Report April – June 2023

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King’s Birthday Honours

A/Prof Magdalena Simonis AM: – appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for significant service to medicine through a range of roles, and to women’s health – COVID-19 Champion’s list

Dr Elizabeth Rickman AM: – for her service to medicine through women’s health and to the community.

It’s been another busy quarter for AFMW:

  1. President M Simonis has had meetings with Assistant Minister for Health Australia Ged Kearney
  2. AFWM has established a partnership with Australian Women in Health Leadership (AWHL) Monash University and will be commencing workshops to empower medical women into leadership. https://www.womeninhealthleadership.org
  3. April 19 2023: AFMW Submission to National Strategy for Gender Equality Australia https://afmw.org.au/consultation-on-the-national-strategy-to-achieve-gender-equality/
  4. A/Professor Magdalena Simonis AM presented at the MWIA Southern Europe Regional Congress ‘Post pandemic era: what direction for health policies?’ on 21st April 2023.
  5. Circle of Kindness sessions are hosted regularly and we invite our sisters from MWIA to attend
  6. A/Prof M Simonis AM, Dr Kate Duncan AM, Dr M Cross OAM and Dr M Dorrington represented AFMW on the Senate Community Affairs References Committee – Inquiry into Universal Access to Reproductive Healthcare in Australia hearing on 28th April.
  7. A/Prof M Simonis AM joined Doctors for the Environment Australia and RACGP and ACEM at a meeting with minister for environment to support the switch from gas to renewable electricity urgently to protect their health. Our friends and colleagues from Healthy Futures and Doctors for the Environment organised this meeting
  8. Herstory interview: Dr Anne Myers aged 97, whom I had the privilege of interviewing. She described how women died of septic abortions. Mother of 4. We stand on the shoulders of such women 🙏

Events:

A/Prof M Simonis AM will be keynote speaker at the Global Women’s Peace Network (GWPN) and will speak on “Leadership, resilience and holding up the ladder for others https://afmw.org.au/event/global-womens-peace-network-assembly-a-forum-for-transformative-leadership-2023-theme-leadership-resilience/