Women in Rescue in Stawell exercise
VICSES female volunteers took part in rescue-training exercises in Stawell at the weekend as part of a statewide Women in Rescue series.
Women in Rescue provides women with the opportunity to get hands-on with equipment, build rescue skills and have fun in a safe and supportive environment.
VICSES Stawell Unit hosted a Road Crash Rescue workshop, demonstrating correct road-rescue techniques including working on a static, resting car and the stabilisation of a rolled vehicle.
Established by volunteers, for volunteers, the Women in Rescue program started when Sunbury unit recognised a gap in training. Tools and training were often largely directed at male volunteers and had not always taken into consideration different needs of female members.
The Women in Rescue days are designed to help modify training techniques to suit all members with varying strengths and capabilities, as well as build confidence and empower women to showcase their skills in contributing to the safety of communities. The statewide series includes Stawell, Benalla, Lake Eildon, Sunbury, Bangholme, Huntly, Sale and Drysdale.
Female SES volunteers will soon have access to new, custom-made and fit-forpurpose Personal Protective Clothing with funding from AAMI.
Women in Rescue also aims to promote gender inclusion and diversity within VICSES and encourage recruitment and retention of female VICSES volunteers.
About 33 percent of VICSES members are female, and 70 percent of units have a female represented on the unit leadership team, either as the controller or one of the deputies.
VICSES community resilience co-ordinator Clare Mintern of Horsham said tools and training was often unintentionally directed at male volunteers.
“This means the different needs of our female members are not always taken into consideration,” she said.
“Women in Rescue has been a great way to acknowledge this gap and is very popular with our female volunteers.
“When we have our orange on, we all take on a wide variety of roles, including flood or road-crash rescue, operations, and searches for missing people.
“Women in Rescue has been a great way to remind community members that women are part of all of it, and can use some pretty heavy duty tools.”
People considering volunteering with VICSES can find out more online at ses. vic.gov.au/join-us.