Category: Inequity

Community survey to inform the development of the Second Action Plan under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 – Attorney-General’s Department – Citizen Space

In 2026, the Australian Government is consulting on five new action plans that sit under four national frameworks. This includes the Second Action Plan for the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 (National Strategy), as well as:

-The Second Action Plan for the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032

-The Second Action Plan and Second Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Action Plan for Safe and Supported: The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021–2031

-The First Action Plan for Our Ways – Strong Ways – Our Voices: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Plan to End Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence 2026–2036.

We are designing these action plans to work together. This is crucial, as people affected by violence often deal with many overlapping services at the same time – such as health, justice, housing and community services. They may have experienced multiple forms of abuse or be living with the lasting impacts of past abuse.

As part of this work, the National Office for Child Safety (National Office) within the Attorney-General’s Department wants to better understand your views on preventing and responding to child sexual abuse in Australia. Your input will help us develop a Second Action Plan aimed at keeping children and young people safe from sexual abuse and supporting victims and survivors.

If you are interested in participating in consultations related to family, domestic and sexual violence action plans, please visit engage.dss.gov.au.

We value your responses and recognise that you may have your own lived experience of child sexual abuse. The purpose of this survey is to identify actions governments should take to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse.

Source: Community survey to inform the development of the Second Action Plan under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse 2021-2030 – Attorney-General’s Department – Citizen Space

How to File the Discrimination Lawsuit in your State or Country | Women’s Coalition

Please share this post with anyone interested in filing the lawsuit or spreading the word with MSM, independent, or social media.

First, to be clear, these lawsuits are not an end in and of themselves. Hopefully they will help women who have active cases, but there is no guarantee.

They serve to legally and culturally establish that discrimination is the cause of women losing custody and are meant to be a springboard for demanding the implementation of a new system where judges do not have the power to discriminate.

WHERE TO FILE

In the U.S., the lawsuit must be filed state by state, as child custody is always under state jurisdiction.

In other countries, custody may be under state or federal jurisdiction, so check with an attorney.

Our Coalition has mothers in every state and country who have expressed interest in joining a lawsuit. So we have a base of women from which to file just about anywhere.

WHAT TO DO

If you would like to file in your state/country, you need to find a (preferably) female attorney who will file the Complaint pro bono.

Then have her contact Cindy Dumas (Women’s Coalition’s Executive Director) at cindydumas@womenscoalition.org. We will work together to ensure the lawsuit stays true to purpose.

EQUAL PROTECTION CLAIM

Our lawsuit is exclusively about women’s right to not be discriminated against in child custody cases. This translates legally into the right to “equal protection of the laws”.

Many western countries provide this equal protection right for women in some form.

Source: How to File the Discrimination Lawsuit in your State or Country

Ministers talk equality but stay silent on FGM, forced marriage and Sharia courts – Rebecca Paul

Earlier this year, I took the unusual step of publishing a minority report to the Women and Equalities Committee’s inquiry into discrimination, harassment, and abuse against Muslim women. Minority reports in Parliament are rare, but I felt it was necessary because the Committee’s main report failed to confront some uncomfortable realities about abuse from within the Muslim community itself.

As I was writing my report, I asked myself a simple question: would I accept these practices for my own daughter? Would I accept her being pressured to cover her head as a child, pushed into a marriage without full legal protection, expected to resolve family disputes before a religious body, or left without proper protection from practices such as FGM? If the answer is no, then it must be no for every girl in this country.

We know that Muslim women and girls can and do face abuse from outside their communities and this should be challenged wherever it appears. It is completely unacceptable. But protecting women from external hostility must not become an excuse for ignoring harmful practices happening within some communities and family structures.

Unfortunately, that is exactly what the Government’s response to the Committee’s report has done. The most telling aspect of the Government’s response is not what it says, but what it does not. Ministers found plenty of room for warm words on equality, diversity and inclusion. Yet when presented with my specific recommendations on headscarves in schools, unregistered religious marriages, first-cousin marriage, Sharia councils and FGM, they say nothing.

Britain is rightly proud of being a tolerant country committed to freedom of religion. Our tolerance though cannot mean turning a blind eye when women and girls are being disadvantaged and harmed.

Source: Ministers talk equality but stay silent on FGM, forced marriage and Sharia courts – Rebecca Paul

Female Crash Test Dummies and Car Safety: What the New NHTSA Study Reveals » Safe in the Seat

A female crash test dummy isn’t a “nice to have.” It’s critical for real-world safety.

