Imagine a gender equal world. 

A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination.

A world that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

A world where difference is valued and celebrated.

Together we can forge women's equality.

Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias.

 

Over the next three weeks, we will introduce you to three revolutionary women driving change within our community. 

This month we will be donating 15% of all sales directly to charities nominated by our three agents of change.

 

WEEK 3 

Meet, Ana Darras

  

Ana Darras is the Co-Founder and Program Director of TLC for Kids, a charity she established in 1998, with a mission to put smiles back on the faces of sick children and their families. Now in its 24th year, TLC for Kids services have been used over 10.7 million times and counting, with their critical support programs being used over 1 million times per year.

Q&A 

What was your motivation behind starting TLC?

"One of the biggest frustrations whilst I was working in the Public Affairs office at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, was seeing children with well-known illnesses receiving a lot of support where kids with rare and not as well-known illnesses were missing out. I tried my best to include as many children as I could when offers of support were made by charities, however, many children were still missing out because most of the focus was on children with certain conditions."

"It was important to me to work with Tim Conolan to set up a charity that would include all kids and not leave anyone behind. "

 It is clear your work has had an incredible impact on many special children and their families. Is there a story you are most proud of?

"To think of just one child would be too difficult, however, there is one story I am very proud of. We were asked to support a young boy and his family on a special trip that ended up being one of his last. Joshua’s family were about to take out a second mortgage on their home to have one last family holiday to the Gold Coast, which was his favourite place. This would have left the family in deeper debt, it would have added to their financial stress which may have also had a negative impact on Joshua’s siblings for years to come. When the request came in, we didn’t hesitate to help them out and organise the trip. Even though TLC for Kids was struggling to raise funds because of our focus on helping all sick kids, we thought it was more important to spend the funding we had allocated to a marketing campaign, on this last trip for Josh. Sadly, Josh passed away only months after they returned from their trip, which was 20 years ago, and it still feels like it was only yesterday."

 

   

Can you tell us about some of the women you work with? 

 

"The women I work with and have worked with in the past, have all been different and each one of them has brought something unique to my day, every day. And even though I am much older, I am constantly learning from them. There has always been a singular focus for our entire team and it is quite motivating to work with women who just get on with the job and support each other."

What are you most proud of when it comes to TLC? 

"The thing I am most proud of when it comes to TLC for Kids is that we have never hired anybody based on their gender, race, or religion and we have always been inclusive. It’s about who they are, what they can bring to TLC for Kids and how they can help enhance our service to see and reach more children and their families. Our Board of Directors has also had the same focus. I love seeing the women on our Board, since day one of TLC for Kids, and how passionate they are about our cause, because I know the charity is in great, caring hands." 

This month we will be donating 15% of all sales directly to charities nominated by our three agents of change. 

Ana has nominated her organisation, TLC. The proceeds will go towards helping sick kids and their families cope with the challenges of everyday life with illness.

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WEEK 2 

Meet, Bronwyn Bate

 

 

Bronwyn Bate is the CEO and co-founder of Mettle Women Inc - a charity that operates a national gift delivery service that is staffed by women who have faced homelessness as a result of domestic and family violence. They offer paid training and employment programmes, study scholarships, crisis support funds and childcare subsidies for these courageous women to build the safe future that they deserve.

Q&A

Tell us a little about yourself...?

"I’m the CEO and co-founder of Mettle Women Inc – a charity that operates a national gift delivery service that is staffed by women who have faced homelessness as a result of domestic and family violence. We offer paid training and employment programmes, study scholarships, crisis support funds and childcare subsidies to help these courageous women to build the safe future that they deserve."

 

"I have three brilliant younger sisters, an awe-inspiring mother, and an Oma who taught us the power of celebrating the women around us. I’m also about to give birth to my first child – a baby girl who will be born into the most supportive and loving family of strong women."

What was your motivation behind starting Mettle?

"In Australia, 52% of the people who present to crisis accommodation centres as a result of domestic and family violence have sadly been there before. When they leave the crisis shelter, they often don’t have the financial means to build the safe life that themselves and their children deserve, and end up going back to their abuser or living in extremely dangerous and precarious situations. That’s where we come in – we started Mettle to provide a pathway out of crisis to prevent these women from returning to abuse."

 It's clear that you work with some incredible people with amazing stories, can you tell us about one woman who has inspired you in particular? 

"For this woman’s safety, I’ll refer to her a Tina. This brilliant young mother joined our program in 2019. She had been residing in a crisis refuge with her toddler since she was 19 years old, with no family there to support her. Although Tina had never been afforded the opportunity to study or access employment, she was one of the most driven and eager employees I have ever worked with. During her time with us we saw her kick goal after goal, from saving enough to move into her own safe, private rental, getting her driver’s license and buying her first car, all whilst being the most exemplary mother you can imagine to give her daughter a safe future despite the hardship she was facing. Upon graduation we offered her a permanent role with Mettle because we’d never met someone so spectacular. Fast forward two and a half years and Tina has just signed a loan for a house and land package and is about to commence building her first home. Tina is the reason we exist – Despite the seemly unconquerable barriers placed in her way she has figured out ways to knock them down and continues to inspire us every day."

   

Mettle has achieved some incredible things in its first few years, where do you see it in the next five? 

