@PolicyforWomen

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WOMEN AND MEN EXPERIENCE THE IMPACTS OF POLICY IN DIVERGENT WAYS. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF THIS FACT IS EVIDENT IN SPECIFIC POLICY AREAS SUCH AS CHILDCARE AND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. THE VAST MAJORITY OF POLICIES, HOWEVER, PURPORT TO BE GENDER-NEUTRAL. THERE IS GROWING CONCERN THAT THIS APPROACH DRASTICALLY FAILS WOMEN, CONTRIBUTING TO A FEMINISATION OF POVERTY, NEGATIVE HEALTH AND SAFETY CONSEQUENCES AND AN ACCRUAL OF DISADVANTAGE ACROSS THE LIFESPAN.

 

The Women's Policy Action Tank (the Action Tank) seeks to establish a network of advocates to apply a gender lens to policy formation and evaluation, and to utilise the expertise of the network to influence policy debate, development and implementation.

Thoughtful policy analysis pieces are written by academics, subject matter experts, and women who experience disadvantage from policy.  Additionally, the Action Tank provides free "Good Conversations" for discussing specific policy issues, and runs the annual Women's Policy Forum.  It operates under the umbrella of the Power to Persuade and is coordinated by the Women’s Research, Advocacy and Policy Unit at Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand.


OUR PURPOSE

The objectives of the Action Tank include:

  • To facilitate a coordinated effort in Australia to apply a gender lens to policy formulation and policy effectiveness

  • To highlight areas in which women are disadvantaged by policy – in economic, social and health and wellbeing terms

  • To support the development of better policy through analysis, research and application of specialist expertise

  • To coordinate, encourage and support policy assessment and advocacy across a range of disciplines, not limited to those in relation to which gender issues are typically raised

  • To identify areas of critical intersectionality, in which women may experience compounded disadvantage through multiple policy absences (e.g., women who are in the justice system, women who are homeless, women who are asylum seekers)

  • To identify potential policy solutions to entrenched female disadvantage

  • To equip policy actors with

    • increased understanding of how policy impacts women and men differently

    • increased access to networks with other policy actors

    • increased knowledge about how policies are formulated

CLICK HERE FOR 2016 FORUM PROCEEDINGS

Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum, 16 August 2016, held at the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons, Melbourne

In association with the Power to Persuade Symposium, 15 August 2016

 

 

2019 symposium: The use of evidence through a gender lens

We explored the intersection of policy, evidence and gender in a special panel at the 2019 Power to Persuade Symposium. Our insightful panelists included:

  • Nareen Young, Industry Professor at Jumbunna Institute of Education and Research (UTS)

  • Katherine Curchin, Lecturer in Social Policy (ANU)

  • Leah van Poppel, CEO of Women with Disabilities Australia

  • Laura Vidal, Francine v McNiff PhD Scholar (Monash) and Strategic Projects Manager (Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand)

  • Moderated by Sarah Squire, Head of Women’s Research, Advocacy and Policy Centre (Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand)

 
 

*Banner Image - Photo used with permission by Equality Rights Alliance