For decades, vehicle safety testing in the U.S. has been built around one body type: the average adult male. The standard Hybrid III crash test dummy was developed in the late 1970s, and while technology has advanced, the baseline body we design around largely hasn’t.

That matters because real people don’t all have the same anatomy.

Women are consistently injured more often than men in crashes of similar severity. That’s not because women are weaker or more fragile. It’s because our testing tools don’t adequately represent female bodies.

On January 8, 2026, NHTSA released a study showing that women have a significantly higher risk of injury than men across multiple crash types. This isn’t a subtle difference or a data anomaly.

Compared to men in similar crashes, women face:

  • 46% higher injury risk in frontal crashes
  • 55% higher injury risk in rollovers
  • 62% higher risk of lower-extremity injuries
  • 128% higher risk of foot and ankle injuries

Those numbers are staggering. And they’re consistent with earlier research showing women can be up to 73% more likely to be injured and 17% more likely to die in comparable crashes.

This isn’t new information. What’s new is the growing acknowledgment that the problem is systemic.

Source: Female Crash Test Dummies and Car Safety: What the New NHTSA Study Reveals » Safe in the Seat

Federal Budget is a devastating blow for women with disabilities  – Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) (from 12 May 2026)

Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) says tonight’s federal budget is a devastating blow for women, girls and gender-diverse people with disability, with deep NDIS cuts set to leave more women without essential support. 

“Women are already underrepresented on the NDIS, making up just 38% of participants, are exiting the Scheme at greater rates than men, and are twice as likely as women without disability to experience violence – including in disability settings, where they are supposed to be safe. These cuts exacerbate these issues and as a result we will see even more women with disabilities pushed beyond breaking point,” Ms Cusworth said.

Source: Federal Budget is a devastating blow for women with disabilities  – Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA)

Lawyers warn erroneous and costly family court transcripts are impeding justice, prompting calls for change – ABC News (from 28 Nov 2025)

Obtaining court transcripts can cost thousands of dollars for a single day of proceedings, but the documents can contain errors, missing text, and even wrong attribution, frustrating legal practitioners who say the flaws impede justice.

Justice is being obstructed by inaccurate court transcripts — including some where potentially prejudicial comments by judges were missing, according to a slew of legal practitioners interviewed by the ABC. 

The prohibitive cost of obtaining transcripts also meant some appeals were not even being considered, lawyers warned.

There are now calls for change, including the cancellation of a lucrative contract with the foreign company that provides the transcripts, and for the raw audio files to be provided to litigants as a matter of course.

The ABC spoke to nine legal practitioners for this story but four declined to go on the record — some saying they feared that speaking out could lead to reprisals from judges in ongoing or subsequent court cases.

Four practitioners said erroneous transcripts in cases they had worked on affected how their cases progressed.

Some said inappropriate or biased comments from the judge were missing from the transcript, making it impossible to lodge an appeal on those grounds.

If the contents of a transcript are disputed, a request can be made to review it against the audio file, but recordings “are only available in exceptional circumstances”, according to the Federal Circuit and Family Court (FCFC) website.

The court uses a transcription company called VIQ Solutions — a prominent agency that provides services to hundreds of bodies around the world including media outlets, law enforcement, government agencies and insurance companies, according to its website.

VIQ Solutions also provides transcripts for the family court in the United Kingdom, where similar concerns have been raised regarding the quality and accuracy of transcripts.

UK family law barrister Charlotte Proudman said in order for justice to be done, and to address inaccuracies, courts must allow access to audio files of proceedings — not just written transcripts.

The Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) highlighted the call for access to audio files as part of their 2021 report into judicial impartiality.

Legal practitioners told the ABC the process of seeking a review of the transcript against the audio file was too complicated, too costly for litigants, and requests to access the audio files were rarely granted.

VIQ Solutions Australia Pty Ltd is a private subsidiary of VIQ Solutions, which is a public company based in Ontario. The parent company made a gross profit of $US19.2 million in 2024.

A transcript for a single day of family court proceedings can set a parent back anywhere between $3,000 and $5,000 depending on the length of proceedings and deadline for turnaround.

Mr Shoebridge said the optics of a foreign entity making profits from Australian family court proceedings was concerning.

“When you privatise essential public services like transcriptions in courts you create a lot of awkward incentives because obviously if this is a company that has a contract with the courts they don’t want to get the courts offside.”

