In Australia:
• On average, one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner
• Domestic and family violence is the number one cause of homelessness
• Older women are the fastest growing group to experience homelessness
Despite the high incidence and impact of homelessness and domestic violence we are rarely confronted with the reality of these issues. Your support can help us to make these issues visible and enact change by bringing UNSEEN and The Lost Petition to our Her Voice Festival of Women’s Activism.
UNSEEN is a multimedia project created by Blur Projects and the Women’s Electoral Lobby NSW that shares the hidden experiences of women’s homelessness and housing insecurity. UNSEEN offers women who have, or are experiencing homelessness, an opportunity to engage with artists and advocates to share their stories. The women provide a first-hand insight into the diversity of who finds themselves homeless and why.
The Lost Petition is a powerful and harrowing work 30-metre-long fabric artwork containing the names of women and children who have lost their lives to male violence, from 2008 until present day. The work has been created by Dans Bain and is a platform for the people most affected by domestic abuse, family violence and gendered violence to be heard. The simultaneous intimacy of the work, signing for the dead, and its scale represent the immediacy of the crises and demands that we act to ensure that the petition doesn’t get any longer.
To build on Her Place’s Women’s Homelessness Solutions Forum to continue to elevate the issue of older women’s homelessness in both academic and public circles, and to amplify research and personal experience in order to create change.
To draw attention to the links between domestic violence and women’s homelessness in Australia.
To publicise the fact that older women are the fastest growing homelessness cohort in Australia and build pressure on policy makers to expand the stock of public housing and emergency accommodation.
To increase pressure on the government to better protect women and children from violence and support survivors.
To provide a physical location for family and friends of people on the Lost Petition to visit the work and push to ensure that their loved ones won’t be forgotten or treated as statistics.
To ensure that Her Place continues to meet its mission of spotlighting current events and increasing knowledge of women’s activism across the generations.
To provide an emotive and educational exhibition that engages the public in these pressing issues.
Her Place will connect with partners and participants from our 2022 Her Place Women’s Homelessness Solutions Forum, including Housing for the Aged Action Group and Per Capita, to ensure maximum participation and publicity for this project and its outcomes.
Exhibition and workshop survey forms will be utilised to collect participant data.
Social media will be leveraged to ensure that lessons from the project are shared widely.
Workshops, activities and forums created by Her Place Women’s Museum and Blur Projects will be undertaken to increase public awareness, knowledge and participation in these important issues
Her Place Women’s Museum is a not-for-profit organisation that celebrates the social civic and entrepreneurial achievements of all Australian women and their role in shaping our nation.
Our vision is to create a public space that honours the achievements of women through exhibitions, public programs, education resources and an archive.
Our mission is:
To create a public space to honour Australian women and inspire girls.
Establish a place to feature and celebrate the social, civic and entrepreneurial achievements of women, known and unknown and their role in shaping the landscape of our country.
To create a contemporary and energetic place of discovery and debate, an education resource which constantly revives and showcases the essential contribution of women to this country.
To create an online and on-site collection with changing exhibitions and travelling displays.
Aim to become a proud addition to the cultural attractions of Melbourne and an Australian first for a capital city.
It is what the MCC groups are all about: men being accountable for learning about and responding to inequality and, importantly, supporting women who have been leading the charge for decades. Like many men, I am a newcomer to these issues and am learning as I go.
Also known as Australian Women Donors Network (ABN: 28 141 197 471), Australians Investing in Women is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient (DGR1) under a special listing, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.