Wendy Ellen
Duty of Care

Health maintenance and disease prevention are priorities facing women in the 21 st Century. Not only are we faced with juggling a career and home, but also the issues of a failing health system in Tasmania. On equity grounds alone, women should have adequate access to quality medical services and a choice in the selection of practitioner. There is a renewed preference from women patients for female clinicians, especially in the area of reproductive health. This trend is likely to continue and is a particular problem in rural areas where there is a shortage of female clinicians and sometimes a shortage of women’s health services.

While women are encouraged to have more children with the incentive of the baby bonus, they are also faced with a lack of adequate childcare facilities. Families also face a dilemma when children are sick. Should employers be more sympathetic to this plight and allow leave so that the child can be nursed back to health? Elderly parents who require full-time care, and the lack of adequate vacancies in aged care facilities, are other burdens facing the career woman in society today.