Our Herstory

ERA has been advocating for gender equality in Australia for more than 20 years.

ERA started life as a funded Secretariat called WomenSpeak, which coordinated the work of a national network of women’s organisations and women’s advocates. WomenSpeak had 24 member organisations when it started operations in 2002 and was auspiced by YWCA Australia.

In 2010, the Commonwealth Minister for Women, Tanya Plibersek MP, restructured and broadened the secretariat model to create the National Women’s Alliances. As a result of this restructure, WomenSpeak became Equality Rights Alliance. We are still auspiced by YWCA Australia and have grown to have more than 65 members.

To learn more about ERA’s herstory, watch this video.