QUEENSLAND connecting our women health WOMEN’S HEALTH our our NETWORK NEWS lives worlds
ISSUE 2 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION
| In this special 12-page edition 2018 What has changed we look back over the past What has changed few decades, and ask: forfor women?women?
Be WELL Connected!
women still oppressed by’ ‘beauty
More than 25 years after presenting this powerful speech about the harms of ‘beauty’, Bronwyn Patton reveals that the myth continues ...
IN THIS SPECIAL EXPANDED 25th ANNIVERSARY EDITION Women still oppressed by ‘beauty’ ...... 1 25 years of Disability Discrimination Act 7 ‘Labia Library’ busts myths about vulvas 3 Men’s violence: No change in 20 years ... 8 50 years on: Time to tell truth about race 4 20 years: Largest women’s health study 10 Heart healthy food for 25 years ...... 5 More women choosing dentistry ...... 11 Women’s health movement: Early years 6 NAIDOC Week celebrates women ...... 12 ‘we must fight to end this beauty myth’
omen pause for peace. Women struggle for W peace. The whole world over, women are talking, singing, praying and writing for peace. They want the battles to end, they want to walk the streets in safety, they want peace in their own homes, peace for their children, yet the worst fight women face is the war they wage against their own bodies. The billion-dollar ‘beauty’ industry has quickly become the strongest and most subtle form of oppression facing women today. In The Beauty Myth, Naomi Wolf describes ‘beauty’ as “a currency system like the gold standard” (p. 12). The beauty myth is comprised of emotional distance, politics, finance and sexual repression. It is about men and power but, as we know is typical of men’s politics, it is women who suffer. During the last 20–30 years, many women have left the confines of their own homes to enter the workforce and, therefore, men’s political arena. The myth of wife and mother always at home was weakened as women realised there were more options open to them. Men needed to discover a new oppression: create an ideal but impossible beauty, sell the image everywhere possible, and you will soon oppress women by forcing them to reach for the unattainable. The beauty myth has two major functions which help enforce society’s patriarchal structure. The psychological oppression of women is the first and most debilitating for us as individuals. The second is the billion-dollar industry — the $32-billion diet industry, the $20-billion cosmetics industry, Bronwyn Patton (above) delivering the speech at the 1991 International the $300-million cosmetic surgery industry, and the $7-billion Women’s Day march and rally held in Townsville (below) pornography industry. Women’s anxieties about their beauty manifest in low self-esteem, therefore decreased work, ‘feminine’. The more we struggle to match the ideal, the financial, and societal motivation. The bonus of this more we hate ourselves for failing, and hate others for oppression is the multi-million-dollar profits pocketed by men. seeming to achieve it, because I don’t believe I have yet met Women are encouraged by incessant messages: ‘get the a woman who is happy with her body, her physical body you deserve’, ‘make the most of your natural assets’, appearance. Think about this for yourselves. How often do ‘you can totally reshape your body’, ‘your facial lines are now you say, and do you hear your friends say, ‘I hate my body, within your control’, and ‘at last you too can know the secret my thighs, my face, my hair’, and the list continues. beautiful women have kept for years’. Anorexia could be described as one end of the hunger The beauty myth continues to isolate women from one continuum. Most women will admit to a compulsive fear of, another. Professional women, working-class women, non- and fixation on, food. Dieting and thinness has been a paid working women, women who work at home, are all female preoccupation for many decades now. Women suffer subject to the massive advertising industry telling us what is through dieting and then punish themselves for eating. Women confine themselves to solitary hunger camps. A 1985 survey said that 90% of respondents thought they weighed too much, and on any day, 25% of women were on diets, with 50% finishing, breaking or starting one. I can identify with this fixation. I suppose, if we are all honest, we would admit to personally recognising this unwinnable cycle of dieting and bingeing. The many forms of violence perpetrated against women and their bodies, in the name of beauty, is phenomenal, but probably the cruellest and fastest growing is the profitable industry of cosmetic surgery. Today, what hurts is beauty. From the trivial, of tottering on too-tight, uncomfortable, high-heeled shoes, to the extreme of multiple surgical interventions, beauty causes women pain.
