National Alliance for Women of Colour Safety at Work (NAWoCS)

Led by the incredible advocacy of Sapphire Parsons, an expert in employment and safety law and leading advocate for an intersectional lens on gendered violence, a coalition of supporting organisations from across community, law, trade unions and gender equity agencies supported a submission to the Federal Government's Expert Panel on Gendered Violence on 31 July 2024.

Organisations that supported this submission include Australian Women's Lawyers, Women's Legal, Australian Gender Equality Council, Working Women's Centre SA Inc, National Association of Women in Construction, CEO’s For Gender Equity, The Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre, Australian Professionals of Colour, Women of Colour Australia, Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Professional Migrant Women.

This submission was subsequently accepted and the Expert Panel's Report broadly adopted our recommendations.

To continue advocating for these important changes, Women of Colour Australia has formed the National Alliance for Women of Colour Safety at Work (NAWoCS) with two interrelated arms: advocacy and research.

Our Goals

Advocate for an intersectional approach to women's safety and equality at work

Advocate for representation of Women of Colour in leadership roles to prevent gendered violence at work and at home

Advocate for Women of Colour's voices to be involved in decision-making, so that they have a say in all decisions that affect them in private and public life.

Here is the link to the full report: Unlocking the Prevention Potential: accelerating action to end domestic, family and sexual violence (pmc.gov.au) and a summary of our recommendations that were adopted below.

One of the key recommendations is safety regulation for gendered violence prevention—recommendation 7, highlighted on pages 17 and 45:

Finally, the Review heard from legal and employee organisations that further work is required to ensure that workplaces are psychologically, as well as physically safe environments for women and, as such, support their financial security by enabling them to maintain employment. The Review recognises that improved social and economic conditions are a structural prevention lever, with access to secure and safe employment a crucial one.
While the new positive duty created under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) is a welcome and very substantial step forward, the Review heard that a further opportunity exists to complement reform in the discrimination sphere with associated improvement in workplace safety frameworks. This is particularly the case given the attention that employers pay to these frameworks and the accountability levers that are available within them. As a result, the Review recommends that states and territories explore opportunities for a model approach to workplace safety laws which centres psychological safety and prevention of gender-based violence.

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We exist to champion Australia’s Women of Colour.

The Origin of the phrase “Women of Color”

"Women of Color is not a biological designation. It is a solidarity definition. A commitment to work in collaboration with other oppressed women of color who have been minoritized. It is a term that has a lot of power." Loretta Ross
Learn more here

Women definition

Women - Transgender and cisgender, all those who experience or have experienced oppression as women, including non-binary and gender non-conforming people and all those who identify as women. Self-definition is at the discretion of the individual.
Definition credit: wire.org.au

ALLY definition

A - always centre the impacted
L - listen and learn from those who live in oppression
L - leverage your privilege
Y - yield the floor
*Mnemonic credit: Kayla Reed Executive Director ACTION St. Louis Follow Kayla Reed on Twitter @iKaylaReed

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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.