Dr. Lynette J. Dumble PhD, MSc

Dr. Lynette J. Dumble PhD, MSc, is a feminist medical and environmental scientist and the founder and international co-ordinator of the Global Sisterhood Network, an alliance of feminists from around the world who are working together to improve women's lives. Her past academic appointments include: senior research fellow at the University of Melbourne's Department of Surgery at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, and Department of History and Philosophy of Science; visiting medical scientist at the University of Oklahoma in Tulsa and University of Illinois in Chicago; and visiting professor of surgery at the University of Texas in Houston. 

She is a member of the Boston-based Global Committee on Women, Population and Environment, and the Amsterdam-based Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights, a past state president of the Australian Federation of University Women and University College at the University of Melbourne, and is active in several movements challenging the assumptions of globalization, biotechnology, and militarism in relation to women's livelihoods, public health and food security.

She has a major interest in women's health, and is the author of "Medical Misogyny" to be released by Zed Books London in March 2004. She has also authored published more than 500 articles in medical, scientific, environmental and political journals and in the print and electronic media, on diverse subjects ranging from transplantation immunobiology, biotechnology, and medical ethics, to the cultural, political, scientific and social discrimination against females from conception to grave.

The Global Sisterhood Network (GSN) founded by Dr Lynette Dumble in 1996:

The Global Sisterhood Network (GSN) monitors electronic and print media for developments in agriculture, economics, employment, environment, health, law, militarism, politics, technology, trade and science which have a direct impact on the realities of women's lives. GSN provides regularly updated information including critical comment and displays of newspaper and journal articles that reinforce patriarchy/misogyny but which have attracted sparse attention and/or comment as the world moves closer and closer to undemocracy.

GSN Website: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~globalsn/ 

Interview with Dr. Lynette J. Dumble

1. Do you see yourself as a leader? What is your vision?
Though in many circles I am regarded as a leader, I don't actually see myself in that light. Rather, I see myself as a synthesizer of the visions put forward by other women, and occasionally by myself, into paradigms which place women at the centre of the larger picture.

2. How did you become interested in the movement of feminism?
By the mid 1980s, after more than a decade as a medical scientist, my penny dropped that women were getting a raw deal, even in my own field of organ transplantation which I had previously, somewhat naively, regarded to be gender neutral.

3. With women identifying themselves with different versions of feminism, some as radical feminists, socialist feminists, ecofeminist and some as marxists feminists, which version do you identify with?
As far as I'm concerned, the margins between the various versions of feminism have become so blurred that I'm no longer certain which groups I am more closely aligned with. The answer is probably radical feminist, but when I observe the narrow views, verging on fundamentalist, aired by some who claim to be radical feminists, I can't say that I'm altogether comfortable with that tag either.

4. Why did you found the Global Sisterhood Network (GSN)?
Back in 1997, or was perhaps 1996, I had come to appreciate the abundance of information emerging electronically, and which, despite its crucial implications for women, received neither prominence nor gender analysis in the mainstream media. Equally, by that time I had come to appreciate the wealth of knowledge, skill, and leadership amongst feminists in developing countries, and saw the advantages of an international movement for women. 

5. As International Co-ordinator of the Global Sisterhood Network, what is involved in monitoring the electronic and print media for developments that reinforce patriarchy/misogyny in various areas including agriculture, economics, employment, environment, health, law, militarism, politics, technology, trade and science? Do you undertake this task by yourself?
In the main, the international co-ordination translates to putting women in touch with other women who have a common struggle, and/or who share opinions, concerns, and strategies. Daily monitoring of the mainstream international media certainly helps to identify women facing mutual hurdles, and to gauge the gender implications of new developments, but in recent years women's opinions can be readily found within electronic journals which encourage, rather than  restrict, the feminist perspective. Those which come readily to mind are ZNet, SpectreZine, and Counter Punch, although it's not that these journals are specifically gender-focused. Rather, within these online journals for social change there is considerably more freedom than with the mainstream press to express gender politics.