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Cosmetic surgery changes the bodies of women, makes LIBRARY women into man-made women. Nothing is sacred. We have long since incorporated ‘nips and tucks’ into our normal language. Face and breast surgeries are common, liposuction is increasing, chemical peeling of skin is being introduced. The medical field can take the beauty myth a step further. Not only has a woman ‘ugly’ features, they are ‘diseased’ features which can be treated. These atrocities are increasing every day. We must struggle now, must fight to end this beauty myth. We must recognise this new invasive form of oppression. For the beauty myth to survive, there must be acceptance and involvement by us. We can change this. Our identity includes LABIA THE much more than our face and body. We must challenge the total inadequacy of the beauty images. We are beautiful, healthy, sexual and fertile creatures, distinctively through our natural shape. We can use objects to adorn ourselves when we know that we ourselves are not objects. We must recognise who the beauty myth is servicing. It is not us. Therefore we must change it. We can only start with ourselves. I can only start with myself, and this includes how I see you. I see me, I see you, I see all of us as women. WEBSITE FOR WOMEN QUESTIONING Focus on today — 2018 WHETHER THEIR VAGINA LOOKS NORMAL a conversation n September 2013 Women’s Health Victoria Betty I launched The Labia Library, a website for women I heard the full version of this talk at the 1991 Inter- questioning whether their genitals look normal. national Women’s Day march and rally in Townsville, ‘The Labia Library has been developed to provide Bronwyn, and I think a version for Reclaim the Night as women with information about the natural diversity of well, and agreed with you that we had to do battle with genitals. It’s about showing women that, just like any the beauty industry to stop such wholesale oppression other part of the body, genitals come in all shapes of women. I still remember how inspired I was by your and sizes,’ said Rita Butera, Executive Director of words and passion. That was more than 25 years ago. Women’s Health Victoria. How do you interpret what has happened since then? ‘Many people have no idea what healthy female Bronwyn genitals actually look like. Vulvas, often incorrectly Sometimes Betty, it feels like nothing has changed. referred to as vaginas, are hidden away, and many Women’s health is still so much affected by the women have never seen their own. They don’t realise constant pressure to conform to beauty ideals. Daily we that the images they see in magazines and porn- hear of women suffering from eating disorders, telling ography are usually photoshopped,’ Ms Butera said. us how much they hate their body, confident strong ‘The Labia Library busts a few myths about how women on perpetual diets, public women who are normal genitals look. It addresses common concerns described in the media by their form of dress/physical such as labia size and shape. It features a photo gallery appearance, and many many more considering, or that shows just how unique everyone’s labia are. having already had, some form of surgical intervention ‘The website also provides advice to women who for the sake of man-made beauty. are worried about how their vulva looks and might be thinking about genital cosmetic surgery’. Betty The Labia Library is available at:
QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 3 Author Chelsea Bond, Senior Lecturer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Unit (ATSIS Unit) The University of Queensland
Fifty years on from the 1967 referendum it’s time to tell the truth about race
n the eve of the 50th anniversary but it did not address the inherently and to the state. In being raced, we O of the 1967 referendum, in a racist nature of the constitution. have become known by the state and sunset ceremony in central Australia, One example is the amendment to through our relationship with it. It has approximately 300 Aboriginal and Section 51 (xxvi), referred to as the cemented a relationship of power over Torres Strait Islander delegates from race power, which excluded Aboriginal us, physically, morally, intellectually, across Australia delivered the Uluru people from the Commonwealth’s politically and legislatively. Statement from the Heart. Convened by special powers to introduce laws Racism is not just echoed in the the Referendum Council, the statement affecting “the people of any race”. words of right-wing commentators or put forth an Indigenous Australian The original intent of this clause was the jokes of professional football position on proposed constitutional to enable the Commonwealth to players; it is ingrained in our society, reform, rejecting constitutional recog- “regulate the affairs of the people of enshrined in our institutions and our nition in