"We started off small so that we could work really closely with the beneficiaries in our program and refine our employment and training modules based on their lived experience. We’re so excited to bring this training online this year so that we can reach survivors Australia-wide and further the impact we can have in communities who can’t access our in-person program support. We’ve seen the tangible impact that our wrap around support can have for survivors and we’re so excited to share this around the nation."

The theme for International Women's Day 2022 is 'Break the Bias'. How does this message resonate with you, and what steps will you be taking to break the bias this year? 

"We all know that domestic and family violence is the leading cause of homelessness for women in Australia, yet those experiencing homelessness are still negatively stereotyped. The assumption, or bias, that facing these dangerous situations is any fault of their own needs to be eradicated. These women are often overlooked as legitimate candidates for workforce participation but in working alongside them, I have seen the highest levels of work ethic and dedication that I’ve ever encountered. 93% of the women who have come through our program have had a restraining order breached at least once (often upwards of eight times). The safety risks that they face can’t be downplayed – they are not choosing to avoid work, they are choosing to keep themselves and their children alive and this often means having to stay in hiding and away from public facing roles."

"These women deserve support, recognition and celebration this International Women’s Day and every single day and that’s what I’ll be giving them."  

 

This month we will be donating 15% of all sales directly to charities nominated by our three agents of change. 

Bronwyn has nominated her organisation, Mettle. The proceeds will go towards women who have faced homelessness as a result of domestic and family violence, to build the safe future that they deserve.

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WEEK 1 

Meet, Nina Funnel

 

 

Nina Funnell is an award-winning journalist, author, and sexual assault survivor advocate. In 2018, she launched the #LetHerSpeak/#LetUsSpeak campaign to overhaul sexual assault victim gag-laws which prevented survivors from telling their stories under their real names, in Tasmania, the Northern Territory and - later - Victoria. To date #LetHerSpeak have provided direct legal assistance to 17 individual survivors, resulting in 4 law changes across 3 jurisdictions. 

Q&A

What was your motivation behind starting 'Let Her Speak/Let Us Speak'?

"I grew up in NSW and when I was 23, I was indecently sexually assaulted by a stranger (although most survivors are assaulted by someone they know). Soon after the assault, I spoke to media under my real name in an effort to help the police track down my offender, whose DNA they had - but without a match in the system.

The process of going public under my real name was an important step in me reclaiming a sense of ownership and control over my own story. It was also a means by which I could challenge the stigma around sexual assault, and send a clear message to my offender - and all other offenders - that the victim is never at fault and the shame lies at the feet of the perpetrators alone. 

Fast forward a decade, and I was working as a journalist specialising in reporting on sexual assault. That career chose me, but once it did, I found it to be an incredible honour to work alongside survivors as they navigate the process of stepping back into their voice and power. 

Then, in 2017, when I discovered that not all survivors in Australia had the same right to speak out to media as I once had, I was instantly appalled. It seemed inherently unjust and archaic as the gag-laws reinforced the silence and stigma around sexual assault. It also created a double standard whereby offenders could speak to the media, but survivors couldn’t. 

Shortly after I first met Grace Tame - a Tasmanian survivor who wanted to tell her story - I organised her legal work so she could be exempted from the gag-law, and at the same time, I built a campaign to coincide and run alongside her legal journey, called #LetHerSpeak. 

After we won Grace her exemption to the gag-law, the campaign performed and paid for the legal work of a further 16 survivors (see www.letherspeak.com.au ) all of whom eventually won the right to tell their stories. 

Finally in 2020, all three jurisdictions with victim gag-laws eventually reformed them. And in 2021, Grace Tame, the original case study for the campaign was named Australian of the Year, in recognition of her bravery."

 

"...in 2017, when I discovered that not all survivors in Australia had the same right to speak out to media as I once had, I was instantly appalled. It seemed inherently unjust and archaic as the gag-laws reinforced the silence and stigma around sexual assault."

 

 

 

Consent education has just become mandated in all Australian schools, what more change do you wish to see in the near future when it comes to preventing sexual abuse, and supporting survivors? 

"Consent education is an important component in reforming gender-based violence, but it’s only one tiny aspect. If a student goes to school and sits through a consent seminar, and then immediately after they go to maths class and hear a sexist joke about women, then they go onto the field at lunch, and hear misogynistic attitudes in the playground, and then they go to sports training after school and hear locker-room chat, and then they go home and watch a television show which trades in gender stereotypes, then we haven’t addressed the problem at all. We need a whole community response. We need to recognise that the problem doesn’t start at the moment of intercourse."

 

We are so excited to hear that you are publishing a book with Harper Collins this year... can you tell us about the themes that will be covered in 'Let Her Speak', and when we will be able to get our hands on a copy? 

"The book will cover a lot of these topics and more. I’m working on it now, with the view to it coming out in 2023. It will obviously cover the LetHerSpeak campaign, but more generally it will look at how the politics of speaking out as a survivor are changing, and which voices are still not being heard."

 

"The process of going public under my real name was an important step in me reclaiming a sense of ownership and control over my own story."  

This month we will be donating 15% of all sales directly to charities nominated by our three agents of change. 

Nina has nominated her campaign, #LetHerSpeak/ #LetUsSpeak. The money will be used to continue to fight gag-laws and support survivors voices in Australia.

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