The build-up to Cyclone Alfred 4.30pm 7th March, 2025
International Women’s Day 2025
Typical that International Women’s Day for 2025 (in south-east Queensland and northern NSW at least) is being sabotaged by a male called Alfred…well a cyclone called Alfred. We are all duct-taped up here at home – every window nailed and taped shut, a generator was purchased (all of Brisbane can thank me if this cyclone completely fizzles out), we added to Bunnings profits this year by cleaning them out of plastic sheeting, corflute and duct tape and…. still as I write this on the eve of IWD, we are waiting for Alfred to arrive.
Will the duct tape on the inside and the corflute on the outside save the leadlights?
Down at the beaches mind you, they are feeling the full brunt of the impending cyclone – beaches have been ravaged of sand and the tall high rises are shaking with the force of the wind and the cyclone is still hundreds of kilometers off the coast.
(A bonus point – I only just learnt that hurricanes, typhoons and cyclones are all the same things (1) – just named according to which hemisphere you live in. I always have thought: “Aren’t we lucky not to get typhoons or hurricanes like the US?” Learning is a forever thing.)
To add to the learnings here some facts about women:
- Every man owes his life to a woman. (In case you don’t get this statement – men are carried by women via a pregnancy and deliver them through their vagina – giving me work for a lifetime in helping their pelvic floor injuries – or via a surgical incision through their lower abdomen and their uterus. Women are fabulous!)
- Women can die sometimes due to a pregnancy or childbirth and as such need laws to protect them from men (and some women) who do not respect this fact and will sacrifice the life of a woman in order to protect the foetus. (2) While this happens in other countries around the world, I am directly targeting some of the State Governments in the US and of course the new US Regime with their dramatic decrees about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion appointments (DEI) and their cancelling of medical research grants.
- Women as such (mostly) value life more than men (of course not-all-men). The evidence for me to say this is that men start wars, they perpetuate wars and they talk about women and children dying in wars as ‘collateral damage’ – I’m not even googling this to fact-check it – sorry guys – I just feel it in my uterus).
- Historically medical studies have excluded female participants and research data have been collected from males and generalized to females. The gender gap in medical research, alongside overarching misogyny, results in real-life disadvantages for female patients. (3)
Enough of these learnings.
Photo montage
I have limited time as a cyclone is pending and I am going to have (perhaps) my last hot shower and watch my last Netflix show (not really – been madly downloading all day) so to pad this IWD blog out, I am going to post lots of photos of the beautiful women in my life (I have beautiful men in my life but this is about Women for International Women’s Day 2025). As they say a photo saves a thousand words.
The fabulous women I work with who also help women and their pelvic floors (and bladder and bowels etc).
More fabulous pelvic health physios
Actual Literal Saints – Professors Judith Goh and Hannah Krause who travel all around the world to help women with horrible birth injuries and to teach other doctors their craft, creating an incredible legacy
My friends from my old dance class and my lifelong friends Vonny and Annie who I have been friends with for 50 whole years
Some of the beautiful and clever women in my family
What can you do for International Women’s Day?
For International Women’s Day wherever you may be: Thank a woman in your life – your mother for the amazing sacrifices she made to have you; your partner for all that she does for you; your daughters for their support and love; your sister for being a part of your world; your female colleagues for their humour, their groundedness and for being amazing witches; just thank women and love them, nurture them and protect them.
Happy International Day ladies
And good luck to south east Queensland and Northern NSW – may Alfred run out of puff!
References:
(1) https://gpm.nasa.gov/resources/faq/what-difference-between-typhoon-cyclone-and-hurricane#:~:text=Over%20the%20Atlantic%20and%20East,Indian%20Ocean%20and%20near%20Australia.
(2) https://reproductiverights.org/roe-v-wade/
(3) Merone L et al Sex inequalities in Medical Research: A Systematic Scoping Review of the Literature https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8812498/