Articles

By Ludo McFerran, National Project Manager, Centre for Gender Related Violence Studies at the University of New South Wales Domestic and family violence which affects one third of Australians  at some time in their life, has been high on the federal government’s agenda since the 1970s and has generally received bipartisan political support- the core difference

By Debbie Kilroy, CEO, Sisters Inside, Brisbane Women continue to be imprisoned at an alarming rate. Over the past 10 years, the number of women prisoners in Australia has increased by 48% (compared with a 29% increase amongst men)[1]. Increases occurred in all states and territories except the ACT: of particular concern was a massive

By Eve Bodsworth, Research and Policy Manager, Brotherhood of St Lawrence While Australia has experienced a decade of economic growth, the divide between included and excluded is growing. While it is recognised that gender equality and the inclusion of women facing disadvantage can promote economic  growth – for the converse to be true, for economic

By Terese Edwards, CEO, National Council of Single Mothers & their Children From time to time Australia will put a spotlight on poverty and its impact. The issue gained a level of notoriety in the late 1980`s when the then Prime Minister Bob Hawk made child poverty a national concern. The action and response that

By Violet Roumeliotis, CEO of Settlement Services International The forced migration of people fleeing persecution is one of the major challenges in the world today. Australia has contributed to addressing this challenge by accepting more than 700,000 refugees for resettlement (Hugo, Njuki & Vas Dev, 2012) over the past 60 years. There is compelling longitudinal evidence

By Kelly Hinton, Executive Director, Project Respect Violence against women (VAW) is publicly condemned in our community, largely due to the incredible perseverance and hard work of women and collectives all over Australia, over the last 4 decades (and beyond). We have both Federal and State Action Plans to Reduce or Eliminate or Address Violence

By Janelle Brown, Aboriginal Community Engagement Being a community based Aboriginal woman (and worker) can be a difficult experience. I see a lot of pain and hardship around me and more often than not, there is nothing I can do to change it. But I will not give up. I love my community and I

By Libby Davies, CEO, White Ribbon Australia One of the most insidious issues in our society that disadvantages women is men’s violence against women (VAW). Statistics reveal that one in three Australian women report having experienced physical or sexual violence since the age of fifteen and at least one woman is killed every week by

The Work and Family Roundtable is made up of researchers with expertise on work and family policy. Its goal is to propose, comment upon, collect and disseminate research to inform good evidence-based public policy in Australia.  The Roundtable is a network of 30 academics from 18 universities and research institutions with expertise on work, care and

By Kerriann Dear, Director of the Queensland Working Women’s Service Inc. (QWWS)  For almost 30 years sexual harassment has been unlawful in Australian workplaces, yet while it is considered pervasive, [1] there is little research about the specific types and patterns of behaviour that constitute this phenomena and scarce information about the efficacy of prevention

Executive Summary  Our landmark survey of gender diversity in the leadership of the community sector is both a good news and a bad news story.In a sector where women comprise up to 85% of the workforce, women make up 51.4% of the board directors among organisations who responded to the survey. This compares favourably against

The proportion of women sitting on corporate boards and executive committees in Asian companies is strikingly low compared with Europe and the United States, even though women remain under-represented in those regions too. Despite the business case for recruiting and developing  more women, 70 percent of the executives we surveyed in Asia said greater gender diversity was not a

Women are still facing barriers to leadership positions in the government and private sector across the Asia/Pacific region, according to MasterCard’s latest Index of Women’s Advancement. See the infographic reflecting the Asia/Pacific data. The MasterCard Worldwide Index of Women’s Advancement measures the socioeconomic standing of women across Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Index is comprised of

This article is a Summary of Proceedings from the Regional Expert Meeting in Seoul, 4-5 December 2012.

By Dr Cathy Kezelman, President Adults Surviving Child Abuse The long-term effects of trauma experienced in childhood are a public health challenge of major proportions. Yet, despite its prevalence and impacts, such trauma often goes unacknowledged, unrecognised and unaddressed. Those affected often fail to receive the help and support they need and experience compounded disadvantage as

In the lead up to International Women’s Day, Dr Diann Rodgers-Healey, Director of the Australian Centre for Leadership for Women, reflects on just how much the gender agenda has evolved and whether we’re taking the necessary steps towards gender equality. It is apt that the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day (IWD) is The