence Against Women. Speakers were Sahar, a Survivor Advocate, and Sandra,  a Survivor Advocate and Performer. Cath Lancaster, of WHIN used her speech to launch WHIN's Love Control Resource Notes. T-shirts from the Clothesline Project were displayed.

Our Annual report can be viewed here.