Advocacy

The Victorian Medical Women’s Society actively campaigns for Climate Change Awareness. We acknowledge that anthropogenic climate change is an urgent global health and urgent women’s health challenge which occurs mainly due to human-related greenhouse gas emissions which results in global warming which is accelerating and will not stabilise without significant… Read More »Climate Emergency

Financial support The VMWS is aware of the challenge many tertiary students face when they take study leave for parental reasons, for both planned and unplanned circumstances. Many tertiary students in Victoria today are entering graduate studies, and, for many, decisions around bearing children are on their agenda. One of… Read More »Support for parents who are students

Gender discrimination and harassment in the medical workplace have been well documented for many years and continue to be pressing issues for doctors and medical students alike. This takes many forms, ranging from overt assault and sexual bargaining (1) to more insidious manifestations, such as signalling to female medical students… Read More »Gender Discrimination and Harassment in the Medical Workplace

Two patients present to the Emergency Department. Thomas is a 52-year-old man who came in with central, crushing chest pain radiating up his jaw and down his left arm. The episode began 20 minutes ago when he was on a walk with his wife, who promptly called an ambulance. Sienna… Read More »Gender-specific Medicine: The Differences Between Male and Female Patients

The surge in requests for Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery (FGCS) has occurred in the context of broader sociocultural developments that endorse the appearance of the single hairless slit as the standard or ideal genital appearance. Online marketing reclassifies labia minora that extends beyond the margin of the labia majora as… Read More »Female Genital Cosmetic Surgery

The VMWS advocates on an ongoing basis for equitable pay and leadership representation in all medical organisations. In 2018, the VMWS were informed that part-time GP registrars were not reimbursed fully for educational release, where as full-time GP registrars were. This unequal pay was unfair and discriminatory. We contacted the… Read More »Equitable pay and leadership representation in medical organisations

Breastfeeding is a significant part of society, affecting many doctors’ lives, yet it is not always accepted and supported in our workplaces. Breastfeeding is important. The VMWS would like to encourage you to continue breastfeeding while working and studying if that is what you choose to do. The VMWS recognises… Read More »Breastfeeding in public and at work

Research such as the Beyond Blue National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students demonstrates the extremely high incidence and prevalence of mental illness in our profession (1). As a group, doctors are not immune to the risk factors of mental illness experienced by the rest of the population,… Read More »Mental Health in the Medical Profession

Dr Jan Coles is conducting a research project which investigates how GPs recognise child abuse in practice. The research explores how GPs respond to child abuse and the decision making process involved. The GP’s experiences of reporting to child protection services will also be documented. The aim of the study… Read More »GPs and child abuse: recognition, responses and experiences of reporting child abuse