Shining a Light on the Challenges Facing Indigenous Australian Women
A blog by Christina Cushen, Young Expert at GHRH
Introduction
This report sets out to examine the challenges faced by Indigenous Australian women. Its purpose is to shed light on the daily struggles that Indigenous women face compared to non-indigenous women.
Firstly, I will focus on the violence within Indigenous communities and how violence against women occurs towards Indigenouswomen at a higher rate.
Next, the report will consider the issues that indigenous women with a disability face. I will be also looking into the rate of criminalisation of Indigenous women with a disability compared to those without.
Then, I will explore the rate of incarceration of indigenous women compared to non indigenous women. Finally, I will discuss some strategies that the government could implement to better support Indigenous women and girls.
Violence towards Indigenous girls and women
At the end of her visit in 2017, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous People stated that the violence against indigenous women has been formed and exacerbated by a history of legislative discrimination. Her report on the rights of indigenous people, following her visit to Australia, she highlighted that many family violence incidents do not get reported, as Indigenous women fear the consequences of their children being taken away, alongside the race, gender and cultural discrimination that Indigenous women face generally. Furthermore it is estimated that 30-40% of Indigenous women escaping family violence get turned away due to lack of resources.[1]
It has been found that Indigenous women are 32 times more likely to be hospitalized than non-indigenous women due to violence related assault.[2] According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, it is estimated that between 2009-2019, there was an increase in cases of hospitalization of Indigenous women by 11%[3], as well as an increase of family violence towards Indigenous females by 35% compared to indigenous males by 18%[4]. This means that Indigenous females are 3 times more likely to experience family violence than their male counterparts.
Given that Indigenous women are already in a more vulnerable position, women are more likely to experience childhood abuse, trauma and household dysfunction. This also means that women will be more likely to experience miscarriage, low birth rates or premature births as a result of domestic violence.[5]
In our current society, we see an increase of women suffering at the hands of men. Indigenous women are even more susceptible to this violence - there has been an increase of Indigenous femicide in Australia, where it is estimated that 16% of homicide victims are Indigenous women. This is a particularly worrying statistic, given that young First Nations people only account for 6% of the Australian population.[6] It is unfortunate to note that violence against Indigenous women has a correlation with homelessness, incarceration, poverty and child removal.[7]
Issues faced by Indigenous women with disabilities
The Australian Human Rights Commission estimated that, in 2020, at least 45% of Indigenous people live with a disability, and this means that indigenous women with a cognitive disability are more likely to be involved with the criminal system due to lack of support.In 2015, it was estimated that 38% of indigenous women with a disability were avoiding situations due to their disability.[8]
In the Wiyi Yani U Thanganu (Women’s Voices): Securing Our Rights, Securing our Future report, Indigenous women highlighted that the discrimination they face leaves them feeling neither human nor that their voices deserve to be heard. The University of Technology Sydney found that “[Indigenous] people with profound or severe disabilities are twice as likely as their Indigenous counterparts without a disability to be unemployed and half as likely to participate in the employment market. Anecdotal evidence from research undertaken by the First Peoples Disability Network outlines that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a disability felt that this was compounded by the discrimination they felt already as Indigenous peoples. Many reported negative experiences in securing and maintaining employment and received feedback from potential employers that they did not ‘fit’ their brand.”[9]
The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability reported that Indigenous Australians have a higher rate of disability than the non-indigenous population, with 1 in 5 Indigenous children having a disability compared to 1 in 12 non-indigenous. Additionally, disabled Indigenous women are34 times more likely to be hospitalized due to family violence than non indigenous women.[10] Disabled Indigenous children also face poor treatment at school, where “students were told they were ‘stupid’ and ignored when they said they needed extra supports in the classroom. They ended up leaving school because they were lagging behind their peers and felt overwhelmed. During our community engagements, one community member said that the children do not get support they need in the classroom, and end up getting ‘kicked out of school’. These children will often then have contact with the justice system”[11].
The Human Rights Watch has demonstrated that indigenous women suffer from serious human rights violations, which limit or prevent them from getting the necessary support. Ms Kriti Sharma stated ‘I recently traveled through Western Australia visiting prisons, and I heard story after story of indigenous women with disabilities whose lives had been cycles of abuse and imprisonment, without effective help. For many women who need help, support services are simply not available. They may be too far away, hard to find, or not culturally sensitive or accessible to women. The result is that Australia’s prisons are disproportionately full of indigenous women with disabilities, who are also more likely to be incarcerated for minor offenses.’[12]
They also disclose that disabled Indigenous women are 21 times more likely to end up incarcerated than non-indigenous women, and that Indigenous women with psychosocial or cognitive disabilities are more likely to have contact with the police at a young age than non-indigenous women. The trauma that Indigenous women with disabilities experience at a young age leaves them predisposed to poverty, homelessness, and domestic or sexual violence, increasing their potential of being in contact with the police and being incarcerated.[13]
We must not overlook the marginalisation that disabled Indigenous Australian women face.
Incarceration rates of Indigenous women and girls
In 1991, Human Rights Watch found that 14% of the Indigenous population were contained within the Australian prison system. By 2021, this figure increased to 29%. It is estimated that during this 30-year period, there have been 470 Indigenous deaths in custody[14].
Data from 2016 gathered by the Australian Law Reform Commission has shown that Indigenous women are 21.2 times more likely to be incarcerated than compared non-indigenous women. Western Australia was found to have the highest rate of indigenous female incarceration among all Australian states[15]. It was also demonstrated that, before the court, indigenous women are often more likely to be remanded and regrettably get their bail refused. They are also more likely to be charged with injury-related charges compared to non-indigenous people.
