Thank you for inviting the Qld Women’s Health Network to speak today. I am the southeast regional representative for the network.
I have worked for several decades with women who experience men’s violence and my current role is in a feminist non-government organisation that provides sexual violence support and prevention; the Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre (BRISSC).
QWHN raises public awareness of women’s health issues using a social model of health and feminist analysis, and provide links between women involved in, or interested in, women’s health.
When QWHN talks about ‘health’, we are talking about a social view of health (also referred to by the World Health Organisation as the ‘social determinants of health’ http://www.who.int/social_determinants/en/), and that’s a much bigger picture. The social view of health looks at the many different forces that can affect our health, such as: where we live, access to services, age, sex, culture, ability, violence, transport, employment and housing.
Today, I will talk about the consequences of sexual violence on women’s health and the diversity of women’s lived experiences and responses to often multiple experiences of violence and oppression. My feminist practices inform my work with women and in the community; and enables me to act as resource, advocate and witness to women’s resilience.
I would like to draw upon women’s public outrage and struggle to name rape and sexual harassment; and the tension in our communities and government agencies to enable survivors access to justice, accountability and healing.