favour of a treaty. coloured or inferior races” in restricting legislation. Race is inescapable and it Through the establishment of a immigration of non-white non-British has been central to the colonial project. Makarrata Commission (a body that populations. We cannot talk about building would oversee agreement-making In 1901, the Commonwealth’s power truthful relationships without being between governments and Indigenous was put to work with the introduction of honest about the racialised realities of groups), the Uluru statement expressed the Immigration Restriction Act, known our social world. Indigenous peoples’ “aspirations for a as the White Australia Policy, and was As a racialised subject, I have been fair and truthful relationship with the rationalised by the then prime minister, subjected to lies dressed up as people of Australia”. Sir Edmund Barton. He said: racialised truths that insist upon our Yet, 50 years ago, 90% of Australians I do not think either that the doctrine inferiority. Every day, we are forced to voted in favour of what they believed of the equality of man was really ever contest these lies while having to live would be a “fair go for Aborigines” in intended to include racial equality. with them. In order to get by and get on supporting the amendment of two There is no racial equality. There is in a social world that discounts us, we clauses within the Constitution. that basic inequality. These races create for ourselves other lies. Fifty years on, there remain some are, in comparison with white races I remember the words of my father uncomfortable truths about what those — I think no one wants convincing of growing up, insisting that if I worked ten amendments did to improve the this fact — unequal and inferior. times harder than them, that I would relationship between Indigenous and It is hard to imagine how our inclusion “make it” — that it was possible to rise non-Indigenous Australia. as a raced people within this racially above my station, to rise above race. Bain Attwood and Andrew Markus discriminatory clause would be These were lies that we lived with in have argued that the “yes” vote did emancipatory. In being raced, we were order to make the injustice of the world little to change the administration of not just named — we were claimed. seem less insurmountable. Indigenous affairs; nor did it grant When the First Fleet arrived in 1788 But I cannot be blinded to the ways in Indigenous peoples citizenship rights, on the land of the Gadigal people, it did which my presence is read racially, voting rights or put an end to racial not just bring convicts, marines, regardless of how hard-working I am, discrimination. seamen and civil officers. It also how articulate I might be or how The constitutional amendments atten- brought with it “the Aborigine”, and our acceptable my presence might appear. ded to what appeared to be racially racialised construction as Aborigines It does not inhibit the surveillance by discriminatory clauses, which excluded has served the colonial project well. police who perceive my presence as a Aboriginal people. The result may well Being an Aborigine has circumscribed predisposition to an unknown criminal have made Australia appear less racist, our being, our relationship to this place act.
4 QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 It does not inhibit a rendering of me whatever direction that might be) is that Dr Chelsea Bond is an Aboriginal (Munanjahli) we will fail to tell the truth about race. and South Sea Islander Australian and a senior as an Aboriginal mother or my husband lecturer with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait as an Aboriginal father being deemed We can only hope that the federal Islander Studies Unit at the University of at risk of not being able to look after my government and the Australian people Queensland. She has extensive experience in children properly. will heed Indigenous peoples’ call for a Indigenous health, as a health worker and “fair and truthful relationship” through a researcher in urban and rural communities It does not prevent colleagues from across south-east Queensland for over 15 years. seeing my presence as a scholar as an fair and truthful conversation about the power of race in maintaining power over equity act, as an accommodation of my This article was originally published in The Conversation intellectual incapacity or as a cultural Indigenous peoples’ lives and lands. on 30 May 2017 (CC BY-NC-SA). Read the original This essay is an excerpt from Chelsea Bond’s keynote article at
Heart healthy food and ood iles f fwith nutrition for over 25 years! Maria Packard NUTRITION MANAGER, HEART FOUNDATION
