History

Towards the end of 2001 the Minister for the Status of Women made grants of $50,000 available to the three existing national women's secretariats to establish consortia with a view to accurately identifying the needs of Australian women, and to working in partnership to address those needs. This initiative was part of the Government's commitment to strengthening the women's sector by further engaging with women's organisations and also encouraging their contribution to mainstream policy formulation.

In February 2002 a workshop was convened by the National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA) in partnership with the Office of the Status of Women to discuss issues facing women's organisations (both individually and collectively), and to look at ways of working collaboratively in the future. A number of women's organisations participated in the workshop and a broad range of issues facing Australian women/women's organisations were raised.

At the workshop the organisations represented agreed that women's organisations working together in a more formal sense may strengthen the voice of Australian women. After some debate it was agreed to form a consortium with each organisation having equal standing. The consortium was established and called the Australian Women's Coalition (AWC). The National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA) undertook to act as the authorised agent for the AWC.

Founding Members

All but one of the organisations in attendance at the workshop became the founding members of AWC. The founding members of AWC are:

• Australian Church Women
• Australian Federation of Medical Women
• Australian Federation of University Women
• Council on the Ageing ( Australia)
• Guides Australia
• National Council of Women of Australia Inc Ltd
• Soroptimist International
• United Nations Development Fund for Women
• Zonta International - District 24

Key Objectives

The key objectives of the Australian Women's Coalition are to:

• increase communication within the women's sector;
• clearly identify the needs of women represented by the consortium partners; and
• initiate policies, programs and partnerships to address these needs.

Progress

Since February 2002 the Australian Women's Coalition has established a set of operational guidelines and a strategic plan. The strategic plan identifies specific outcomes in the areas of:

• policy advice
• consultation
• information and education, and
• governance

These outcomes will be achieved by:

• providing well informed advice to government on identified priority areas for women/women's groups.
• providing advice that reflects the diversity of women by drawing on AWC's broad membership and via consultation with other women/women's groups.
• conducting ongoing consultation and briefing sessions with women/women's groups.
• expanding AWC's membership to a maximum of twelve national women's organisations.
• fostering links with other policy and research organisations with an interest in women's issues.
• developing and strengthening partnerships with NGOs and other stakeholders as well as participating in research and projects of mutual interest.
• providing relevant information to women/women's groups via the AWC News Sheet and website.
• Facilitating women's networks, workshops and other information sharing opportunities.

In April 2002 the Australian Women's Coalition employed a Project Officer to undertake research and project work on behalf of the Coalition.

In June 2002 the National Council of Women of Australia (NCWA) as agent for AWC and OSW signed a variation of the contract extending AWC's operation until
30 June 2003.

From 1 July 2003 AWC became a separate identity and currently is one of four Secretariats under the auspices of the Office of the Status of Women.