Tell us your discrimination stories
Why are we asking for your help? The Commonwealth Government is
currently reviewing all its anti-discrimination laws in what is called
the “Consolidation Project”. As the name implies, there is a proposal
to combine the current four existing Commonwealth laws into one law.
One of the key issues for women with disabilities will be how a future
anti-discrimination law deals with the fact that we are women and we
have a disability. This is technically called “intersectional
discrimination”. You can look up http://www.ema.gov.au/www/agd/agd.nsf/Page/Humanrightsandanti-discrimination_AustraliasHumanRightsFramework_ConsolidationofCommonwealthAnti-DiscriminationLaws if you want more information about the Consolidation Project.
What is intersectional discrimination? Without getting too technical,
intersectional discrimination acknowledges that discrimination can be
experienced as a combination of many factors rather than one factor at a
time. As each woman's experience of life is different, a woman may
simultaneously experience discrimination in one or more aspects of her
life including – for example - gender, race, class, ethnicity, sexual
orientation, ability, age, language, and religious beliefs.
Intersectional discrimination is more than the sum of its parts. It is a
compounded phenomenon which is distinct from discrimination based on a
single factor. The CEDAW Committee has recognised the importance of
intersectional discrimination. You can look up the CEDAW recommendation
at
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/recommendations/General%20recommendation%2025%20(English).pdf if you’re interested.
When can you send us your story? You can send in your story any time
before 15 January 2012. You can send your story in any form you like.
It can be any length you like – although shorter stories will be easier
for me to use. You can request to remain anonymous. You can request to
be identified. The contact person for this project is Emilia Della
Torre. Emilia’s contact details are t: 6290-2166; f: 6286- 4742; e: e.dellatorre@wchm.org.au