For as long as the Heart Foundation has existed, we’ve spoken to the community and health professionals about food and nutrition. Our evidence statements over these years demonstrate that as our knowledge and What tools do we have available to translate evidence base evolve — so should our recommendations. In 2017, with an evidence into practice and assist Australians evolving evidence base in dietary patterns, we set our sights on the big to shift their eating patterns? picture and took on work to review the evidence and refresh our messaging. As part of our One Heart Strategy 2018–2020, to Undertaken evidence, created positions. But what do we say? help Australians improve their eating patterns we have developed information that supports healthy Pulling it all together, we came up with the Heart Healthy eating principles. eating, including recipes and meal plan ideas. This is the Heart Foundation’s approach to dietary patterns and our These focus on assisting to reduce the leading risk overarching food and nutrition message. factors of heart disease. A heart healthy eating pattern includes: plenty of vegetables, fruit and wholegrains, a variety of healthy protein sources including fish and seafood, Visit the heart foundation website to view our lean meat and poultry, legumes, nuts and seeds, reduced fat milk, cheese resources: and yoghurt; includes healthy fats like those found in nuts, seeds, oily fish
QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 5 Women’s health movement bursts onto political scene Revisit the dynamic early history of the women’s health movement in Australia in this first of two instalments from Reaching for Health by Gwendolyn Gray Jamieson
hen the women’s health move- There were few publicly funded the streets to fight for a woman’s right W ment burst onto the Australian support services for women or anyone to choose a safe abortion and they political scene as part of the resurgent else who needed them. […] Aboriginal campaigned on factory floors and women’s movement, resentment about communities and Aboriginal health within the union movement to modern- social arrangements was intense. Wom- were ravaged by the combined impacts ise occupational health and safety en knew how it felt to be trivialised, of colonisation, racism and government regimes. Mothers’ groups agitated for disbelieved and dismissed. They had ex- policies. Despite high immigration rates women’s control of childbirth and to perienced frustration, indignity and stig- in the 1950s and 1960s, services for achieve maternity-care reform. Feminist- matisation in their daily lives. For many, newly arrived people were scarce. […] inspired training modules for the police, encounters with the health system were There was no public income support for the judiciary and other relevant unsatisfactory and often humiliating and single parents […]. Only the wealthy professions were developed, so that traumatising. In the early 1970s, the could afford child care. […] sexual assault and violence services gatherings organised by mobilising It was in this context that the might be delivered more appropriately. feminists provided an opportunity for embryonic women’s health movement […] The underlying philosophy was to women to ventilate their concerns, often made its first faltering efforts to provide services and support ‘by for the first time. The gender order respond to the calls for help that were women, for women’. Critiques of the would never be quite the same again. being made. […] social, political and economic organ- At a packed public ‘speak-out’ organ- With few resources and, in many isation of society were developed, ised by Melbourne feminists in early cases, very little knowledge about along with strategies for how to 1973, poor health care and lack of politics or medical care, small groups of promote change. In carrying out this relevant information emerged as the women set out not only to provide work, women faced huge obstacles, dominant concerns. Women told stories health services but also to achieve particularly a shortage of resources of that shocked those listening, stories fundamental social change and public all kinds. that were confirmed by the doctors, policy transformation. From the begin- As time went on, it became increasing- nurses and healthcare workers who ning, they knew that many of the ly clear that the structural forces support- were present. Women’s health care circumstances of women’s lives, not ing the existing system were not going to was condemned as too often ‘demean- least their second-class status, had a be dislodged easily. In health, the power ing, discriminatory, judgemental and of detrimental impact on of organised medicine was brought to poor quality’ (Hull 1986:14). […] All bear against every reform proposal, while women shared the distress they felt at pharmaceutical giants continued to being made to feel ‘dirty, shameful, health peddle their wares. Bureaucracies — not unbalanced, neurotic, stupid and services accustomed to being challenged and guilty’. Out of these meetings, the first comfortable with longstanding structures dedicated