On census night, the remand rate t was 104.3 per 100,000 compared to non-indigenous women which was 6.7 per 100,000[16]. The UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of IndigenousPeople stated that ‘while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders make up only 3% of the total population, they constitute 27% of the prison population, and much more in some prisons’[17]. She continued, ‘I visited Bandyup prison, a women’s prison in Perth, where the proportion of Aboriginal women has reached 48% of all detainees[18]’. She illustrated that this disproportionate incarceration rate is a human rights violation, and that the majority of these women have experienced domestic violence with nowhere to go when they get released without any support. Her report detailed that Indigenous women are being incarcerated in appalling and cruel conditions for something as little as failing to pay a fine. They have no housing support, and have limited or no contact with their children while in custody. She was particularly concerned to hear that “some of the Aboriginal women have nowhere to live when they come out of prison. As a result of incarceration, many women also struggle to keep ties with and to regain custody of their children”.[19]
Unfortunately, Indigenous Australians are far too over-represented in the court and criminal justice system. Their over representation in the criminal justice system stems from childhood trauma and domestic violence.
How to support Indigenous women and girls
One of the recommendations which the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous has reiterated in 2017 in her report and statement
The UN Special Rapporteur has emphasized the need for Australia to increase the age of criminal responsibility. She claimed that “children should be detained only as a last resort, which is not the case today for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Detention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children has become so prevalent in certain communities that some parents see it as an achievement that none of their children has been taken into custody so far.”[20]
Another way to improve the situation by thorough investigation of gender-based violence. In many cases of gender-based violence against Indigenous women and girls, the perpetrator has not been punished or investigated.[21]
It has also been recommended that legislations and policies for mandatory sentencing for fine defaults be properly reviewed and that magistrates and judges take more discretion when determining the punishment, accounting for individual circumstance and offense. This will grant them greater ability to increase non-custodial sentences and diversion programs which will help to decrease the overrepresentation of indigenous people in the prison system.[22]
Finally, legal services for Indigenous women and girls who are experiencing violence should be made more accessible. A national action plan that consults Indigenous women and girls to implement measures that fight gender-based violence and ensure their voices are supported and heard.
Conclusion
The society in which we live often forgets about the most vulnerable people. Keeping Indigenous women marginalised is not the solution when we are impacting their lives and their human rights. It is imperative that we act to ensure that we can give these vulnerable people the full life potential they deserve. It is clear that Indigenous women have been undeservedly and inhumanely set up to fail.
Disclaimer
The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the Young Experts and do not necessarily reflect the views or official positions of the Girls Human Rights Hub. The content shared here is intended to provide insights and perspectives on girls human rights, but it is important to recognise that individual opinions may vary.
Sources:
https://www.alrc.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/final_report_133_amended1.pdf
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/04/14/australia-act-indigenous-deaths-custody
https://www.refworld.org/reference/mission/unhrc/2017/en/118746
https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/3996411?ln=en&v=pdf
[1] Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples on her visit to Australia, UN Doc, A/HRC/36/36/Add.2 (8 August 2017).
[2] Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples on her visit to Australia, UN Doc, A/HRC/36/36/Add.2 (8 August 2017), 16.
[3] Ibid
[4] Community Safety, 2021, ‘Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’( 30 January 2023), <https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-10-community-safety#:~:text=Over%20the%20period%20of%202009,with%20Indigenous%20males%20(18%25).>
[5] Community Safety, 2021, ‘Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’( 30 January 2023), <https://www.indigenoushpf.gov.au/measures/2-10-community-safety#:~:text=Over%20the%20period%20of%202009,with%20Indigenous%20males%20(18%25).>
[6] Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, Submission to inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children, December 2022, 5.
[7] Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples on her visit to Australia, UN Doc, A/HRC/36/36/Add.2 (8 August 2017), 16.
[8] Australian Human Rights Commission, Wiyi Yani U Thanganu (Women’s Voices): Securing Our Rights, Securing our Future Report, (October 2020), 315 & 318.
[9] Ibid, 317.
[10] Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability, First Nations people with disability (September 2023) vol 9, 72.
[11] Ibid, 77.
[12] Human Rights Watch, Indigenous, Disabled, Imprisoned - the Forgotten Women of International Women’s Day, 8 March 2017, <https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/03/08/indigenous-disabled-imprisoned-forgotten-women-international-womens-day>
[13] Human Rights Watch, “I needed Help, Instead I was punished” Abuse and Neglect of Prisoners with Disabilities in Australia, 6 February 2018.
[14] Human Rights Watch, Australia: “Act on Indigenous Deaths in Custody” 30 Years On, Royal Commission Recommendations Should Be Fully Implemented, 14 April 2021.
[15] Australian Law Reform Commission, Pathways to Justice - An Inquiry into the Incarceration rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, (Final Report, December 2017) 22.
[16] Ibid, 105.
[17] Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, End of Mission Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples (2 April 2017).
[18] Ibid.
[19] Ibid.
[20] Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, End of Mission Statement by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples (2 April 2017) and Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples on her visit to Australia, UN Doc, A/HRC/36/36/Add.2 (8 August 2017), 14.
[21] Committee against Torture, Concluding observations on the sixth periodic report of Australia, 75th sess, UN Doc CAT/C/AUS/CO/6 (5 December 2022).
[22] Ibid.