"I want to mention Emily's List. EMILY's List has linked up Labor women in this place before we even came in. Affirmative action is everyone's business. All I can say is the girls are in town, and there is plenty more where we have come from
First indigenous woman elected to the NSW parliament,
Maiden Speech, 6 May 2003
At its 2002 Annual General Meeting, EMILY's List was challenged by Carol Martin MP, Kimberley WA, the first Indigenous woman to be elected to Parliament, to join her in a partnership to revive the spirit and the action to make Indigenous equity a reality.
EMILY's List members agreed and formed a working party to begin the partnership. The Northern Territory EMILY's List Action Group and working party hosted a planning seminar to explore the idea and establish the Partnership for Equity Network in Alice Springs in 2003.
The aims of PEN are:
- To establish an effective political advocacy and support network between EMILY's List members, including indigenous Members of Parliament and Indigenous women activists
- To support the election of more indigenous women to Parliament, Regional, Local Government and Community decision-making bodies
- To develop a policy and action framework for EMILY's List that addresses challenges in working with indigenous women and their communities to achieve equity
- Provide support for Labor women indigenous MPs
Since the Alice Springs PEN Conference, a National PEN Network has been established with indigenous and non-indigenous women members in all states and territories. EMILY's List also developed partnerships between Indigenous women activists and EMILY's List members and MPs, to increase the representation of Indigenous women in Australian parliaments. Together with the YWCA and the VLGA, EMILY's List gained funding to conduct workshops and produce resources to empower Indigenous women to run for public office.
The Many PEN Network achievements has been:
EMILY's List Australia has helped elect 5 Indigenous women in the WA, NT and NSW parliaments. We also assisted Carol Martin, Member for Kimberley in Western Australia, to become the first Indigenous woman to be elected to any Australian Parliament, in February 2001.
Support for Indigenous women to continue their work on the impact of foetal alcohol syndrome of children of violence and violence against women.
2006 Publication of You can do it: getting more involved in public life a collection of case studies and practical information to assist indigenous women stand for election to public office and for women who want to assist and encourage others to stand.
2007 Indigenous Women Doing It For Themselves: a series of workshops funded by the Mary Potter Foundation to support and encourage Indigenous women to take their leadership skills to a broader audience and to contribute to decision making in a more public arena. Undertaken as a partnership between the PEN Network, the YWCA Vic, the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA) the workshops aimed to introduce women who are rising to this challenge and to encourage mentoring and networking amongst women.
2009 The Sisters Doing it for Themselves followed on from the 2008 project and was funded by the Reichstein Foundation and the Melbourne Community Foundation. A partnership between the PEN Network, Koorie Women Mean Business, the YWCA Vic, the Victorian Local Governance Association, the project aimed to empower ATSI women to take on leadership positions in public life – from the kindergarten committee, school council, land council, to local, state or federal government.
