𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗣𝗥𝗢𝗡𝗜𝗔 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟳𝟬’𝘀?

PRONIA has never stopped looking after the needs of women through the decades. Notably, some early AGWS (today’s PRONIA) initiatives directed towards the needs of women include the establishment of a child care centre and before and after school care programs.

Other services developed with women’s needs at the forefront included the establishment, after extensive lobbying, of a marital guidance counseling position at the agency in 1981. From 1981-86, the agency ran this program to meet the very specific needs of women and families in the Australian-Greek community. This expanded to counseling and resource sharing programs for single parents who, in the Greek community bore the stigma of divorce and separation and supported single parents experiencing loneliness and isolation in the broader community.

Developing women to be empowered and make informed decisions to meet their individual needs has and continues to be a priority for PRONIA. The establishment of the Greek Women’s Learning Centre in the 80s acted as a central learning and development hub that developed resources and provided a safe space to support women, their interests and their needs through socialisation, group work and community education. 50 years on, we continue empowering women through various community projects and take immense pride in celebrating the achievements our early work contributed to establishing the foundation of our service provision in the community today.