Reimagining a future for Aboriginal women’s self-determination

Volume 8 Number 12 December 10 2012 - January 14 2013

In the spirit of the Narrm Oration’s mission to enrich our ideas about possible futures for Indigenous Australians in a respectful and grounded way, Professor Megan Davis outlined how efforts towards self-determination have too often been to the detriment of Aboriginal women’s wellbeing and integrity. By Gabrielle Murphy

The Narrm Oration, one of the most significant Indigenous events in the University of Melbourne calendar, is hosted annually by its Murrup Barak Melbourne Institute for Indigenous Development in partnership with Rio Tinto Australia.

According to Murrup Barak Director, Professor Ian Anderson, the value of the Narrm Oration, which takes its name from the Woiwurung word for the area around Port Phillip Bay, is the opportunity it provides for a global conversation on issues of importance to Indigenous peoples.

Now, for the fourth oration, Professor Anderson has needed only to look as far as New South Wales for an international expert to lead this year’s conversation on the topic of Aboriginal women and the limitations of their right to self-determination.

“Its good to have our thinking challenged and reaffirmed and to share ideas and experiences,” Professor Anderson says. “That’s what the Narrm’s all about. 

We have been privileged over the years to have hosted visits by leading thinkers from the Pacific and North America, and this year have had the privilege of hearing from an Australian expert with an international reputation as a human rights lawyer with an abiding interest in constitutional law and reform.”

Megan Davis, who is a Professor of Law and Director in the Faculty of Law’s Indigenous Law Centre at the University of New South Wales, is a UN expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples. She is a former UN Fellow of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva and was this year elected the Rapporteur of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues Expert Group Meeting in New York on Violence Against Indigenous Women.

“As someone who has extensive experience as an international human rights lawyer and participated in the drafting of the United Nations’ Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples for over five years, Professor Davis is a world leading expert in international law and politics,” says Professor Anderson.

Early last month, Professor Davis delivered an inspiring and challenging thesis, arguing that the right to self-determination, as it is recognised in international law, does not pay adequate attention to the situation of Aboriginal women. The address explored, in particular, one aspect of Martha Nussbaum’s theory of capabilities – the constitutional guarantee of equality. 

“As an evaluative framework, Nussbaum’s capabilities theory is based on the premise that, in order to live a valuable human life, a person must have the freedom to make choices about how they live their life,” says Professor Davis.

For Professor Davis, the right to self-determination is not only about the way exercise is collectively controlled over the economic, social and cultural aspects of community life. “It is about the right of every individual to have the opportunity to participate actively and equally in those decisions,” she says.

“To enjoy that freedom, one must have the capabilities to do and to be – to work, to be healthy, to read, to care, to love, to be well fed and to have shelter.

“Aboriginal women in Australia are the most vulnerable and marginalised group of any in Australian society,” says Professor Davis. “They are routinely subjected to violence and high levels of stress, and are regularly positioned by statistical data in the lowest categories of economic and social status. 

“There have been many structural deficiencies and limitations that have had the practical effect of limiting Indigenous women’s participation, including isolation and marginalisation of women as leaders and decision-makers, the impact of traditional beliefs and values about the role of women on their confidence, the absence of female role models, and a lack of access to training and education.”

Professor Davis believes the capabilities approach provides an effective way for Australian Aboriginal women to achieve self-determination, one that is inclusive and responsive to their unique experiences, needs and aspirations.

“Nussbaum’s capabilities theory provides a practical language that can be used by Aboriginal women to transpose what those rights mean in practice,” says Professor Davis.

“It has the value of translating capabilities into the vernacular of ordinary daily life which Aboriginal women can use to capture and name what is happening to them on a daily basis.

“Self-determination must become more specific and personalised in order to be capable of reflecting what self-determination means for Aboriginal women in their daily lives.

“And we cannot leave it for the state to do that for us. We must do that as Aboriginal people.” 

www.murrupbarak.unimelb.edu.au