Gender inequity costs too many people opportunities, financial security, and sometimes, their lives. Leading advocates and researchers share proven strategies that can create meaningful change – from individual activism to policy reform.
This article contains references to gender inequity, gender-based violence, and homelessness. Some readers may find these topics distressing. Please take care while reading.
If you or someone you know has experienced gendered violence, the UNSW Gendered Violence Portal (GV Portal) offers support and reporting options.
Imagine missing days of school or work every month, simply because of your gender.
It’s the reality for millions of school-age girls and non-binary people around the world, who can’t afford period products – a basic necessity for 50% of the population.
Rochelle Courtney, Founder of Share the Dignity, has seen the impact of period poverty up close – and is working tirelessly to end it.
“A girl I met at a high school told me she had recently got her period and bled on the back of her uniform and chair, and the boys laughed at her. She went home and asked her mum to bring her period products. But her mum didn’t get paid for another two days, so she missed two and a half days of school.”
She shared at the recent UNSW Building Futures Through Gender Equity and Reform event, hosted by the Gender Equity Network of the Medicine & Health Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, in partnership with the UNSW Business School EDI Team.
The ripple effects of absenteeism are far-reaching. Education is a critical pathway out of poverty. But regularly missing school puts students at risk of falling behind or dropping out altogether, leading to a lifetime of missed opportunities.
Sadly, period poverty is far from the only inequity females and non-binary people face.
For every $1 men earn, women earn $0.79, according to the 2025 WGEA Gender Equality Scorecard.
This not only reduces women’s earning capacity over their lifetime, but it also means they are more likely to retire in poverty. In fact, women over 45 are the fastest-growing group of people facing homelessness in Australia.
One in three women also experience gender-based violence in their lifetime, and one woman is killed every 10 minutes. Those who survive, live with devastating consequences that impact their physical, mental and emotional health. Many are also forced to give up on their ambitions because of threats of violence.
“Gendered violence is a profound social and economic crisis that affects countless lives across Australia,” says Susan Channels, Faculty Executive Director at UNSW Medicine & Health.
“It's one of the most prevalent human rights violations affecting our world today. Across our workplaces and communities, we must ask how we are addressing gendered violence to create safer environments for all population groups.”
These interconnected issues require urgent, meaningful action. That’s what UNSW set out to discuss on in recognition of the 2025 International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women.
The university brought together a powerful group of people whose work is shaping the future of gender equity and reform within UNSW and beyond.
The Building Futures Through Gender Equity and Reform event shed light on the issue and discussed how we can make progress towards a more equitable future.
Research can be a powerful tool that fuels policy change by providing critical evidence for the breadth of issues and impact of solutions. But Professor Jan Breckenridge says research must combine lived experiences, practitioner insights and academic evidence to be effective.
“Research can help us be clear that what we are seeing and experiencing is genuine. It helps us understand the outcomes of a particular intervention or whether something is a significant problem for many people or for particular groups,” she explains.
Understanding what girls and women need and find genuinely helpful is at the heart of addressing gender inequity. And this starts with listening.
“We have to listen to lived experiences and people who see it every day in their work to inform our perspectives,” says Professor Breckenridge.
“They know what happens and what the issues are. And very often they've come up with remedies that are creative, innovative, and really address the need.”
Seeing the undignified way some women at homeless services accessed period products prompted Rochelle to create Dignity vending machines.
Today, there are more than 1,300 free period product vending machines in hospitals, homeless and domestic violence services, and are becoming common place in primary and secondary schools around the country – providing girls and women with free period products at the touch of a button.
For Professor Breckenridge, solutions like these are essential.
“People want practical things that help them get by. When you ask students who have experienced sexual violence, they want special consideration, fee remission or help with planning their candidature given what's happened to them – not necessarily counselling."
And in the workplace, offering paid leave and accommodation to those experiencing domestic violence can be the help they need to break the cycle of abuse.
While the issues of gender inequity can feel overwhelming, individuals can have a profound impact.
Take Rochelle, who has scaled her desire to help into a national movement.
Her journey to activism started with reading an article and collecting 450 packets of period products for five local charities in 2015
Today, Share the Dignity works with more than 3,000 volunteers and 3,000 charities, and has provided over 5 million period products and over 1 million “It’s in the Bag” donations filled with essentials to Australian women, girls, and those who menstruate fleeing domestic violence and/or to those who are experience homeliness.
Rochelle’s relentless advocacy work also led the Federal Government to remove GST from period products in Australia in 2019 – still one of only a handful of countries to do so.
“My job is to make sure that there isn't a person in Australia that doesn't know that the problem exists, because we're all part of the solution."
So, what can you do?
Professor Breckenridge says a good place to start is by holding people accountable.
“Negative behaviours can't be condoned by our silence. When people are held accountable, they have to stop."
You can also:
Working closely with government, universities, and corporate sectors allows research to translate into practical solutions and policy change.
The UNSW Tax & Business Advisory Clinic combines grassroots support and research, helping people in serious hardship and using client data to highlight systemic issues. Its intake survey uncovered a distressing insight: 60% of women in financial distress were experiencing domestic violence.
“Financial distress and financial abuse are closely linked,” explains Associate Professor Ann Kayis-Kumar
“We partnered with the Centre for Social Impact to look at how we could affect change at a systems level.”
Associate Professor Kayis-Kumar’s team also work with the Australia Taxation Office (ATO) to raise awareness of signs that could indicate gendered or domestic violence and develop responses that provide genuine support.
As a result, the ATO released its Vulnerability Framework in October 2025 that will serve as a guide to helping people experiencing vulnerability better engage with the tax system.
Education is fundamental for creating change. Whether it’s through advocating for reform or having the skills and knowledge to make a personal change.
One way UNSW is using education to close the gender equity gap is through improving Australians’ financial literacy – one of the most powerful gateways to opportunity, according to Dr Natalie Oh, Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
In Australia, there’s a significant gap between genders, across all age brackets, when it comes to understanding finances – 65% of men are financially literate while the same is true for only 48% of women.
This can create serious gaps in financial security and the trajectory of women’s lives. Especially those experiencing gendered or domestic violence.
“You can't leave a violent or abusive relationship if you've got nowhere to live and have no income. Many women end up going back, which gets mistaken for uncertainty about wanting to leave. Often, it's not about that,” Professor Breckenridge shares.
Dr Oh knows there’s a need for more adequate financial education for women. So, she has partnered with various divisions within UNSW to run “Finance for All” workshops at university and in the community, to improve the financial literacy of students, faculty and community partners.
“Teaching financial independence can make a real difference in combating domestic violence. Financial education can serve as a soft yet powerful tool to understand coercion and help to identify and strive to prevent domestic violence.”
There’s a long way to go to achieving gender equity. But progress is possible.
Meaningful change starts with individuals who refuse to accept the status quo.
When we work together, we can turn awareness into action and action in positive impact – making sure everyone has the same opportunities, regardless of their gender.
Sexual assault, sexual harassment and relationship violence are all gendered violence that can affect the UNSW community.
If you or someone you know has experienced gendered violence, the UNSW Gendered Violence Portal (GV Portal) offers support and reporting options.
The Gendered Violence Response Team (GVRT), opens in a new window, a specialist team of mental health clinicians at UNSW Psychology and Wellness, responds to reports from students and the public, while Safer Communities manages staff reports. They can explain your options and provide tailored support.