What stories do we need now to advance gender equality and justice?
Misogyny and digital disinformation are rising globally, fuelling harmful beliefs and undermining the rights of women, girls and gender-diverse people. The UN has found media narratives contribute to ending or propagating gendered violence, dismantling or perpetuating stereotypes and advancing or inhibiting rights.
Documentary has a unique power to platform lived experience and rewrite deeply-held narratives. Documentary Australia’s Women’s Voices initiative elevates stories from women, girls and gender-diverse people that can shift narratives and drive progress for gender equality and justice.
In 2026, our events with Sydney Opera House, Shark Island Institute and others celebrate trailblazing documentaries by and about women and deepen dialogue on gender equality. In 2027, we will support the next generation of films with potential to shift the beliefs, attitudes and systems sustaining inequality – providing grants, workshops and expert support on narrative and messaging strategies to influence audiences.
Our goals:
• Uplift the lived experience of diverse women, girls and gender-diverse people to shift mindsets and reframe the conversation;
• Strengthen messaging strategies to drive audience engagement and influence beliefs;
• Support the use of documentary to amplify, adopt and strengthen new narratives;
• Increase support for female and gender-diverse directors.
Our vision is to elevate stories from women, girls and gender-diverse people that shift narratives and drive progress for gender equality and justice.
Expected outcomes include:
•Increased representation and visibility of the lived experiences and perspectives of diverse women, girls and gender-diverse people;
•Shifts in understanding, mindsets, attitudes, beliefs and/or engagement with issues relating to gender equality;
•Deepened dialogue about gender equality, justice, systemic change and solutions;
•Increased cross-sector collaboration on storytelling for systems change;
•Increased support for female and gender-diverse filmmakers.
Documentary Australia has a rigorous approach to evaluation and learning. We will conduct research and expert consultations to map the narrative landscape, create a baseline and identify priority challenges and opportunities.
In the short term, we will assess the effectiveness of our program activities to ensure that we are successfully building capability and supporting documentaries by and about women, girls and gender-diverse people through participant surveys and interviews.
Our approach to measuring longer term documentary outcomes and narrative change will be informed by the ORS Measuring Narrative Change framework. This includes measuring reach, people’s attitudes, beliefs and mindsets, behaviour change, media and cultural discourse, organisational capacity, policies and institutions practices and power.
Throughout the project, we will continue to share reflections, insights and lessons to support broader efforts to drive the narrative changes required to progress gender equality and justice.
Documentary Australia is a unique not-for-profit that supports powerful stories for social change. Since 2008, we have supported thousands of filmmakers to tell important stories through documentary across seven key areas: Women & Girls, Youth & Education, Indigenous, Human Rights & Social Justice, Health & Wellbeing, Environment, and The Arts.
By offering a tax deduction to donors to support films, Documentary Australia enables social impact documentaries to be made and seen. To date, we have facilitated over $58 million in philanthropic funding to documentary.
Through our programs and professional development initiatives, we support film teams and partners to place documentaries at the heart of impact campaigns and engage audiences to act for positive social change.
We continue to advocate for the documentary sector on issues relating to the recognition and support of documentary filmmaking in Australia.
