“WE still need to fight for women’s rights, older women in homelessness is a big issue everywhere and this is an opportunity for us to be on the front foot,” newly appointed Soroptimist International South Australia president Christine Plunkett said on her plans for the year.
“Let’s face it, women don’t have the same incomes as males, it doesn’t matter how we think it has changed.
“We have reached a point in time where women that started work and didn’t know they should have started a superannuation fund are leaving the workforce and they don’t have money.
“Homelessness is not all about people falling into bad times, it can be right from the start.”
Stepping into the position earlier this year, the current Mount Gambier Soroptimist president is ready to tackle the big issues facing communities across the state with older women in housing crisis the first on her mind.
A member of the local women’s club for the past 17 years, Ms Plunkett has put much time and effort into helping women throughout the region in her role first as treasurer, region delegate, club president and now as state president.
Ready to create change both within the organisation and with women’s issues, the dedicated community member said homelessness has been something she has wanted to focus on for some time now.
“I had already honed in on the fact that homelessness was an issue, but as a club locally we hadn’t done anything about it in my tenure as president,” she said.
“Then last year I attended a Mayoress of Adelaide’s event which drew together the women’s organisations of South Australia.
“Here during a question and answer session one woman stood up and said ‘with all of the collective energy of women in this room, why isn’t someone doing anything about the older women in housing crisis?'”
Quick to act on the issue, Ms Plunkett decided to focus on the issue in the annual general meeting which will be held in Mount Gambier in April with delegates from each of the 10 South Australian Soroptimist clubs in attendance.
“Mount Gambier’s own Soroptimist member Jessica Porter will speak at the AGM as she is currently undertaking a PhD on housing affordability, in particular on how local government policy throughout Australia can influence affordable housing,” she explained.
“Trish Sparks from ac.care will also speak about the issue and where she feels the gaps are.
“It is all about getting awareness of the situation so that at the end of the day we will know what we can do to create change.
“We won’t have strategies and plans but we will have a whole heap of ideas to hone in on.”
Excited by the opportunities ahead of her and a chance to make a difference to the lives of women across the state, Ms Plunkett said she has a new vision for the organisation.
“I believe there needs to be change within the organisation, I have learnt enough about leadership in the past 17 years to understand the time is right,” she said.
“How I am going to go about that is the ticklish issue but I know we need to be bringing in younger women in order for the organisation to succeed.
“It has been a wonderful organisation, but we can’t continue unless those changes are made.
“Young women are the hope of the future.”