A spokesperson for the family court said: “All equipment used to record hearings is owned and managed by VIQ Solutions, and no court staff member has access to the equipment, nor do staff members or judicial officers directly edit or alter transcripts”.

Upon further questioning, the spokesperson later clarified that “court staff can correct typographical errors” in transcripts.

However, in documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information (FOI) it was clear transcripts could be edited and altered at the discretion of judicial officers.

The court’s “Transcript Style Guide” states “a presiding judicial officer may direct that scandalous or otherwise objectionable remarks in a proceeding not be recorded in the transcript”.

The document also states that editing can occur to make the transcripts more “readable” including the removal of “matters of no substance to the case” as well as “administrative” matters.

The documents released to the ABC under FOI also revealed that transcripts were sent to the court in an editable word format and that audio files were accessible by judges, registrars, judges associates and “other authorised staff”.

The court can also request VIQ Solutions staff “reproduce a transcript that does not accurately reflect the underlying recording”.

Each month VIQ must provide the court with a quality report detailing any complaints made about the transcription service or audio recordings, the number of errors in transcripts and any instances where a non-authorised person has listened to a recording, according to the Statement of Requirements.

However, a court spokesperson told the ABC they could not provide any data about complaints associated with transcripts.

VIQ Solutions declined to comment.Insider alleges key players in family court case ignored her concerns about possible child abuse

The attorney general’s department said any issues were a matter for the courts.

Source: Lawyers warn erroneous and costly family court transcripts are impeding justice, prompting calls for change – ABC News

Australia’s aged care crisis is coming for every woman | Women’s Agenda

Australia needs a new aged care home to open every three days. We’re not even close. And when the beds run out, daughters will.

This week, Health Minister Mark Butler stood at the National Press Club to announce a landmark NDIS reset. Tucked inside it, almost as an afterthought, was a $3 billion aged care investment and a pledge to support 5,000 extra beds a year. It sounds like action. Here’s the problem: we need 10,000. Every year. For the next twenty years.

We are not building our way out of this. And when the system buckles, as it already is, the weight will fall, as it always does, on women.

Hospitals have people waiting up to 200 days for a residential bed that doesn’t exist. Occupancy across the sector has surged. And we have been talking about the baby boomers arriving as though they are still on their way. The first one turns 80 this year. They’re here.

Most of the people living in aged care are women. Most of the workforce caring for them are women.

When there aren’t enough beds, those women don’t get a break. They become the system. Unpaid female labour, nationalised by default.

Age 58 is the peak age for unpaid caregiving in Australia. It is also the peak of most senior careers. When the collision hits, something has to give. It is rarely the job that absorbs the impact.

Sixty-six percent of working carers reduce their hours. Thirty-eight percent step out of paid work temporarily or permanently. Forty-five percent report missing promotions or career opportunities because of caring responsibilities. These numbers exist right now, before the bed shortage reaches crisis point. Before the baby boomers arrive in volume. Before the system runs out of room entirely.

Source: Australia’s aged care crisis is coming for every woman

A new minister in Victoria will tackle the manosphere. Here’s what they should do | The Conversation

Victoria has its first minister for men and boys. Part of a cabinet reshuffle, the role was given to Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke.

It comes with an explicit dual focus: on one hand, boys’ and men’s own wellbeing, and on the other, the harms boys and men perpetrate.

The role has also been signalled as being a response to the influence of online misogynistic cultures, including the manosphere.

Edbrooke’s new role represents the only formal cabinet-level “minister for men and boys” in Australia.

There have been calls from some men’s health advocates for such a role to be established federally. For example, Dan Repacholi was appointed by the federal government to be Australia’s first Special Envoy for Men’s Health in 2025.

Victoria has previously included a Parliamentary Secretary for Men’s Behaviour Change. The Coalition in New South Wales also announced earlier this year the establishment of a new portfolio dedicated to men’s health ahead of the 2027 state election.

But Victoria is the first government to identify “men and boys” as a distinct policy category, signalling that the influences shaping misogynist attitudes requires focused attention.

Source: A new minister in Victoria will tackle the manosphere. Here’s what they should do

Inside the Gay Tech Mafia | WIRED

All entries on Feminist Legal Clinic’s News Digest Blog are extracts from news articles and other publications, with the source available at the link at the bottom. The content is not originally generated by Feminist Legal Clinic and does not necessarily reflect our views.

