Our Institute is the vehicle to carry forward the work of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Project. It moves us from listening to responding.

The Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute, based at the Australian National University is Australia's first Institute dedicated to advancing the rights, knowledges, and leadership of First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse peoples as catalysts for systemic change. The Institute is founded by June Oscar AO, who led the landmark Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women's Voices) project as former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Throughout all stages of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women's Voices) project, women have been clear that this work must be more than a report that sits on the shelf – it must result in lasting change. Women everywhere emphasised the need for a genuine mechanism for the representation of First Nations women that legitimises their diversity and affirms their multiple and vibrant identities, and does not conflate them with those of First Nations men or non-Indigenous women.

Our functions

To support our mission, the Institute carries out the following interconnected functions:

Co-creating gender informed initaitives that are responsive to the multiple and intersecting realities of First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse peopleto improve life outcomes.

Leading First Nations gender justice research with interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners to grow responsive research and evidence that matters to First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse people.

Building evidence for policy and systems change through elevating the voices and knowledges of First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse people to form gender-just policies that target root causes and support systemic drivers of change.

Uniting system actors for dialogue with First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse people and diverse actors, including government, researchers, private sector, civic society groups and individuals to participate in agenda setting and pursue First Nations gender justice.

Setting the principle for how we do these functions, we hold nine ways of working that are informed by ancestral knowledges and cultural practices and protocols. These ways of working have been used and elevated by us throughout Wiyi Yani U Thangani engagements.

Explore our Ways of Working

Our Guiding Purpose

The Institute is grounded by the following guiding purpose, informed by thousands of conversations with First Nations women and girls, and gender-diverse people through the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Project:

The world upholds and responds in reciprocity to the rights and lives of First Nations women and girls in all our diversity. We sing our songs, live and care within Country in cycles of time for the wealth and health of generations to come so our children, forever, thrive and prosper. Living free in self-determination and non-discrimination, we are shaping existences for the benefit of all Nations.
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Our Mission

To reweave the social fabric by elevating the voices, knowledges and lived experiences of First Nations women, girls and gender-diverse people, and build collaborations with all system actors to collectively heal and regenerate caring, peaceful systems and realise First Nations gender justice.

An illustrated map of Australia in soft green against a black background. Purple figures of First Nations women stand at scattered points across the continent, each surrounded by their own small ripple rings but unconnected to one another. an arroww tthen points to The same illustrated map of Australia, now the figures are more numerous and their ripple rings have expanded and merged across the continent, visualising First Nations women connected and working together as peacebuilders across Country.