women’s health groups were ‘by women and practices — resisted new ideas, formed. The intention was to set up especially the notion that there should be centres where skilled medical care separate women’s services. In the would be available, where women could for cultural sphere, ideas proved to be speak openly about their lives and women’ durable, especially discourses around share their experiences ‘in an domestic violence and rape. And when atmosphere of warmth, acceptance women suggested changes that would and understanding’ (Cooper & Spencer improve their economic position, the 1978:149). their health and needed power of business and its acolytes Feminists, as well as feeling anger to be changed. They articulated the mobilised against them. […] The political about their encounters with the health problems arising from gender roles, environment of the very early years was, system, objected strongly to the identified domestic violence as a however, a rare moment — one that was entrenched gender order. […] Domestic serious women’s health issue and unusually favourable for the articulation violence, rape and child sexual abuse broke the silence surrounding sexual of radical change proposals. were not discussed openly. […] Sanitary assault. Where they found glaring gaps Part 2 will appear in pads were wrapped in brown paper and in the services available they tried to fill the next edition of QWHN News. hidden under pharmacy counters and them by establishing services them- women’s sexuality was still depicted in selves: health centres, sexual assault This article is a short excerpt only from: Australian obstetrical and gynae- services and refuges for women and Gray Jamieson, Gwendolyn (2012) Reaching for health: cological textbooks from a heterosexual children who had nowhere to go were the Australian women’s health movement and public perspective with women’s natural set up on precarious foundations. They policy. ANU E Press, Canberra. For the full publication, visit:
6 QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 A united call for systemic change on the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act
n event hosted by the Australian 2. Keep the conversation going. Therese Sands of People With Disability A Human Rights Commission (AHRC) 3. Maintain the rage, but do it respect- Australia, agreed on its limitations. and PwC celebrating the 25th fully of every human being. The panel called for an overhaul of anniversary of the Disability Discrim- Special guest speaker, UN Special the DDA in line with the United Nations ination Act (DDA) has reinforced the Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Convention on the Rights of Persons critical need for systemic change in with Disabilities, Ms. Catalina Devandas with Disability (UNCRPD), which came Australia. Aguilar said: into effect 15 years later. Inter- Held in Sydney on 1 March 2018, the “Anti-discrimination legislation, even sectionality was also called out as an event was an opportunity to reflect on with the recognition of reasonable issue given the individualised nature of the successes and challenges of the accommodations, is not enough.” the Act, which forces a complainant to DDA, and discuss its limitations for the choose a particular area of dis- future. Asserting the need for disability to be celebrated as a normal part of crimination. The DDA was Australia’s first piece of Wrapping up the event, Mr McEwin legislation to protect the rights of human diversity, Ms Devandas Aguilar asserted the need for systemic was hopeful about the future. people with disability. It’s been used by Describing Australian society in 25 thousands to fight discrimination in transformation and spoke of a critical “shift” in how organisations globally years’ time, he said: areas including employment, education “It won’t be a news story when a and access to goods and services. should consider disability rights. person with disability goes to school or While the DDA certainly represents a “We’re [people with disability] not gets a university degree, it’ll just be disability rights revolution worth only consumers of goods and services, celebrating, there’s still a lot of work to but we are right holders in all aspects part of the diversity of what we’re experiencing as humankind.” be done to ensure people with disability of life,” she said. can participate on an equal basis with “How do we go from accessing This article by Australian Network on Disability was others. transportation to building inclusive originally published on 6 March 2018 at:
Disability Discrimination Commissioner, Mr Alastair McEwin, addresses the audience.
QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 7 Author Mirjana Wilson Chief Executive Officer Domestic Violence Crisis Service (Australian Capital Territory) 25 August 2015
Men’s violence against women statistics have not changed in 20+ years ... WHY NOT?
