By Mikayla van Loon
Celebrating women in emergency management is something the Australasian Women in Emergencies Network (AWENetwork) does every day but having a day dedicated to recognising women everywhere brought their work into the light.
Vice president and co-founder Amanda Lamont hosted an International Women’s Day breakfast in Lilydale on Wednesday 9 March in the hopes of reconnecting with women, and men, in emergency management and volunteer roles.
“With Covid, we’ve noticed a lot of people are staying at home more and it’s getting harder for people to travel, just because they’ve not quite comfortable, and perhaps a bit more introverted,” she said.
“So having an event for women to come together to celebrate International Women’s Day, locally and conveniently, just gives people the opportunity to connect and reconnect with each other face to face.”
Living in the Dandenong Ranges herself and having experienced the damage caused by the June storms, Ms Lamont became even more aware of the role women played in the clean up.
“I am particularly invested and passionate about the role that women play in supporting themselves, their families, their neighbours, their communities, their businesses in a disaster context because the role that they play is in uniforms with lights and sirens but it is so much more than that.
“Women play incredible roles behind the scenes often unrecognised and unspoken about and are not celebrated nearly enough in terms of mums looking after kids, keeping them safe, keeping them well.
“Also, in terms of teachers in schools, librarians, neighbourhood houses, community centres, getting communities together when they are needed after a disaster event to keep them connected and supported.”
Although Ms Lamont and the AWENetwork like to celebrate the work of women all year round, she said with the impact of the last two years, her fellow colleagues and friends were becoming exhausted.
“Those women have done incredible things off their own backs at their own expense in their own time whilst running households and getting kids to school or homeschooling.
“So it’s important to recognise it, particularly on days like International Women’s Day because I want these women to know we see them, we’re walking alongside you, witnessing how hard it is but we’re witnessing the success and the difference that they’re making in people’s lives.”
The network welcomes all women, from those who volunteer in the CFA to those who work in emergency management at councils but it also supports women who live in the community.
By hosting the breakfast, Ms Lamont said those women who feel as though they just do what they think is right in an emergency were connected with emergency people where they could start discussions.
“We know that building connections in peacetime means that we can do a much better job when there is a disaster,” she said.
“So I want to be able to create a space for people to come together and sit around the table and find the connection.”
Ms Lamont said these breakfasts will become a monthly addition to the AWENetwork calendar in the Yarra Ranges to ensure the conversations can continue.
“We’re going to continue to create the space for women to meet and connect on an ongoing basis because guaranteed if something goes down, those women will reach out to each other remembering they met at that breakfast.
“Having this in the Yarra Ranges, to support our local community, and particularly the women is really key to how we build resilience and face the next challenge, which is inevitably coming our way.”
