On September 26 more than 20 organisations, government agencies, the health sector, and universities, joined dozens of community members in Parramatta for our second Gender and Heat Symposium.
The event followed the success of our 2024 Melbourne Symposium that explored how gender and heat intersect. Looking at how heat compounds impacts on women, girls and gender diverse people helps us understand the gaps in systems and structures keep everyone unsafe. The symposium examined the gendered impacts of heat, with a special focus on the Greater Sydney region, followed by practical activities to help everyone in the room explore intersections, challenges and strengths together. These were designed as an opportunity to connect, learn, share lived experiences and voices across communities.
Read on for more on how that went on the day!
Panel Discussion
Designing for healthy, just futures in Sydney – what does it take?
The symposium was kicked off with a panel discussion moderated by Angelica Ojinnaka, community advocate, social and health researcher, and policy practitioner on the physical, emotional and psychological burden of extreme heat for women and girls in Sydney and what it takes to imagine and build just, healthy futures for all.
Angelica was joined by:
- Prof. Adrienne Gordon – Senior neonatologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and a clinical professor at the University of Sydney who took us on a journey on the impacts of heat on pregnancy locally and internationally (informed by her work on the HEaT INFORM pregnancy study). She then invited us to redefine our lens from ‘vulnerable bodies’ to consider whats possible when we build health services, homes and workplaces around the lived reality of extreme heat and heatwaves on pregnant and other bodies.
- Estelle Grech – Churchill Fellow and Policy Manager at the Committee for Sydney who took us through the design principles and the urban-scapes across Sydney keeping people confined in unsafe homes and immediate community spaces by a ‘social leash’.
- Prof. Abby Mellick Lopes – Social design expert and design researcher in the Design Studies program at UTS and Cooling the Commons lead who asked ‘who are we designing for?’ and went on to discuss ‘who holds the power when it comes to designing just futures?’ alongside: ‘whats at stake?’ when designing for diversity and safety for all stays on the backburner.
- Pip Rae – advocate and public communicator who spoke to the gendered impacts of disaster, discussed the pitfalls and what works when communicating for social change when safety from violence is at stake.
Keynote
Dr Rebecca Huntley is one of Australia’s foremost researchers on social trends, the Chair of the Advisory Board of Australian Parents for Climate Action and a member of the Advisory Group for the Climate Solutions Centre at the Australian Museum and the Sydney Environment Institute and is the Director of Research at the agency 89DegreesEast. In her powerful address, Dr. Huntley called for Housing Ministers to stay one week in the homes they regulate before making decisions on building and living standards (we agree!) before going on to brief us on the most recent Sydney Women’s Fund Portrait V research ‘Women of Greater Sydney’ findings related to heat impacts. These show where, why and how stress around heat spikes for women across Sydney now alongside a snapshot as to whats changed since 2021 (Sydney Women’s Fund Portrait IV).
Working together to build solutions
Case studies from across the community
After grounding ourselves in the research on women in a rapidly-heating Sydney, we asked experts from across the community to share case studies of how heat impacts them and their communities. The case studies were catalysts for discussion in the room starting with surfacing impacts and building a shared understanding of what a hot day can look like for women, girls and gender diverse people. These then formed a jumping off point for building on community strengths and strategies for better, healthier outcomes over the coming years.
We heard on the day from:
- Prof. Beth Goldblatt (faculty of law, UTS) exploring the role of the tenancy, discrimination and employment law for working women and their children in Western Sydney in the heat
- Ambly Ornis from Trans Justice Sydney exploring access to cool, safe spaces in an urban sprawl and how hormonal changes and other health impacts related to the experience of gender dysphoria can compound heat stress, experience in adverse personal safety and isolation in the heat.
And explored further case studies together from:
- National Indigenous Disaster Resilience on the critical role of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations for community support and resilience in extreme heat and the impacts on the organisations themselves
- Dr. Sarah Carter from La Trobe University exploring menopause, thermal regulation and the health impacts on women from the home to the workplace
- Catelyn Richards from Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation exploring the personal and structural impacts of extreme heat for frontline hospital workers and their patients
- Sweltering Cities from experiences compiled in Fairfield, Sydney’s hottest suburb, exploring personal and structural impacts of extreme heat for frontline aged care workers and their culturally and linguistically diverse clients and community
From hormonal regulation to public health reform, industrial relations to disaster management, and even the cost of entry at local pools, nothing was left off the table(s) as we workshopped our case studies. The enthusiasm in the room and the bold plans to secure safe, resilient communities now and into the future was impressive. With proposals spanning:
- the boulstering of public investment in to community adaptation through taxation reform.
- Co-designed public housing developments.
- Building trust, diversity, trauma informed and specialised clinical care and heat planning capability within public health infrastructure to tackle the ways that heat impacts all bodies.
- Shady, beautiful, ecologically protective green space design in all communities for free public use.
- Fair work protections for all frontline workers and workers adversely impacted by heat due to common gendered health experiences such as hormonal fluctuations.
- Green, reliable, connected, accessible and responsive public transport for all.
- Social infrastructure (online and in community) purpose built to increase safety, information and protection for all in a dangerous climate.
The proposals on the day amount to clear, community centred calls to action that benefit all, beyond women, girls and gender diverse people. As Estelle Gretch noted in the panel discussion: planning students learn early on in their professional education that ‘designing well for women means designing well for the community’. The panel concluded with the notion that really well planned communities for all starts with designing for people most impacted by the systems, built environments and social infrastructure we live in. While gender is one intersection to examine when it comes to heat impacts on the community – having to look through this lens for the day opened up a world of co-benefits.
This community symposium is not the last opportunity to explore gender justice and heat impacts with Sweltering Cities, we will keep this conversation alive together with our partners and communities living in hot homes and suburbs.
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