No one can say exactly when, or if, gay men started running Silicon Valley.

[W]hen I call up a well-connected hedge fund manager to ask his thoughts about what is sometimes referred to in industry circles as the “gay tech mafia,” he audibly yawns. “Of course,” he says. “This has always been the case.”

And it is absolutely the case now, he adds, when gay men are running influential companies in Silicon Valley and maintain entire social calendars with scarcely a straight man, much less a woman, in sight. “Of course the gay tech mafia exists,” he continues. “This is not some Illuminati conspiracy theory. And you do not have to be gay to join. They like straight guys who sleep with them even more.”

Sure, there were gay men in high places: Peter Thiel, Tim Cook, Sam Altman, Keith Rabois, the list went on. But the idea that they were operating some kind of shadowy cabal seemed born entirely of homophobia.

At an AI conference in Los Angeles, an engineer casually referred to a top AI firm’s offices, more than once, as “twink town.”

One San Francisco investor tells me that he believes the Thiel Fellowship is a training ground for gay industry leaders.

[O]ne afternoon in late November, spend nearly an hour texting one . . . account owner over Signal who agrees to speak to me only if I keep his handle secret.

This person describes the Valley as a place known for “ecstasy, psychedelic fueled gay sex stuff.” Has he experienced any of it himself? No. But he knows people who have—people who are “pretty afraid” and “young af.” He won’t name names, won’t connect me to anyone, but he swears that any negative rumor I’ve heard about gay men in Silicon Valley is true. He suggests a conspiracy so sprawling it rivals QAnon and implicates the entire US government.

Finally, frustrated by his evasiveness, I ask what he thinks will happen if he tells me what he knows. “I truly believe,” he says, “killed.”

The problem with conspiracy theories, even offensive ones, is that they are rarely wholly invented.

Most of the people who speak to me for this story do so on the condition that their names be kept confidential.

In 2022, a popular anonymous tech insider X account, Roon, tweeted that it was “crazy how venture capitalists have reinvented the Roman system of pederasty.”

I’m told to connect with Joel, a gay man who works in tech and who spent a lot of time among the older in-group of powerful gay men in Silicon Valley, more than a decade ago.

When I ask Joel to explain how the gay tech mafia works, he tells me that it’s similar to people who “went to the same college or came from a similar background or a similar town.”

Joel tells me about the parties at the time—the exact specifics of which remain off the record. But they were, in summary, what you might expect.

I tell Joel that I’ve heard from some young men in the tech industry who feel pressured to sleep around to get ahead. Was that true in his experience? “Mmmmm,” he says, and pauses. Then he bursts out laughing. “I mean, in all of this, there are weird gray areas. It can be very sexual. It is not all professional. A lot of people have dated or slept with each other.” He had experienced a kind of coercion firsthand. “I definitely felt pressured to do—not overtly illegal things. But they walked the line.”

The exchange of sex and status may not be the reason these men rose so quickly, but it can be a factor—if only because sex, as he puts it, “makes people become closer rapidly.”

Source: Inside the Gay Tech Mafia | WIRED

‘Some men might not like it’: Why women are choosing prenups | SMH

Jodylee Bartal, an accredited specialist in family law and a principal solicitor at Melbourne firm KHQ Lawyers, says BFAs are growing in popularity among women.

They set out how assets will be split in the event of a relationship breakdown, allowing couples to sidestep a costly and time-consuming court process.

The contracts may be struck at any time before or during a marriage or de facto relationship, or after it sours. Both parties must have independent legal advice before signing.

Wealthy older men seeking to protect their assets from younger new partners were among the first to embrace BFAs, triggering a flurry of litigation in Australia over the validity of agreements forged under pressure.

Financially secure younger women are also more likely to ask a partner to sign an agreement, reflecting “advancements we’ve made as a community in terms of gender equality”.

In 2017, the High Court struck down an agreement between a wealthy Australian property developer and his younger wife on the grounds of unconscionable conduct. The court said he met her on “a website for potential brides” when he was 67 and she was 36.

Sinclair says there has been less litigation involving BFAs in recent years because the courts have provided clear guidance.

His main concern with younger couples is that “you don’t have a crystal ball” and it might be unwise to reduce everything to a contract. Sinclair says it makes more sense to “quarantine” specific assets brought into the relationship rather than trying to cover every future eventuality.

Source: The rise of the prenup: Why more Australian women are protecting their assets from younger partners