Moving Forward Together in Aboriginal Women's Health: - Theses ...

Moving Forward TogetherJanet Kellythis had on client expectations and experiences. However, they felt powerlessto prevent to prevent it happening.The right to be heardCritical questions about the Aboriginal women’s right to be heard andinfluence service delivery were raised throughout this research. Although theSouth Australian government policy documents (Government of SouthAustralia 2003b) state a commitment to community consultations, thesecommunity women did not seem to be the community people with whomhealth services were interested in consulting with. In fact, the women were attimes specifically prevented from voicing their opinion or sharing theirknowledge, which placed them at a distinct disadvantage. As discussed byGaventa and Cornwall (2006) the sharing or holding of knowledge is closelylinked to power and the ability act. Those in power (in this case the healthsystem) controlled what was considered to be valid knowledge (health systemrather than community knowledge) and who could be included or excluded indiscussions and decision making through top down decision making processes.This gave those in power (policy makers, funding bodies and managers) theability to force others (Aboriginal community women) to do what they wouldnot normally do through choice (attend selective rather than comprehensivehealth programs). With the reduction in comprehensive primary health careand community development programs, opportunities for the women to beheard, in the context of their lives, decreased.To counter this trend of non-collaboration, co-researchers and I focused oncollaborative and self empowering activities that enabled the women torecognise, construct and share their own knowledge. Together we viewed thecurrent situation as temporary and alterable, with an underlying belief that thewomen had the ability to change their own destiny (at least to some degree) byconsidering choices and options. In a process called dialogical education byFreire (1972), and connected and Midwife teaching by Belenky and colleagues(1973), the women and I explored not only what was, but what could be.Working together we reinforced the women’s right to be heard, and challengedthe status quo by co-writing and co-presenting at well recognised peerreviewed conferences. Such activities became postcolonial transformations205