Dear members, supporters, donors and friends,
We're writing to say thank you very much.
In the weeks leading up to the Federal Election, our community helped us spread the word that feminism is alive and WEL! We want to send a big heartfelt thank you - we simply couldn't run our campaigns without your support!
With your help we were able to promote our campaign to women across Australia. During the election period WEL reached thousands of women through our networks, e-news, social media and coverage from The Sydney Morning Herald, Huffington, Daily Life and Mamamia (click HERE to read the articles).
We also reached the major parties who all issued a response to WEL's letters about the funding needed to ensure safety for women and their children fleeing domestic violence (read the responses HERE). We produced our election scorecard assessing the level of commitment of the major parties regarding funding for WCSP. We'll be able to hold parties to these commitments, and in the coming months, work with leaders until they deliver the specialised services that women and children dealing with domestic violence deserve.
With the financial support of our many donors we conducted research and created solid policies on which to base our recommendations. With your support we were able to hold forums to hear from women about what was important to them this election. We held voter education sessions for women in marginal seats to help them make their vote count. As a result a number of participants formed groups to present to their local federal candidates during the election campaign - WEL's aim to increase the number of women who feel confident approaching their federal, state and local MPs. So contributions by our donors were well spent empowering women and strengthening community voices on domestic and family violence, as well as financial security for women (including paid parental leave, superannuation and affordable housing). Thank you for your gift of support!
Thanks to our networks, long-time members and friends, who supported our overall Federal Election Campaign. WEL is supported by over 30 women's organisations who have shared our work and urged support for WEL's Women and Children's Safety Program.
Thank you to Anne Summers and her team, for their brilliant creative work developing and conducting the campaign. Thanks to the collection of esteemed women who helped over the past couple of months including Cat Gander, Wendy McCarthy, Julie McCrossin, Tracey Spicer and Jenna Price. And thank you to the many thousands of women who raised their voices in the name of equality and shared their concern about the lack of funding and adequate services for women fleeing violence in the home.
Our volunteer Federal Election Action Group, under the guidance of Kaitlyn Birkett (WEL Volunteer Coordinator) met weekly in the lead up to the election to plan campaign actions, work on research, map marginal electorates, design flyers and join together in feminist discussion.
On election day WEL volunteers, Sahra and Lisa headed out to a polling place in Parramatta to hand out election scorecards and chat to people about how to make their vote count for women.
"I was really happy we were there as we were able to speak to a lot of women about how they could make their vote count. Men also took the flyers. Some women who were interested wanted to hear more about WEL."
- Lisa
"I joined the action group to gain a greater understanding of how lobbying works and also to campaign directly to voters. I ended up achieving both these goals, so that was exciting."
- Sahra
Thank you to Kaitlyn, and all our volunteers, for your enthusiasm, your time, and for helping us to keep feminism alive and WEL!
There's still much to do. WEL will keep demanding reforms that ensure financial security for women. We'll be continuing our advocacy and lobbying the Government to commit to funding the Women and Children's Safety Program. We’ll be holding parties and candidates to their promises and continuing to examine how their policies really support women. We'll be in touch again soon about how you can continue to help with our campaigns.
We’re committed to doing all we can to make our Australian society a place where women are respected and their abilities are prized.
Your support makes it all possible! Thank you for taking this journey with us, and once again, thank you for your support!
Learn more about donating to WEL, volunteering with WEL, becoming a member or find out about leaving a bequest on our website - wel.org.au.
Do you like this page?