Australia will soon report to the UN on how it has upheld women's rights over the past decade. We tested that account as it currently stands against the data, the courts and the FOI record. Over the ten years since Australia's last periodic report to the UN on its compliance with the International Covenant on … Continue reading A decade of failure on women, absent from Australia’s draft UN report
Tag: CEDAW
Silence from the top: What Australia’s CSW delegation still hasn’t addressed
Women are the key stakeholders in the issues Australia's CSW delegates represent — yet AAWAA, writing on women's behalf, has received no response to the concerns we raised with those delegates in March. Since then, the pattern we warned about has only deepened, as our latest communication to the CSW, ahead of CSW71, now sets … Continue reading Silence from the top: What Australia’s CSW delegation still hasn’t addressed
A timeline of women’s rights: CEDAW, the 2013 amendments, and the loss of sex‑based protections
The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) (the SDA) was enacted to give effect to Australia’s obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), and to protect women as a sex class from discrimination in public and political life.This timeline tracks changes to the SDA from its foundations in … Continue reading A timeline of women’s rights: CEDAW, the 2013 amendments, and the loss of sex‑based protections
Women affected by AHRC decisions get answers in Adelaide – but key questions remain
In April 2026, the Federal Court found legal error in the Australian Human Rights Commission's approach to the Lesbian Action Group's exemption application and held that the Commission's own guidelines were deficient. In June, the Commission went to Adelaide to talk about human rights. Some of the women most affected by its decisions went too. … Continue reading Women affected by AHRC decisions get answers in Adelaide – but key questions remain
‘We have guidelines’: AHRC tells women to rely on deficient rules for exemptions
At the AHRC's national 'The Answer Is Human Rights' seminar series, women's advocates have now twice put direct governance questions to Commission officers and twice received responses that acknowledge that questions exist — but without answering them. In Sydney on 17 June, the question was specific: the Federal Court, in the Lesbian Action Group vs … Continue reading ‘We have guidelines’: AHRC tells women to rely on deficient rules for exemptions
“Australia not to provide a submission”: Inside DFAT’s management of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
More than a year of FOI requests and appeals has produced a broadly consistent picture of how the Australian Government manages its relationship with the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem. This article draws on decisions and document releases from both DEWR and DFAT to set out the main features … Continue reading “Australia not to provide a submission”: Inside DFAT’s management of the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls
When ‘dismantling stereotypes’ reinforces them: The CEDAW draft’s conceptual problem
'Dismantling gender stereotypes' sounds uncontroversial. But what if the CEDAW Committee’s new draft recommendation risks embedding those stereotypes and making them harder to shift? The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women is finalising General Recommendation No. 41 — a document that will interpret States parties' obligations to eliminate 'gender stereotypes' under … Continue reading When ‘dismantling stereotypes’ reinforces them: The CEDAW draft’s conceptual problem
CEDAW and the Netherlands: How ‘sex work’ language weakens protection
When the CEDAW Committee examined the Netherlands this year for its seventh periodic review, many of us hoped its findings would finally confront the reality that so‑called ‘regulated prostitution’ has not delivered safety or equality for women and girls. And the advance unedited concluding observations from the report do recognise serious harms in the Dutch … Continue reading CEDAW and the Netherlands: How ‘sex work’ language weakens protection
Abolition of surrogacy is within the ALRC’s power: Responding to the terms of reference claim
On 18 December 2025, the Australian Law Reform Commission held a roundtable consultation with seven women's organisations who support the abolition of surrogacy in all its forms. What occurred was not merely a disagreement about policy content. It was a demonstration that fundamental questions about the review's legitimacy remain unaddressed — and that the ALRC … Continue reading Abolition of surrogacy is within the ALRC’s power: Responding to the terms of reference claim
Beyond consultation: CEDAW means more than just ‘asking a few women’
Across Australia, governments are enacting legislation that strips away women's sex-based protections and rights whilst systematically excluding us from the rooms where decisions are made. But the problem runs deeper than flawed consultation processes: even when governments do consult us, consultation alone does not satisfy Australia's obligations under CEDAW (the UN Convention on the Elimination … Continue reading Beyond consultation: CEDAW means more than just ‘asking a few women’
DFAT reinterprets CEDAW, campaigns against UN expert who “doesn’t conform with our views”
