Page 710 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 20 March 2018
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All ACT government directorates, and indeed the wider community, share the responsibility for working to achieve gender equality. The 10-year plan is being implemented through three-year action plans. I am happy to provide you with an update on some of the outcomes achieved in the first year.
Since the release of the first action plan, 2017 to 2019, two gender equity events have been hosted to engage with women, community organisations and government representatives. The first, “A case for change”, was held on 30 October 2017 and was co-hosted by the YWCA Canberra. This forum brought together 52 leaders from government, the women’s sector and business to identify barriers and opportunities to advance the culture of respect and equal opportunity. A second forum, “Sharing stories of success”, was held recently, co-hosted by the Ministerial Advisory Council on Women.
Across government there is significant work being delivered that is changing the lives of women in the ACT. In the health space, the ACT government funds Post and Ante Natal Depression Support and Information Inc, well known in the community as PANDSI. This wonderful organisation provides support, education, information and referral services for families in Canberra experiencing prenatal depression or anxiety. As part of the 2017-18 budget, additional funding was provided in the form of a pledge to support the annual PANDSI cake-off event by matching money raised dollar for dollar up to a maximum of 25,000 per annum.
In order to better support the health needs of women from a range of cultural backgrounds, ACT Health has completed 12 community cultural profiles. The profiles will assist healthcare workers to better understand and appreciate possible cultural impacts on health in culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
In the sporting sector the government has established an important partnership with HerCanberra to deliver a HerCanberra active web portal. Launched in October 2017, the portal connects a large network of Canberra women and girls, with articles related to sport and physical activity, event information and a directory of active opportunities. Work is also underway to develop female-friendly infrastructure guidelines to support the development of new and the modification of existing facilities to better support the needs of female participants. The ideas leading to these new initiatives were developed from conversations that I had with girls and young women from Canberra schools in recent years.
A gender equity and education advisory group has been established, with representation from all education sectors, and further research will be undertaken to look at the extent to which gender perception in schools impacts the wellbeing of female students. The ANU has been engaged to undertake research into the current and emerging mental health issues for women and girls in the ACT. In consultation with the Office for Mental Health and ACT peak bodies, the design proposal is complete, with project work to begin shortly. This year the government has further promoted the use of women’s safety audits at events run by the ACT government, and we will continue to expand the reach of these orders to ensure that private events are also further considering the safety of women and vulnerable Canberrans.
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