"In December 2017, I launched the multiyear Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) project. The occasion was marked, and the project officially given life, through the dance of a group of First Nations girls and young women from Redfern.
The young dancers reignited our powerful matriarchal lineage within their movements, across their painted skin,and in the confidence and excitement they showed in expressing our culture. They reminded us that it is our young ones who are the next holders of our knowledges, and that when they are invested in, they can dance and sing a vibrant and healthy future into being. We all carry the visions of our ancestors and the dreams of our children. We all have a responsibility to act today and make real a healthier, more just, inclusive and equitable nation.
This group of young dancers continues to represent, for me, the purpose of Wiyi Yani U Thangani—to elevate the voices, strengths and knowledges of First Nations women and girls, knowing that we hold the solutions to drive transformative positive change.
The landmark Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices): Securing Our Rights, Securing Our Future Report (the Report), released in December 2020, documents this truth. It conclusively shows how—despite our women’s absences from the arenas of decision-making due to ongoing structural marginalisation and discrimination—they are present across all of life. Capturing over 2,000 women and girls’ voices from right across Australia, the Report brings a well overdue First Nations gender-lens to issues from housing to education and economic participation. It describes how First Nations women carry knowledge about sustaining existence, are doing the backbone work of society—caring for children, family and Country—and are at the forefront of driving economic and social change.
The Report with its blueprint for structural change comes right when it is needed. Australia and many nations are reckoning with systemic racism and sexism and the far-ranging gender inequalities that perpetuate harm against women and children. This is abuse that First Nations women and girls have been the most impacted by for centuries. There is growing recognition that First Nations women and girls hold the solutions to overcome this abuse, and advance societal health and wellbeing. Momentum is building as people add their voices and take action inpursing First Nations gender justice and equality in Australia, for the benefit of everyone."
The report is 5 parts sharing stories across all areas of First Nations women and girls' lives:
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