The south-west’s new women’s health chief says there has never been a better time to engage in conversation about equality, the prevention of violence and improving women’s health as she takes on the top job.
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Emma Mahony is the chief executive of Women’s Health and Wellbeing Barwon South West and began the role on January 14.
She said equality continued to be be a focus both nationally and internationally with things like the #MeToo movement, US president Donald Trump’s attitude towards women and rising violence against women statistics.
Ms Mahony, who grew up in Warrnambool, has worked in mental and women’s health, community development and in leadership roles. She’s excited to work with local government, service providers, schools and community members. “Because there’s so much discussion about violence against women this is our time to engage in the conversation,” she said.
She said priorities included sexual and reproductive health, the prevention of violence against women and gender equality. “There’s a lot of opportunity to do great work together to focus on equality and respect.
“We have a strong vision for creating improvements in women’s health and we want local women’s voices to be strong in that.
“We want to do the work that prevents (violence against women) from ever happening. We want to do the work that promotes respectful relationships and that links to our work in sexual and reproductive health.
“We have to find women’s voices in our work. We will look at the data and the evidence and know what’s happening at a population level but then we need a strong local connection and to talk to local women more about what’s happening.”
Board chair Gillian Jenkins said Ms Mahony brought great passion to the role and had a strong commitment to social justice. “She has extensive experience in women’s health roles and she’s the perfect fit for our organisation,” Ms Jenkins said.
She said they were currently working on having condom vending machines installed in public toilets across the region, and working with partners about how to prevent violence against women. She said the organisation would also hold an event “to bring women together and honour and include women’s voices”.
She initiated the South West International Women’s Day Art Prize in 2015 which will be launched on March 7.
This year’s theme is Be and entries close February 8. For more information go to womenshealthbsw.org.au
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