Australian Info For Her

Happy Mother’s Day from Information For Her Australia. Today is a day that many will celebrated mothers. Mothers are very special people, they gave birth to a child and we have grown from that moment on.

Today is a day that some of us will get together and share a meal and a gift with their mothers.

Today everyone remembers that if it wasn’t for our mothers we wouldn’t be here. Every child has a mother that gave birth to bring them into a world where they will grow to become men and women. Unfortunately not everyone knows their mother, the mother who gave them life…. 

Today most of us will think about the past, the present and the future…

It’s Mother’s Day…

Toni 

The saying ‘money can’t by you happiness’ has been around for a long time. Sure some people are happy when they have a lot of money, money pays our bills and we use it to buys nice things that we either need or want. But for some women money doesn’t buy them happiness.

Beyondblue based here in Australia, is an organisation that helps people who suffer from depression. A group of 7500 professional people who work in areas such as Law, IT and other top end white collar jobs were surveyed to see how they are coping and it was found that these groups were above the average rate of depression.

Lawyers were found to be the most depressed – at around 16%, accountants and insurance underwriters came in second at 10% while people who worked in IT, engineering or architecture rated above average.

It’s not just men that are affected by depression. Women in these industries are also unhappy, and knowing someone who works in IT and who earns 6 figures because not many people understand that even though you may earn a lot of money, money doesn’t always make you happy.

Her expectations of herself were set very high and they have been for years. She is good at her job and yet she found that shift work was not doing her any good. She didn’t see herself moving on but instead in a situation where she was ready to leave her job because of it. There led to another form of depression. Not being able to find a place of employment that would offer her a position with almost the same amount of income but could offer her a challenge and also take her off shift work.

Her friends were able to socialise and they were happy. They loved going to work and having time off and all the time this young lady had to work long hours and was usually asleep while they were awake and vise versa.

She had lost her ability to lead a normal life and it was eating at her.

If you ever feel you are in that position where you aren’t happy and need some advice or need to talk to someone about it, check out the Beyondblue.org website or grab a contact number from there and call them.

Toni

A landmark study has found that obesity has overtaken smoking as the biggest health issue facing Australian women.

It has been found that as recently as 10 years ago smoking was the major health problem but that has been overtaken with obesity. It certainly appears to have shocked the researchers.

The study consisted of more than 30,000 Australian women across three generations and began in 1996. It has also been found that out of all those women fewer than one in 10 of the younger women ate the recommended serve of 5 or more vegetables per day and fewer than four in ten ate two or more pieces of fruit each day.

The increase in women that were overweight or obese when the study began was 20 percent of those aged 18 – 23 however by the year 2003 that percentage has now increased to 32 percent among women of the same age group.

To the researchers this is very scary. You can read the full news article by Janelle Miles for the Courier Mail.

This study will follow women until 2016 by the University of Newcastle and the University of Queensland and is funded by the Federal Government.

Lifestyle Changes

In Australia, there are many women who are obese and lots of people say it’s easy to lose weight, and I will agree that it’s easy if that information comes from someone who has had to lose a lot of weight. I find it hard to listen to someone who has never had a weight problem stand up in front of every person especially women and say it’s easy to lose…

I’m sure other women will tell you the same…

Read my little piece on lifestyle changes at Informationforher.com.au

Women Protest Against Darfur Rapes

Demonstrations are taking place in over 40 countries to demand an end to rape and sexual violence in Sudan’s Darfur region.

International stateswomen, including former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and former UN high commissioner for human rights Mary Robinson, have published a letter in newspapers worldwide condemning the sexual violence.

The day of action also calls for the immediate deployment of an international peacekeeping force to protect civilians.

The three-year-old war in Darfur has displaced more than 2 million people.

It has been characterised by violence against women, with widespread reports of rape.

A Darfuri doctor, now in Britain seeking asylum, says she saw a group of women being raped in a school by Government security forces.

She says she reported the attack and was then raped herself:

“I was there just on the ground, bleeding, and the same thing happened the next day,” she said.
“Every woman in Darfur has been raped, everyone.
“If you want to find one lady that has not been raped, that has not been caught by the people, you will not find it.”

Sudan’s ambassador to Britain, Omer Siddig, says he is aware of some cases but many may not be true.

“There are some cases of rape, I know that,” he said.

“But this is now a matter of high concern for my Government and as I told you, we take it very seriously with the hands of the judicial system, but it is very easy for asylum seekers to say claims.”

- BBC

From the word go, the hopes of many to vaccinate girls from cervical cancer has certainly been runing high. And finally after conflicting thoughts between the Primeminister John Howard and the Health Minister Tony Abbott there has finally been a decision.

The Federal government has worked out a discounted price with the drug manufacturer which will now allow Gardasil vaccinations to be available for girls in high school, targetting girls aged 12 - 13 years of age in 2007. There is apparently a top up vaccine available and the vaccination is avialable to women up to the age of 26.

If you are vaccinated you will still need to have your regular pap smear.

Tony Abbott mentioned that currently the number of cervical cancer deaths per year is about 270 and they are hoping that this vaccine will overtime help reduce that number.

This announcement earlier than expected certainly is great news for Australian women.

One of Australia’s TV personalities Belinda Emmett has lost her battle with breast cancer. Actor Belinda Emmett was best known for her roles in All Saints and Home and Away. She was only 32.

Belinda Emmett was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 followed by secondary bone cancer in 2001.

It is a sad day when any woman loses their battle with breast cancer.

The Cancer Council of Australia has set up a site for all women Australia who need support. Not all women have the option or the chances to use some drugs that may save their lives however support for women is available if they have contacts.

The Cancer Council of Australia has links to all cancer councils throughout Australia.

Breast Cancer affects many women in Australia and yet a lot of women, who need to have 6 month and continual checkups, fail to do so. This happens for reasons that are possibly only known to the women involved.

But research now shows that women who need to have these follow up examinations don’t have them. Some of these examinations such as blood tests, ultra sounds, mammograms etc may save their lives.

The reasons given include that the cost of these services are too costly or there is a limited access to those tests. Other reasons may include the non compassionate role played by the person providing the service that is required.

Read why women miss breast cancer tests here…

Living with an addiction doesn’t affect just person who is addicted but also their families and friends and others that may suffer because of an addiction. Addiction isn’t a male only issue, it affects many women in Australia….

The list of addictions is quite extensive and ranges from drug, alcohol and nicotine addiction, shopping addiction, gambling and gaming addiction. If you would like to share your addiction story with Information For Her Australia then please email your story by clicking here….

Australian Info for Her is a site providing information for women. Our goal is to provide links to articles, stories and links to various support groups for women.

This site is part of Informationforher.com.au and eventually we aim to set up a forum just for Australian women. The announcement will be made here and on informationforher.com.au once it is ready for you.

Some of the topics we aim to cover include; health issues, support groups, health clinics and centres for women.

All contributors are women…

Enjoy your stay…

Toni

Welcome to Australian Info For Her.

This site is for Australian women - rural women, indigenous women, women in business, women who work from home, sporting women, carers, mature aged women, older women, young women and all women who live in a multicultural society….