en’s violence against women outlining her plan to increase women’s factors, such as the use of alcohol M remains a serious and pervasive equality Federal Sex Discrimination and drugs); issue that affects individuals, families, Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, Trivialise the violence and its impact communities and the social fabric of suggests that ‘progress towards gender (for example, when domestic violence our society as a whole. In Australia, one equality has stalled’. is understood as ‘normal’ relation- in three women over the age of 15 Also, if tabloid and media discourses ship conflict, physical violence is years have experienced physical are to be believed, we have arrived at a seen as trivial and its emotional and assault and over half of all women have ‘post-feminist’ era — a place where psychological impacts are neglected, experienced at least one incident of feminism has reached its goals and women are seen to ‘enjoy’ being physical and/or sexual violence in their where women no longer find its raped, or it is assumed that ‘women lifetime. Intimate partner violence is traditional frameworks of theory useful. can always leave a violent relation- the leading contributor to death, Yet in a supposedly post-feminist era ship if they really want to’); disability and illness in women aged 15 we are faced with a continuing culture Deny or minimise the violence (for to 44 years. Men’s violence against of violence. example, when violence against women is perpetrated most usually by a women is seen as rare, isolated, or woman’s intimate partner and most VIOLENCE-SUPPORTIVE ATTITUDES exaggerated and when women are violence occurs in the home. AND BELIEFS seen as routinely making false claims Women are also subjected to non- A wide range of attitudes and beliefs of rape or domestic violence); partner violence, including violence by a among individuals and in communities Blame the victim (for example, when family member, companion, family has been identified to support violence women are seen to ‘provoke’ or ‘ask’ friend, carer, colleague, acquaintance or against women. They work to justify, for physical or sexual violence by stranger. Men’s violence against women excuse, minimise, or hide physical or their behaviour or dress, or respons- affects women across all sectors of sexual violence against women. ibility for ‘avoiding’ rape is seen as society. It occurs in private and in public: Community attitudes may: women’s alone, or women are seen in homes and in the workplace, in Justify the use of violence (for to ‘say no but mean yes’); schools, clubs and pubs, in prisons, example, when men’s use of violence Hide or obscure the violence (for detention centres and in hospitals. against a female partner is seen as a example, when definitions of violence Men’s violence against women is legitimate expression of their position are narrow and focused only on the widespread, systematic and culturally as head of the household, an ex- perpetration of severe physical vio- entrenched and is recognised as one of tension of rightful male dominance, lence causing injuries, thus hiding the world’s most pervasive human rights or as an appropriate response to app- other forms of physical and sexual violations. arent transgressions by the woman); violence and the social and emot- While the causes of men’s violence Excuse the perpetrator’s use of ional forms of power and control against women are many and complex, violence (for example, when men are which often accompany them, and it is widely agreed that violence is seen as unable to control their violent when definitions focus only on closely linked to gender inequality. And or sexual ‘urges’ or desires, violence violence against women by strangers, that is why we still have the violence is understood as perpetrated by ‘sick’ thus obscuring violence by familiar against women statistics that we do. individuals, it is seen as women’s individuals, in marriages, relation- We have not achieved gender equality. duty to stay in a violent relationship ships and other contexts). Despite many advances, gender to keep the family together, or the There is also a strong relationship inequality remains a serious issue; in violence is attributed to external between attitudes to violence and
8 QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 attitudes towards gender roles and HOW DO WE SPEAK UP AND relations, notably: ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF VIOLENCE If this article has raised Men are more likely than women to AGAINST WOMEN? concerns for you, contact hold violence-supportive attitudes. Central to addressing gender inequality DVConnect (Qld) Individuals (both men and women) is the need to address the structural Statewide who support traditional gender roles dimensions which underpin it. For ex- Domestic Violence Hotline and relationships are more likely to ample, a report by the Women and express violence-supportive attitudes. Gender Equity Knowledge Network to 1800 811 811 24hours/7days Gender is a consistent predictor of the World Health Organisation (WHO) 24hours/7days attitudes that support the use of violence on gender inequity in health argues for against women. A wide range of studies the need to challenge gender stereo- Statewide Sexual Assault Helpline find a gender gap in attitudes. In general, types, tackle gendered exposures and 1800 010 120 men are more likely than women to vulnerabilities, take action to encour- 7.30am to 11.30pm/7 Days agree with myths and beliefs supportive age organisations to consider the of violence against women, perceive a implications of gender in their work, www.dvconnect.org narrower range of behaviours as violent, and work towards gender equality and blame and show less empathy for the support women’s