ANU Establishes New Institute to Drive Progress in First Nations Gender Equality

A new institute at The Australian National University (ANU) will advance the voices of First Nations women and girls and help improve the policies and structures shaping the lives of First Nations people.

The Wiyi Yani U Thangani First Nations Gender Justice Institute will be chaired by ANU Honorary Professor and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Dr June Oscar AO.

The new institute – a first for Australia – will build on and continue the Wiyi Yani U Thangani (Women’s Voices) Project led by the Australian Human Rights Commission for the last seven years.

The project has engaged with over 2,000 women and girls and shows that First Nations women are key to holding society together, healing, reducing harms and violence, and guaranteeing cohesion and healthy environments for everyone.

The Wiyi Yani U Thangani First Nations Gender Justice Institute at ANU will work alongside First Nations women, girls, gender-diverse people, researchers, practitioners and non-Indigenous collaborators to reform systems and structures, and achieve sustained meaningful change for communities everywhere.

ANU Chancellor Julie Bishop said the University was launching the new institute because “First Nations women and girls have been underrepresented in decision-making spaces for far too long”.

“In the wake of the Voice to Parliament referendum, it is urgent that we listen to First Nations women and work with them to address inequalities, and help design the path towards a better, brighter and more inclusive future,” Ms Bishop said.