MCWH is one of forty organisations that has signed on to an open letter to the Premier regarding abortion laws. Immigrant and refugee already face significant barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive health services and MCWH welcomes the government’s commitment…
Royal Commission into Family Violence – Day #17
Today is Day #17 of the Royal Commission and the focus is on looking at diversity of experiences, community attitudes and structural impediments surrounding family violence. Of particular interest to MCWH is the examination of family violence and prevention within the…
Submission to the Royal Commission into Family Violence (2015)
Violence against women occurs in all Victorian communities and across all cultures. There are clear differences in the way that violence is enacted across cultures and social contexts, but no one immigrant/refugee community or culture is any more violent than…
Sharing our Strengths: Where to from here for FGM/C prevention?
Last WRAP we lamented that your average, news-loving Australian is unlikely to learn about the complex issues related to ending female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) because, too often, that kind of complexity is pushed out in favour of some good-old heart-pumping,…
2014 CEDAW Shadow Report Consultation
Last week MCWH co-hosted an important discussion focusing on immigrant and refugee women’s rights with Diaspora Action Australia and YWCA Australia. YWCA Australia led the consultation as part of the development of the 2014 United Nations Convention to End All Forms of Discrimination…
Our Voices: Filling the Gaps FGM Spokesperson Project
This week MCWH was honoured to welcome African Women Australia (AWAU) to our Melbourne training room to conduct a component of their national FGM Spokesperson Project. Juliana Nkrumah and Paula Abood worked together with 7 Melbourne-based African women to frame…
A model for FGM/C Community Education in Victoria
The Victorian FGM/C program, the Family and Reproductive Rights Education Program (FARREP), is under review. The aim of the review is to address a range of changes and challenges that have been identified over the 13 years of the program’s…
MWHA Roundtable: Building a national picture of immigrant and refugee women's health
Last week MCWH hosted a two-day roundtable for members of our national multicultural women’s health network, which has been developed as part of the the Multicultural Women’s Health Australia program. The occasion provided a rare opportunity to survey the current…
Australian Human Rights Commission Roundtable in Melbourne on increasing CALD women’s voices
In 2011 the Australian Human Rights Commission hosted a successful study tour undertaken by the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women in Australia. You can read about the some of the outcomes of that tour, including the AHRC Report,…
Position Paper on International Student Access to Pregnancy-Related Care
Through the On Your Own research project we undertook in 2011 with international students in Melbourne, we found that the minimum requirements of the Overseas Student Health Cover (OSHC) Deed pose significant obstacles to female international students who fall pregnant…