organisations to As is acknowledged by Amnesty victim, minimise the harms associated ensure women have a voice. with physical and sexual assault, and see International Australia, ‘the taboos on Inequality must be addressed at speaking about violence, naming the behaviours constituting violence against every level and in every sphere; in women as less serious, inappropriate, or gendered distribution of victimisation organisations and institutions, in and offending and recognising its prev- damaging. However, it is not sex per se, businesses and workplaces, in edu- alence must be broken at all levels in but gender orientations that shape such cation and in homes, at local, national societies and communities’. Refusing understandings of violence against and international levels. The role of women: government must be to provide to identify men as the primary per- supportive structures, incentives and petrators of violence against women Factors associated with violence- accountability mechanisms, and to contributes to the damaging silence supportive attitudes enshrine and implement laws and that surrounds the issue and inhibits Individual policies that empower women and the conceptualisation and development Childhood exposure to violence- promote women’s human rights. of solutions that address the root supportive cultural norms The language used to talk about causes of the problem. Support for traditional gender roles violence against women is crucial to An unwillingness to name the and relationships understandings of and responses to perpetrators of violence may also Weak support for gender equality the problem. A range of terms are contribute to the growing misconcep- Age and stage of development currently used to describe forms of tion in the community that violence is (boys and young men) interpersonal violence. These terms perpetrated equally by women and men Masculine orientation/sense of change over time and are often highly and that the psychological and entitlement (men) contested, each reflecting a different emotional harms are equal for both Lower levels of education (women) political and theoretical perspective or men and women. For example, a Lower workforce participation perspectives. One of the main points of Victorian study conducted in 2006 (women) contention is that each term includes found that 20 percent of respondents Childhood exposure to violence and excludes different forms of believed that ‘domestic violence’ is (negative impact greater for males) violence, such as violence against committed equally by women and men, an increase from 9 percent in 1995. Organisational children or violence perpetrated by women. The importance of terminology However, these myths are dispelled by Masculine contexts, such as sporting subcultures, college and definition cannot be overstated; the available research, which clearly fraternities and the military there is ‘power … involved in acts of illustrates the gendered nature of the naming’ and terms must be critically violence. Churches and faith-based organisations analysed and sometimes challenged. Community attitudes are a key Currently there is a shift towards the Criminal justice, social service and variable for shaping violence against health system practices use of gender-neutral language to refer women. A review of contemporary to violence that is perpetrated pre- Workplace cultures research shows consistent evidence of dominantly by men against women. For an association between violence- Community example, men’s violence against their supportive beliefs and values, and the Male peer cultures intimate women partners has become perpetration of violent behaviour at Faith-based communities referred to by the gender-neutral term both individual and community levels Culturally specific norms regarding ‘domestic violence’ and, more recently, (Flood and Pease, 2006). gender and sexuality ‘family violence’. Access Economics Attitudes and beliefs about violence Neighbourhood culture estimates that 87 percent of victims of against women influence the behaviour Societal ‘domestic violence’ are women and 98 of individual victims and perpetrators, Pornography percent of perpetrators are men, yet pervade the relationships and com- terms such as ‘domestic’ and ‘family Advertising portraying women in Continued on page 11 highly sexualised ways violence’ remove the gender of the Television, music, film and media perpetrator and the victim from the portrayals of women, violence and analysis. This obscures the gendered Article reproduced by QWHN with permission. gender relations nature of the violence by concealing For all enquiries contact: Campaigns and social movements the power relationships between DOMESTIC VIOLENCE addressing issues associated with women and men that are central to CRISIS SERVICE (ACT) violence and gender relations. explaining and effectively addressing the violence. https://dvcs.org.au
QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 9 ‘Largest health study’ paints rich story of 58,000 the service works because the mental health scores of women who use it improve. But, it’s underutilised. While women over past 20 years 13% of the millennial cohort used the service, an additional 30% reported Author Women’s Health Australia depression or anxiety but didn’t access BAS services3. Longitudinal data reveals trends that he Australian Longitudinal Study on transition, and ageing. Over time, the support predictions about future health T Women’s Health (also known as women’s lifestyles and health needs issues and health service needs. This is Women’s Health Australia) is the changed. So, in 2013, a fourth cohort particularly useful when governments largest, longest-running study of its of 17,000 18–23 year-old millennials are drafting policies or planning and