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been campaigning against the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, Reem Alsalem, over her interpretation of women's sex-based rights under CEDAW. Remarks by former Ambassador for Gender Equality Stephanie Campbell, contained in a departmental transcript released under FOI (reference LEX 1781, unpublished) reveal … Continue reading DFAT reinterprets CEDAW, campaigns against UN expert who “doesn’t conform with our views”
Time to act: The AHRC’s unused powers could tackle the uncertainty over women’s rights
Forty years after the Sex Discrimination Act was passed, Australia's anti-discrimination laws are facing significant challenges. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (SDA) was enacted to give effect to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), prohibiting discrimination against women and authorising 'special measures' to promote substantive gender equality. Yet in recent years, confusion … Continue reading Time to act: The AHRC’s unused powers could tackle the uncertainty over women’s rights
No reform without women: Still time for WA parliament to reject process on surrogacy Bill
Western Australia’s Assisted Reproductive Technology and Surrogacy Bill 2025 (the Bill) passed through the Legislative Assembly on 16 September and is now before the Legislative Council. What might be framed as progressive healthcare reform is actually a case study in industry capture of legislative process, where those who profit from surrogacy are trying to write … Continue reading No reform without women: Still time for WA parliament to reject process on surrogacy Bill
Democracy in denial: How excluding women’s groups from consultation produces bad law
Across Australia, governments are enacting legislation that profoundly affects women's rights whilst systematically excluding us from meaningful participation in consultation. This not only violates Australia's international obligations but produces legislation that serves commercial and other interests rather than protects women and girls. Recent examples from New South Wales and Western Australia — as well as Queensland — show how exclusion from democratic processes doesn't just breach process requirements: … Continue reading Democracy in denial: How excluding women’s groups from consultation produces bad law
Equality Australia and the Lesbian Action Group: Contesting the meaning of ‘woman’ in women’s spaces
The Tickle v Giggle case has become a defining moment in Australian discrimination law, crystallising fundamental tensions around sex and gender. As an appeal to the Full Court of the Federal Court gets underway, two vastly different ideas have emerged about how women’s spaces should be defined and protected: Equality Australia’s, and the Lesbian Action … Continue reading Equality Australia and the Lesbian Action Group: Contesting the meaning of ‘woman’ in women’s spaces
Australia’s slide backwards on women’s rights: What we told the CSW at the UN
Every year, advocates for women and girls from across the world make their case in communications before the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)—the highest global forum on gender equality. The CSW exists to monitor countries’ performance under treaties like the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women … Continue reading Australia’s slide backwards on women’s rights: What we told the CSW at the UN
Australian feminists unite for UN shadow report: Why women’s voices matter in international human rights
Our coalition of independent feminist organisations has submitted its shadow report to the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of Australia’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR). In doing so, we join other civil society groups in making plain the growing threat to women’s rights and sex-based protections in Australia: a reality that is too … Continue reading Australian feminists unite for UN shadow report: Why women’s voices matter in international human rights
Sex self-ID and the erosion of women’s rights: An Australian coalition’s letter to CEDAW
In February 2024, a coalition of Australian women’s and LGB groups, led by AAWAA, wrote to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to raise urgent concerns about the impact of sex self-identification, or “sex self-ID”, on women’s rights and sex-based protections in Australia. Our coalition comprises teachers, lawyers, nurses, doctors, scientists, … Continue reading Sex self-ID and the erosion of women’s rights: An Australian coalition’s letter to CEDAW
Not too late for AHRC to uphold lesbians’ civil and political rights to opinion and assembly
The Affiliation of Australian Women’s Action Alliances (AAWAA) is surprised and disappointed at the Australian Human Rights Commission’s preliminary view not to grant a temporary exemption to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (SDA) that would allow lesbians to meet on the basis of their sex and their sexual orientation. We are particularly puzzled as the … Continue reading Not too late for AHRC to uphold lesbians’ civil and political rights to opinion and assembly
Senator Wong invited to represent concerns about sexual orientation, women, and children to the UN
The Affiliation of Australian Women's Action Alliances (AAWAA) has written to Senator Penny Wong in relation to several matters that are pertinent to Australia’s relationship with and obligations to the United Nations and that have caused us concern. We have asked Senator Wong to consider these concerns and to work to address them at the UN level. … Continue reading Senator Wong invited to represent concerns about sexual orientation, women, and children to the UN