Women and the law
The National Women's Justice
Coalition promotes women's legal equality in Australia. The NWJC was formed following the
release by the Australian Law Reform Commission of three landmark reports on Equality
Before the Law during 1994. These reports are simply vast and touched on most issues
relating to women and the law in Australia.
What ever your interest on women and the law,
and what ever specific topic you are researching - your research should start with a scan
through the relevant parts of these reports.
The first report was ALRC 67 Interim:
Equality before the law: women's access to the legal system, 1994. You should check
your library for a copy of this report because it is not currently available on the web.
However, the two substantive reports are on the Australian Law Reform Commissions
web site at: http://www.alrc.gov.au
The direct links are:
Equality Before the Law: Justice for
Women, Report No 69 Vol 1
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/alrc/publications/reports/69/vol1/ALRC69.html
Equality Before the Law: Women's
Equality, Report No 69 Vol 2
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/alrc/publications/reports/69/vol2/ALRC69.html
The second report (Vol 2) deals with the
important topics of gender bias and the law and concepts of equality.
After you have scanned these reports you will
have a very good framework for the specific research you are undertaking.
Where to look next
Regardless of what you are researching we recommend that you next scan through:
the top page of the NWJC web site http://www.nwjc.org.au
which will give you a good idea of current women's justice issues in Australia. You may
find that there are current or recent developments on the topic you are researching. If
you are researching on a current issue, don't forget to check the current issues section
which is linked from the top page.
scan through the Reading Room page of the
NWJC web site
http://www.nwjc.org.au/readroom.html
This has a lot of links to material and resoruces on particular subjects
scan through the NWJC site map http://www.nwjc.org.au/about.html to see if
there is other material on the site which might help, and
finally check the menu of lists on the Australian
Virtual Centre for Women and the Law http://www.nwjc.org.au/avcwl
to see if there are one or more email groups which you are eligible to join, on the topic
you are researching. If there are, you might want to join while you are undertaking your
research to read the current debates. You might also introduce yourself to the list and
explain your project and ask for pointers to resources like research, reports and
articles.
If it is relevant to your project you might ask if you can interview some of the
people on the email list either by emailing questions or arranging a time when you can
phone them.
If you see an email list which is relevant to your topic but you are not likely to
be eligible to join the list, you can always email the list facilitator for the list to
see if you can join or alternatively get ask for some help with your research. To email
the list facilitator just put the word owner- (owner dash) before the short name of the
list.