This week AWAVA heard news of the departure of Penny Williams as Australia’s Global Ambassador for Women and Girls. The position of the Global Ambassador for Women and Girls is responsible for high-level advocacy to promote Australian Government policies and activities regarding gender equality and the social, political and economic empowerment of women and girls. Ms Williams, a passionate gender equality advocate and a great supporter of AWAVA’s work, finished her role on 12 July and will be sorely missed.
Around the nation
- The Royal Commission has announced that it will be releasing ‘Issues Papers‘ on a range of topics that are relevant to its work. Currently released are its first Issues Paper on the Working with Children Check and the second issues Paper Towards Healing
- In this article, Mia Freedman notes that rape cultures and misogyny continue to thrive in popular music (note: *trigger warning*)
- According to Women’s Health East, “Women with disabilities who are victims of sexual assault in the east are going without specific support because their numbers are unknown…police have begun recording the number of assaults specific to women with disabilities but no figures are yet available”
- “A sexual assault expert who consulted the AFL on its Respect & Responsibility policy has lambasted the league for allowing Stephen Milne to resume playing while charged with rape, saying any player on such a charge should be stood down until the case is resolved”
- In this poignant article on the “Dark undercurrents of teenage girls’ selfies“, 11 year old Olympia Nelson urges us that “as feminists we correctly blame patriarchy because boys are securely at the top of the status game”
Around the world
- In this article, the author asks us to remember that “language matters” and that we need to reframe “the conversation around domestic and sexual abuse to stop blaming victims”
- Former U.S. president Jimmy Carter believes “the most pervasive and unaddressed human rights violation” in the world is violence against women and girls, persisting as it does in most countries globally
- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced the appointment of Ms. Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka from South Africa as the new Executive Director of UN Women, the organization leading UN’s work on advancing gender equality and women’s rights
- The New York Times reports that an Afghan Court has reversed convictions in a case involving the torture of a young girl. The decision threatens to “reverse the strides made by women” in Afghanistan
- Dr Meredith Nash argues that “in spite of its (very effective) emotive appeal to female consumers to challenge beauty norms”, Dove’s “real beauty” advertisements do not seek “to create awareness of the fact that body image and rising rates of eating disorders throughout the West are social issues that are intimately linked with the beauty industry”
Publications and Resources
- A new research paper from the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearing House has been released on ‘Reading Statistics: A Guide For Professionals Working With Domestic And Family Violence‘
Get Involved!
- The NSW Government recently released a series of documents relating to the NSW Domestic and family violence framework (reforms) for public consultation. Response is by survey and is due 23 July 2013
- Make a submission on the Abortion Law reform proposed in Tasmania to decriminalise abortion here
- Nominations are now open for the 2013 Anti-Slavery Australia Freedom Awards. The Awards will recognise outstanding work and contributions to initiatives against slavery, slavery-like practices, including forced labour and forced marriage, and human trafficking. More details here
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only