The inaugural Dubbo Women’s Festival — International Women’s Day, Friday 8 March 2024, Western Plains Cultural Centre. Free, all day, built around the seasons of a woman’s life.

Who she is

Hi, my name is Luci and I am the full time Women’s Health and Paediatric Physiotherapist at Dubbo Base Hospital. I have been in this position since the start of May this year. I spend most of my day reviewing woman and kids in our out- patient physiotherapy department, which is a referral based system. I also cover any referrals that come through on the maternity, paediatric, and special care nursery wards. I love meeting women at all stages of life, and helping to empower them to take control of their own health and wellbeing.

The panels she sat on

Panel 1 — 10.30am. Pitched to younger women and moderated light-hearted, this one asked a question most new mothers are too polite to ask out loud: what is actually “normal”? Transitioning to motherhood. Early family life. Physical recovery and emotional load, treated as the same conversation rather than separate ones. Childcare ran downstairs so women could actually sit through it.

Panel 2 — 1.00pm. Pitched to women further along, this one took on perimenopause and menopause — physical and mental health through a stage of life that tends to get handled in whispers, and practical ways to manage wellbeing through it and beyond.

Luci was on both — which makes sense, because the physiotherapy questions don’t stop at one life stage. Pelvic floor, recovery, continence, pain that women are routinely told to accept. Her line is that she loves meeting women at all stages of life and helping them take control of their own health, and a panel is simply that done in public, for a room at once.

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The day around the panels

The panels sat inside a free, all-day program built on one idea: make it as easy as possible for a woman to turn up. Free admission. Childcare. A dedicated space for mothers and children. Free lunch on the lawn. Transport for groups who’d otherwise not make it. An early breakfast session so women could come before work.

On the day, women had cervical screening and booked breast screening appointments. They sat in on panels about their own bodies. They took ten minutes in the Moment Lounge. They sang with Cam’s Choir. The festival was delivered by Sharon Quill, Joanne Phillips and Lorna Brennan, with more than forty partner organisations behind it.

The Women’s Festivals →  |  The first believers who backed it →