Oasis Magazine - Cairns & Tropical North Queensland Issue 28 - Feb | Mar 2019 | Page 19

In a world filled with 24-hour news
cycles, it’s not unusual to feel a
little overwhelmed with all the bad
news stories. Our newsfeed are
littered with stories of tragedies,
violence, abuse, politicians (often
acting like children!) and so many
people in need. So when a good
news story is brought to your atten-
tion, it’s such a refreshing change.
It gives you a little bit of hope that
everything is going to be okay.
That’s exactly how I felt over three
years ago, when late in 2015, I first
head about the work of Rochelle
Courtenay and her grassroots
movement, Share The Dignity.
And that was the beginning of the
Share The Dignity movement. welcomed, along with sanitary
items such as pads and tampons.
In March 2015, Rochelle took
matters in to her own hands,
collecting sanitary items within her
community and distributing to local
shelters. The personal trainer
even asked her clients to donate a
packet of pads or tampons for
every wine they had! Genius! Most recently, Rochelle has spent
much of her time lobbying in
Canberra, where she has been a
major voice in the “Axe The Tax”
campaign.
The campaign has
demanded tax reform to get GST
removed from sanitary products.
“Tampons are the last things to be
donated, yet they were always the
first things to go in domestic
violence refuges and homeless
shelters," Rochelle says.
Share the Dignity is an Australian
women’s charity bringing dignity to
homeless, at-risk women experi-
encing domestic violence, through
the distribution of sanitary items. A
darker side of the charity includes
funding funerals of those killed as
a result of domestic violence. After the success of the first dona-
tion, where she collected 450
packs, Rochelle's friend from a
domestic violence shelter asked if
she'd do another collection of sani-
tary items. Rochelle was happy to
help and set up a Facebook page to
spread the word, and from there,
things went viral.
Rochelle had her call to arms early
in 2015, when reading an article
published on MammaMia. "I was
shocked to learn that in Australia,
more than 44,000 homeless
women and women in domestic
violence shelters had to face
unthinkable indignities during their
monthly period. For these vulnera-
ble and at risk women, each month
brought a shameful and traumatic
experience. As a result, a simple idea of giving
dignity to women, Share the Dignity
has grown into a national charity. It
has over 3,000 volunteers Australia
wide, and most noteworthy,
provides multiple initiatives aimed
at giving dignity to women.
“We've now collected over 1.5
million packets of pads and
tampons and distributed them to
almost 4000 charities supporting
at-risk women," says Rochelle.
“They were suffering indignities
such as having to clean themselves
in public toilets and use paper
towels or newspaper to create
makeshift sanitary pads.” Here’s a woman who became
aware of a problem and decided to
do something about it. Not only did
she do something about it, she’s
made it easy for other people to get
on board and help. You can donate
money, like any regular charity, but
the point of difference with
not-for-profit group Share the
Dignity is that they also collect
useful items. You can actually give
someone exactly what they need.
Reading this article from the com-
fort of her Brisbane home, with the
knowledge that many Australian
women couldn’t take basic hygiene
for granted during menstruation,
Rochelle knew she couldn’t allow
this to continue. Rochelle’s initial
question was “Why is no one doing
anything?” "I thought no one must
know about this because if they did
there wouldn't be a problem.” Her
viewpoint the turned to “Why don’t I
do something?”
The ‘Its In The Bag” campaign asks
Australians to fill unused handbags
with sanitary and personal care
items. Things such as shampoo
and conditioner, toothbrushes and
toothpaste, soap and deodorant are
Since the introduction of the GST in
2000, it has been a constant
dispute, as sanitary items were
subject to GST, yet shaving prod-
ucts and condoms were not.
Last year, the 18-year battle came
to an end, when the Australian
senate passed changes to the GST
laws which saw the removal of GST
on female sanitary items.
GO GIRL!!
Far too many of our conversations
these days are peppered with
words like “empowering” and
“inspirational”. Call me a sceptic,
but I feel that often, these words
are overused or misdirected.
In the case of Rochelle Courtenay,
however, I have no hesitation in
using
those
adjectives.
She is a powerhouse. She embod-
ies the Oasis spirit. She saw some-
thing she didn’t agree with, and
made steps to raise awareness of
it, and then change it. The world is
a better place with people like
Rochelle in it.
This International Women’s Day,
and everyday, let’s raise a glass to
kickarse women the world over!
Rochelle Courtenay will be in
Cairns on February 12th, as keynote
speaker at the Cairns Business
Women’s Club Annual General
Meeting. Tickets can be purchased
on www.cbwc.org.au
Oasis Magazine is proud to be
hosting “An Oasis of DigniTEA” on
May 25th, supporting this worthwhile
charity. Stay tuned to our social
media for more details.