WCHM Life Members

WCHM announces its First Life Membership Awards

At the Women’s Centre for Health Matter’s 20th birthday Annual General Meeting on 15 September 2011 two inaugural WCHM Life Memberships were presented to recognise outstanding service and support that had been given to the Women’s Centre for Health Matters over its 20 year history.

The inaugural awards were presented to Dorothy Broom and Sue Andrews, two women who have both have given their time, effort, expertise and commitment in a voluntary capacity to WCHM and in doing so have enhanced the reputation of WCHM, as well as contributing significantly to the establishment, operation and the continued future of WCHM. Both have also made significant contributions at the national and ACT level in relation to women’s health policy and practice.

Dorothy Broom

Dorothy has spent 30 years teaching and researching gender and various aspects of the sociology of health and is currently Professor at the National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health at the Australian National University. She is an expert in women’s health and women’s heath centres and published “Damned If We Do: Contradictions in Women’s Health Care”, a political history of Australia’s feminist community health centres in 1991.

And she has been a long-time advocate and supporter of the Women’s Centre for Health Matters.

Following the release of the first National Women’s Health Policy and the allocation of funding to the states and territories, Dorothy took a lead role in the ACT consultations which were held to discuss and prioritise women’s health needs in the ACT and to recommend to the ACT Government that the Women’s Centre for Health Matters be established.

She spoke at the opening of the Centre in 1991 about the “revolutionary” nature of WCHM, as the first feminist health service to be funded by the National Women’s Health Policy.

Dorothy also played a pivotal role in the successful defence of the sex discrimination complaint which was brought against the Centre. She wrote and spoke publicly about the case and was called upon on the Commonwealth’s behalf as an expert witness to give evidence at the hearings.

Despite her busy schedule Dorothy continues to engage with the Centre, and has generously donated her time when she is called upon to speak at significant events including speaking at last year’s AGM and also at the 20th Birthday where she took the opportunity to reflect on the past twenty years and comment on the changes to WCHM.

Sue Andrews

Sue Andrews has made a significant contribution to the Women’s Centre for Health Matters over time. Sue Andrews is a feminist with a passion for women’s health activism and social justice and was instrumental in establishing the Women’s Centre for Health Matters. She helped organise the initial community consultations that led to the establishment of what was to be the Canberra Women’s Health Centre. From 1989 to 1990 she was on the interim management committee for the Centre which was formed to set up the Centre, and was a member of the Centre’s first management committee until 1993. Sue helped to organise the Centre’s inaugural public meeting and the official opening in 1991.

Three months after the opening, when the sex discrimination case was lodged against the Centre and WCHM Staff and members were outraged that the Sex Discrimination Act, which was meant to protect women, was being used against a service for women, Sue was one of many who invested a huge amount of time and energy into fighting the case to secure the future of WCHM and other women’s services.

Sue has remained a supporter of the Centre for many years and has continued to work on issues related to gender and women’s health. In the early 1990s Sue worked for Family Planning Australia, and then as the ACT Women’s Health Adviser until 1998. She was Manager of the Women’s Policy Unit in the Chief Minister’s Department until 2001 and authored a number of instrumental reports for the Government, including a Review of Sexual Assault Services in the ACT. Sue went on to complete her PhD in Women’s Studies at the Australian National University.

More recently Sue worked closely with WCHM staff to sift through the Centre’s archives and write the history for the 20th Birthday, and to support the Centre in reconnecting with old members and staff. She delivered a moving speech at the Birthday celebration and formally launched the WCHM history booklet.