type in the country. The study is a long- joined the study. budgeting for health services. The term investment by the Australian Researchers use longitudinal data to obesity crisis is a case in point. Each Government Department of Health, and investigate how and why problems generation of women in the study is managing it is a phenomenal under- arise, whether issues change over time, taking. Over two decades, a joint team short versus long-term outcomes, and from the University of Queensland and factors influencing these outcomes. ‘ Today’s young women the University of Newcastle have With the Women’s Health Australia have poorer mental and processed over a quarter of a million study, researchers can also compare paper surveys, sent over 2.5 million cohorts to see if issues are specific to a physical health than emails, and captured over 114 million particular life stage or due to gener- 18–23-year-olds did survey responses. ational differences. For example, when 20 years ago’ The study is longitudinal, meaning we compare the four generations we the same women take the survey year see that overall, mental health scores after year. It also takes a very broad improve as women age1. However, heavier than the one before, and view of the factors impacting health today’s young women have poorer gaining weight faster1. If nothing is and wellbeing. Each survey captures a mental and physical health than 18–23 done, a staggering 40% of Australian snapshot in time. The combined data -year-olds did 20 years ago. Their women will be obese by 2035 and the tells a rich story about the complex comparatively high stress levels are healthcare costs related to obesity physical, psychological, social, behav- one of the factors negatively affecting could double1. With many women ioural, and demographic factors that physical health2. overweight or obese before young ad- influence their health and use of Policymakers can use longitudinal ulthood, programs supporting a healthy healthcare services across the course data to see whether policies and weight in children will improve quality of their lives. programs are effective. By linking of life and reduce the burden on our In 1996, when the study began, survey data with the Medicare Benefits healthcare system. 41,000 women (8,500 from Queens- Scheme and the Pharmaceutical The women of the study have left a land) volunteered to share their health Benefits Scheme we can help assess lasting legacy that benefits all journeys. The women (initially aged 18– the uptake and cost of programs. The Australian women. To date, their data 23, 45–50, and 70–75) formed three Better Access Scheme (BAS) was has been used in over 700 research cohorts representing the critical life introduced in 2006 to improve access papers and been cited in a range of stages of young adulthood, the mid-life to mental health care. We can see that policies, clinical guidelines, and health guidelines for the public. For more information about Women’s Health Australia, please visit www.alswh.org.au The research on which this article is based was conducted as part of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health by the University of Queensland and the University of Newcastle. We are grateful to the Australian Government Department of Health for funding and to the women who provided the survey data. References 1. Future health service use and cost: Insights from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health by: Mishra et al. Report prepared for the Australian Government Department of Health, June 2016. 2. PLOS ONE (2015), DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0142088 (young women). 3. Use, access to, and impact of Medicare services for Australian women: Findings from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health by: Byles et al. Prepared for the Australian Government Department of Health, 2017.
Article prepared for QWHN by Women’s Health Australia. For all enquiries contact: WOMEN’S HEALTH AUSTRALIA www.alswh.org.au
10 QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 mouth what’s on? matters Important Events and Conferences with LAURELYN HIGGINS Registered AUSTRALIAN PUBLIC HEALTH CONFERENCE — CAIRNS Dental Hygienist 26–28 SEP The Conference acts as a pathway for public health professionals to connect and share new and innovative ideas that can be applied to local settings and 2018 systems to help create and improve health systems for local communities. FOR FULL INFORMATION visit:
QWHN News ISSUE 2 2018 11 NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week was held nationally from 8–15 July 2018 with the theme, ‘Because of her, we can!’. In announcing celebrates Aboriginal the theme, National NAIDOC Co-Chairs Dr Anne Martin and Mr Ben Mitchell released the following statement and Torres Strait acknowledging the significant contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women (9 November 2017). Islander women Note: This article contains the names of people who have passed away.
kept our culture Jill Milroy, Banduk Marika, Linda Burney strong and en- and Rosalie Kunoth-Monks — to name riched us as the but a few. oldest continuing Their achievements, their voice, their culture on the unwavering passion give us strength planet. and have empowered past generations Aboriginal and and paved the way for generations to AIDOC Week 2018 will celebrate Torres Strait Islander women were come. Because of her, we can! N the invaluable contributions that there at first contact. They were there at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander the Torres Strait Pearlers strike in 1936, © Commonwealth of Australia 2016 (CC BY 4.0) women have made — and continue to the Day of Mourning in 1938, the 1939 Source:
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