Gender Equity

Public Letter

On International Women’s Day 2018, NAVA released a public letter to perpetrators of gendered harassment.It’s called Dear Person I’ve Been Reluctant To Keep Engaging With But Have Had To For Professional Reasons. This letter has been released in text as well as in a video performed by leading Australian artists and arts workers. 

Anonymous “Speak Up” Protocol: A guide for boards

The protocol is for boards considering how to respond to anonymous complaints of gendered harassment. This is a difficult one, and our toolkit is quite a serious resource for group discussion at board level. The Speak Up Protocol was developed by Herbert Smith Freehills pro bono for NAVA following Dear Person I’ve Been Reluctant to Keep Engaging With but Have Had to for Professional Reasons, and a number of sector colleagues have contributed to its final form. 

Clear Expectations

CLEAR EXPECTATIONS: Guidelines for institutions, galleries and curators working with trans, non-binary and gender diverse artists in Australia is a new resource of best practice for the contemporary arts written by artists Spence Messih and Archie Barry, and supported by Countess and NAVA.

NAVA urges the sector to take the time to read through this resource with your collaborators, colleagues, board and staff and let’s make sure the contemporary arts sector is respectful, safe and welcoming for all trans, non-binary and gender diverse people.

• The Australian Human Rights Commission’s Face the Facts: Gender Equality
• Australian Government Office for Women
• Australian Government Workplace Gender Equality Agency
• Women’s Leadership Institute of Australia and their Women for Media Report
• Countess: counting gender representation in the Australian visual arts sector
• CLEAR EXPECTATIONS: Guidelines for institutions, galleries and curators working with trans, non-binary and gender diverse artists in Australia
• Culture of Silence: arts parents accepting, rejecting or adapting to, an unfriendly workplace

• Report sexual assault to the police. Here’s some guidance and support for making a report in the ACT, NSW, Qld, SA, Vic, Tas and WA. 
• 1800RESPECT is the national sexual assault, domestic/family violence counselling service.
• If you believe you have experienced sexual harassment, you can contact the Australian Human Rights Commission’s National Information Service on 1300 656 419. You can also make a complaint online at humanrights.gov.au/complaints/make-complaint
• Under the Sex Discrimination and Fair Work (Respect at Work) Amendment Bill 2021 workers are protected from sexual harassment in the workplace. More information about rights and obligations under this Act can be found on the Fair Work website.
• Know the Line is a resource for employers and employees which was developed by the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry: knowtheline.humanrights.gov.au
• The Empowering Internet Safety Guide for Women, a guide written with the intention of empowering women to navigate the internet without fear.

• Respectful workplaces information and guides gathered by Creative Victoria.

• Know your workplace discrimination and harassment policies, and reporting and dispute resolution procedures. Read them right now. Use them when you need them. Encourage colleagues to use them. If none exist, ask why, and see what can be done about introducing them.   
• Kate Manne on misogyny as the act of correcting women who fail to give men what men believe they’re due
• Van Badham in the Guardian: So you’re being sexually harassed at work. Now what.

• Making Art Work: the full report by David Throsby and Katya Petetskaya
• The CoUNTesses: data, reviews and reports on gender representation across Australia’s contemporary arts, developed and maintained by volunteers
• Is Gender in the Eye of the Beholder? Identifying Cultural Attitudes with Art Auction Prices, UTS