Women of Colour Australia (WoCA) was founded by Brenda Vertudes Gaddi (she/her), a first-generation migrant/settler from Manila, Philippines. Brenda has been building women-focused communities and championing women’s voices for over a decade.
We share community and individual experiences to build a sense of belonging.
We will drive the agenda through lobbying for diversity, equity & inclusion policies, practices, programs, and beliefs that fully account for intersecting and overlapping identities.
We measure how our organisational initiatives increase people’s knowledge, skill, behavior, and ultimately opportunity. We use outcome-based metrics that allow us to drive return on investment.
Championing the opportunities and experiences of Women of Colour is a co-owned agenda – its success is only as good as the support of the allies and existing bodies who will help to champion and actively commit to bridging gaps and collectively work to dismantling inequitable systems and structures.
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We acknowledge the Wallumattagal clan of the Darug nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land upon which Women of Colour Australia is situated. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present. We acknowledge and honour the strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women with whom we stand in solidarity. We acknowledge that as settlers on this stolen Aboriginal land, we are beneficiaries of the dispossession, genocide, and ongoing colonial violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We believe that it is our collective responsibility and moral imperative to help dismantle the systemic barriers and structural inequities oppressing the original inhabitants of this land. We are also painfully aware that this land was taken forcibly, without a Treaty or reparations made. We have taken a practical step towards honouring sovereignty by paying the rent – and we invite you to do so too. This land is and always will be Aboriginal land. Sovereignty was never ceded.
