“I DIDN’T realise it was going to be this week,” Albanvale Residents’ Association (ARA) president and former Brimbank City Councillor Claire Brennan told Star when asked about the International Women’s Day.
Ms Brennan, 69, a mother of six children and nine grandchildren, said the global celebration of women was not so much recognised in her family, but she was happy being a woman.
“I’d rather be a woman than a man – we’ve got more power,” Ms Brennan said, laughing. “Sometimes men look at the technical side of things where women seem to know the grassroots. I think it’s because of all the home duties and bringing up the children.
Ms Brennan said it was challenging being a woman in Brimbank because of the lack of transport and childcare.
Also a member of the Albanvale Playgroup, established 34 years ago by the ARA, Ms Brennan said many women from ethnical backgrounds were left home to raise the children and did not have access to many services to socialise with other women.
“If the women are home bringing up children they don’t get to talk to anybody so you have to have services out there to bring them out,” she said.
When asked if she would receive flowers on International Women’s Day, Ms Brennan said: “We don’t bother with flowers, I get hay fever”.
“My husband even forgets the wedding anniversary, but he’s not a bad bloke, he does the dishes every now and then,” she said.
