Title

Promoting equality in parenting, supporting them to thrive

Webinar Description

This free webinar will be facilitated by ACM Life Member Professor Linda Sweet and presented by Rachael Dooley and Anita Thomas from Health Ability.

The arrival of a families’ first baby presents a unique opportunity to disrupt gendered expectations, promote equal relationships, build better balance in parenting and ultimately support families to thrive. healthAbility’s Baby Makes 3 is an evidenced-based, education and social change initiative to build gender equality. As a health promotion intervention, Baby Makes 3 shapes long-term attitudes and social norms about parenting by challenging traditional gendered expectations of becoming a parent.

In 2019, a co-design process with six antenatal and maternity services in Victoria developed a whole of setting framework that identified intervention points for implementation of strategies to strengthen gender equality in antenatal and maternity services.

The webinar will provide an opportunity to explore;

Why gender equality is important in antenatal and maternity services
Applying a gender equality lens to antenatal and maternity services
Practical strategies and tools that midwives can incorporate in practice

Presenters

Anita Thomas, Program Manager – Baby Makes 3, healthAbility

Anita is the Program Manager for the Baby Makes 3 Program and has extensive experience and knowledge across Public Health, health promotion, gender equality and the Prevention of Violence Against Women. Anita has led the ongoing development of Baby Makes 3 since 2016. Anita has worked in a wide variety of government and non government organisations including the Cancer Council of Victoria, VicHealth, Department of Health, Community Health and Local government. In addition, Anita has taught health promotion and public health at undergraduate and post graduate levels.

Rachael Dooley, Antenatal Project Manager – Baby Makes 3, healthAbility

Rachael has a Bachelor of Applied Science (Health Promotion), a Bachelor of Nursing and a Masters of Bio-Medical Science (research). Rachael has been working in the prevention field for 16 years having worked in Community Health, Primary Care Partnerships, Not for Profit Organisations and Local Government in roles. Rachael has been working in the area of gender equality and family violence primary prevention since 2016 and leads the antenatal work of BM3.