In this episode we speak with Manager & Acting Director of the Northern Health Hospital Foundation Konstantina Halastanis about staying visible in the corporate world as a woman, and the effects divorce can have on a woman's visibility.
The invisible woman project funded by our social enterprise's impact program promotes awareness and actions for women and gender-diverse people. To age with dignity, security, and safety. Find out more on justgoldwomen.net or on our socials @justgoldwomen.
Hosted by Voula Stamatakis
Edited and produced by Carley Bishop
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[00:00:00] Carley Bishop: This is a just gold podcast.
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[00:00:02] Carley Bishop: Captured on the lands of the peoples of the east Eastern Kulin nation. We pay our respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
[00:00:27] Voula Stamatakis: So today we have with us Konstantina Halastanis, who is the manager and Acting Director of the Northern Health Hospital Foundation. Thank you Konstantina for joining us. Me. So we are discussing the issue of the Invisible Woman's Syndrome, which is a global phenomenon. Our question is, and we're trying to explore, are women becoming invisible as their age?
[00:00:52] Konstantina Halastanis: I think they. And I think as time progresses, we are becoming less invisible. I think awareness is helping us a lot. According to a study from an LA site, 70% from the Gransnet survey shows that women are becoming invisible and unfortunately, fortunately. It's a case where there are a lot of factors involved as to why they are becoming invisible.
[00:01:21] Some of those factors are opportunity, confidence employment and self-worth. Once a woman turns 50, it shows pretty much from the age of 52 that this affects 70% of all women
[00:01:39] Voula Stamatakis: what would you consider being the barriers to inclusion
[00:01:43] Konstantina Halastanis: There are a lot of factors that are involved. I think. women have been brought up to play a certain role, and I think if we go by the foundation of what a woman's role is, we have been brought up to a reproduce and carry the main job of being a mother, being maternal, and looking after our role as.
[00:02:15] What studies have found, and as time continues, is that more women are not being mothers and are not reproducing. More women are looking after themselves and what the self-worth is. Identifying what a woman is a matter of understanding your self-worth and who you are, what you believe in, and what your goals are.
[00:02:39] I believe that a woman becoming invisible will become a less issue as time progresses because we are more aware of who we are. We are standing a ground with who we want to be, and we want to lead our daughters, our nieces, our friends, or the next generation into a better world as to what a woman can.
[00:03:07] what she can strive for, who she can be and to have a voice. I think we have been brought up to believe that being a woman was second to male. That is no longer the case. And we see that in the corporate world where if you take a board or if you take management or an organization, they are fighting more and more to have.
[00:03:32] involved. They are fighting more and more to have women have a voice, and I think that's going to be a win-win situation from today onwards.
[00:03:44] Voula Stamatakis: So they say that the five Ds are some of the reasons that women can become invisible? , the five Ds our disability. Divorce. , death of a partner.
[00:03:53] Konstantina Halastanis: Mm-hmm. ,
[00:03:54] Voula Stamatakis: domestic violence and death of dollars. Do you know any example? That can relate to one of these,
[00:04:02] Konstantina Halastanis: I think one of the biggest examples is fear. I really believe that a woman suffers from fear, and I'm going to relate that back to not being comfortable with who she's, that fear meets at an intersection with what one of the points that you've stated, which is divorce at a later age when a female divorces, she is lost. And I think I've seen that in many cases through family, through friends, many women rely on the male.
[00:04:38] because they don't have the time to take control in the marriage. And when I mean by control, I mean whether it's a financial aspect, whether it is an a working environment aspect and so on. So they handball that to the male, to the husband, to their partner. Cause you don't necessarily have to be married.
[00:04:57] You could be in a partnership. Because they haven't got time, whether or not they are looking after their family, whether or not they're looking after their. Whether or not they've gotta work and come home and cater for whoever is that does live there, they just don't have time. So things have to be balanced out and that usually or tends to be financial matters.
[00:05:22] And it is a case where an older woman, and I don't like using the term older, I'll say middle-aged woman. Although we say we become invisible by the age of 50, that can also happen at an earlier age from 40 or 45, depending upon circumstances and your upbringing and cultural aspects. At that stage, once a separation does happen, a woman does feel lost because all of a sudden, if she wasn't working, she needs to find employment.
[00:05:49] If she hasn't studied or if she hasn't got any certificates against. Or she hasn't got a talent, a hobby, or anything that could help her find work, it becomes an issue. This encourages homelessness. It encourages women committing suicide. It encourages women going back into an environment, whether it is living with a child, living with a family member, or living in an environment where they can't.
[00:06:21] anything else but paying rent, necessities and so forth. Very few women do have enough security behind them, but a lot of them don't because it's not something that they foresee in the future.
[00:06:36] Voula Stamatakis: So what would your advice be for women to stay visible,
[00:06:39] Konstantina Halastanis: Number one, understanding you. learn who you. Understanding your strengths. stand your ground. Being visible not only in a work ethic, but being visible upon your peers. Don't stop your social interaction. Don't stop your work ethic. Don't stop because you're 50.
[00:07:03] I'm gonna let myself go because I don't need to put makeup on us anymore. I don't need to dress well anymore. No, you do. You need to make yourself look good, feel good, and people need to see that and made aware that you are there. But more important, don't stop interacting with others. As a female, you need to interact not only with your peers, but with a younger generation. The biggest problem that I find with a younger generation and where the older or middle-aged generation pretty much have an issue with is the younger generation does not give us the time of.
[00:07:45] If we were based in a coffee shop, for example, a young waiter will look at you and call you, hi man. Hi madam. Or just hi. As soon as a younger woman would walk in, his eyes will totally deter to her and say, what can I do for you? So I think it's a matter of being interactive, looking after your health and being aware of your surroundings.
[00:08:14] Voula Stamatakis: Great. Thank you so much. Your imput is invaluable. Thank you for coming. Thank you.
[00:08:19] Carley Bishop: The invisible woman project funded by our social enterprises impact program promotes awareness and actions for women and gender diverse people. To age with dignity, security, and safety. Find out more on justgoldwomen.net or on our socials justgoldwomen