6. What have been some of the high and low lights in your career as a Scientist and how do you regard the treatment of women in your profession?
Quite definitely my medical career highlight came via a Fellowship awarded by the  Royal Society in the late 1980s which enabled me to work alongside Dr. Mary [Molly] McGeown in Belfast Northern Ireland. Molly's success rates in kidney transplantation were literally streets ahead of any other unit anywhere in the world [90 per cent 5 year transplant survival, and almost 100 per cent 5 year patient survival]. If I think back a bit further, another highlight was the Warner Lambert Award in 1974, not because I was the first Australian to receive the award, but rather because I overslept on the morning of the presentation at an international conference in Paris, and the award was subsequently presented to me later that week at a very posh dinner by the late Jacques Costeau.
As for lowlights, in the main the incremental loss of intellectual freedom within academic institutions. As far as individual incidents, I was appalled when a student of a senior colleague threatened to kill me back in 1996, and the colleague could not have cared less. One year later, I was more appalled when the same colleague, by then eager to get rid of the same student, had the audacity to ask me for my written report of the incident.

7. What do you see as being the main issue in the area of women's health and are you satisfied with its management?
Difficult to say what is the main issue. In countries where life expectancy exceeds 80 years, women live some 40 years, half a lifetime, in what the medical fraternity describe as post-menopausal. Decision-making processes throughout women's lives therefore play a huge role in shaping their physical and psychological well being in the second half of their lives. Rather than being satisfied with menopause management, I'm extremely dissatisfied. Aside from the fact that numerous studies over the years have demonstrated that the medical gospel for menopause, HRT or  hormone replacement therapy, increases women's risk of breast cancer, and heightens rather than eliminating women's risk of heart disease, the holistic approach of balanced diet, regular exercise, clean air, and relaxation over an entire life span remains largely neglected.
In developing countries, where life expectancy is less than 60 [in Afghanistan for example 45 years], women's major health concerns fall under the umbrella of staying alive. Foremost in their minds are food and water security. In the absence of unpolluted drinking water, a reality still faced by 1.5 billion of today's 6 billion-odd world population, women and their children have a heightened susceptibility to a number of illnesses, in the main tropical infections, but also including tuberculosis. To give you an idea, more than one million children die each year from gastric infections simply because they are born in a region lacking access to clean drinking water. In the absence of the efficient and equitable distribution of food, and in instances of drought and pest-related crop failures, malnourishment also increases women and children's mortality and morbidity from a consortium of illnesses which we would consider to be entirely preventable.
Reproductive health is also a major concern for women in developing regions, with the range of widely available/affordable contraceptives being of the provider dependent, long-acting variety [depo-Provera, Norplant, etc.]. For poor women, the situation is still worse, with tens of thousands regularly castrated in State clinics to meet the demands imposed by the World Bank. At the same time, pregnancy is a diabolical health hazard for women in developing countries. In Pakistan alone, there are 20,000 maternal deaths every year as a direct result inadequate nourishment, and the lack of transportation, specialised surgical instruments, and medicines for pregnancy-related complications. So in answer to your question of whether I am satisfied with the management of women's health in developing countries: Certainly not. It amounts to institutionalised violence against women.

8. In relation to human rights what do you regard as being some of the main violations on a global scale? Do you feel that the United Nations and the Commonwealth are doing enough to eradicate such violations and prosecute the perpetrators?

On a global scale, there are massive violations of the human rights to food, water and health care, together with transgressed rights to education, migration, religious and political expression, and freedom from fear. Pessimistically, although I hold the United Nations Human Rights Commission in the highest esteem, the UN as a whole, and Commonwealth, amount to toothless tigers in a world which is now the oyster of Bush Jnr's Administration, his coalition of the willing, and their transnational corporate cronies.

9. What personal costs do you bear in advocating for women's rights and what coping strategies do you use to maintain your self of well-being and hope?
In 2003, despite extensive efforts to mainstream gender, feminist perspectives are not highly regarded in our corridors of influence. As a result, the personal cost is a loss of institutional credibility.
How do I maintain my sense of well-being and hope? Fortunately, I have a thick skin. The roads towards social change, and gender and environmental justice, may be littered with disappointments, but I'm regularly inspired by the strength of my feminist friends in every corner of the globe.

10. What are your views with respect to Australia's treatment of Refugees and Australia's involvement in the war with Iraq?
In brief, with respect to both our treatment of asylum seekers, and our military invasions of both Afghanistan and Iraq, I hang my head in shame.

11. What qualities do you feel women need to develop if they are interested in becoming leaders in the workplace or community?
Each environment demands different qualities, but integrity, courage, pride, stamina, together with a reasonably 'thick skin', are essential to all.

Sample Articles by Dr Lynette Dumble

The Moscow Massacre: Terrorism The Major Winner, Humanity The Big Loser

In the Name of Freedom, Afghan Women Bear the Face of Genocide

Feminist Foes of Dishonorable Brotherhoods

The Australian Government's war against asylum seekers: The Tampa Affair