(^36) | marieclaire.com.au
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF BELINDA TEH/GO GENTLE FOUNDATION; AAP; GETTY IMAGES.
It’s the It-Brit summer festival
synonymous with models stomping
about in their Hunter gumboots,
but this year’s Glastonbury weekend
sparked more than just a fashion frenzy.
The topic on everyone’s lips: gender
diversity. To be fair, the festival has
made recent gains in featuring female
artists; this year’s line-up comprised
42 per cent women and saw Kylie
Minogue (left), Janet Jackson and
Miley Cyrus bring the masses. But
among the headliners – the artists who
score top billing and top dollar – there
wasn’t a woman to be seen. The last
female solo artists to front Glastonbury
were Adele in 2016 and Beyoncé in
2011, spurring festivalgoers to call for
change. Event organiser Emily Eavis
responded, “I’m ashamed to say that,
within our organisation, there’s men
who book stages, and quite a few are
old men and they don’t understand why
I’m pushing all the time ... it’s time to
nurture female talent. Everyone wants
it, everyone’s hungry for women.”
UK
WOMEN ON TOP
“MY MUM MISSED
OUT ON A PEACEFUL
DEATH BY THREE YEARS
AND 3500 KILOMETRES”
AUSTRALIA
A WALK TO
REMEMBER
twitching, and she smelt bad. People
talk about dying with dignity, and as
a person who’s seen what happens
without dignity, that phrase is very real.
How did the idea for Belinda’s
Brave Walk come about?
I was at home in Western Australia
when I heard they’d passed the bill
for voluntary assisted dying in
Victoria. I remember thinking, I
could walk there! I decided to walk
from Parliament House in Victoria to
Parliament House in Western Australia,
and basically bring the law with me.
What would be the best possible
outcome from your walk?
I hope that I can contribute to getting
the bill for voluntary assisted dying
passed in Western Australia, so that
people don’t have to die like my mum
did. Above all, my goal is to honour my
mum. I’m drawing on the bravery that
she had to stand up and ask for help.
To learn more and take action,
visit belindasbravewalk.org.au
How many steps does it take to change
a law? After witnessing her own mum’s
brutal last days, Belinda Teh embarked
on a 70-day walk from Victoria to
Western Australia to campaign for
voluntary assisted-dying legalisation.
When did your mum become ill?
My mum was suddenly diagnosed
with terminal stage-four breast cancer
in February 2016. She was 63. Our
oncologist sat us down and said:
“Mareia, you’re chock-a-block full
of cancer. You’re going to die in less
than three years, but you could be
gone within 12 months.” She started
high-dose chemo and was very
distressed and in a lot of pain. A
tumour was growing in her spine
and she was losing feeling in her legs.
Did she ever ask for euthanasia?
One morning, the oncologist came in
and said the chemo wasn’t working and
that Mum only had a few weeks to live.
She looked him straight in the eye and
said, “Doctor, can you help me to go
quicker?” My mum was a nurse for 39
years, so she knew what she was asking
for wasn’t legal. And she was a lifelong
Catholic. The doctor’s response was
that he was really sorry, but it wasn’t
a legal option in Western Australia.
Was there a specific moment that
made you want to campaign to
legalise voluntary assisted dying?
It was the last four hours of my mum’s
life, on April 10, 2016. Mum’s skin was
yellow, grey and blue and her eyes
were open but pointing in different
directions. She was rasping for air.
Her mouth was hanging open, she was
sharon
(sharon)
#1