Newsletter - Delivering a tailored lived experience program for young people - Engender Equality Update - March 2026
Our latest Newsletter highlights:
- A new project – expansion of the Advocates for Change program to include young people
- No to Violence 2026 National Conference
- International Women’s Day event
- Fundraising efforts to support an Advocates for Change project
Media Release - Neurodiversity Celebration Week 2026: Neurodiversity brings unique challenges for family and sexual violence
MEDIA RELEASE
17 March 2026
NEURODIVERSITY CELEBRATION WEEK 2026: NEURODIVERSITY BRINGS UNIQUE CHALLENGES FOR FAMILY AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE
During this week’s celebrations of the unique strengths and talents of neurodiverse people in our community, Engender Equality wants to remind carers and general practitioners of the unique vulnerabilities of this cohort.
Engender Equality CEO, Alina Thomas said,
“Research has commonly found that neurodivergent women and gender diverse people are more likely than non-neurodiverse people to experience abuse. (1)
“Violence against neurodivergent women is not just interpersonal but structural and gendered.
“Women with overlapping marginalised identities experience heightened forms of inequality and oppression.
“Autism spectrum and other neurodivergent conditions such as ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia can increase vulnerability because socio-cultural and structural factors impact their rights and well-being.
“They might have difficulty communicating in social settings, misunderstand boundaries or be unable to make sense of their experience of violence.,” Ms Thomas said.
Possible signs of concern may include a marked change in someone’s usual presentation, such as becoming unusually withdrawn, hyper-alert, distressed or agitated. A sudden decline in mental wellbeing, reluctance to attend a service, or distress in the presence of a particular person may also indicate that something is wrong. These signs should be approached with curiosity and care, particularly in the context of neurodiversity and mental health where distress may be expressed in different ways. Physical injuries such as bruising, scratching, or other unexplained injuries may also be present.
Manager, Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence program, Jess Drew said,
“For carers and practitioners, it is important to avoid assumptions that signs and indicators are attributable to either abuse or to neurodiversity and instead consider both when working with neurodivergent people who may have or are experiencing abuse.
“Consider supporting neurodiverse women and gender diverse people’s healing and recovery by:
• offering safe, affirming and trauma informed spaces to process their experiences
• establishing rapport and trust, by allowing them to explore relationships, sexuality, and safety in a non-threatening way
• assess communication needs and adapt your language accordingly, avoiding leading questions and using neutral opening prompts to help reduce anxiety
• provide an opportunity to see the patient alone or for part of the consultation, as stress in caring relationships can intensify in caring environments and in some
circumstances may increase the risk of harmful or violent behaviour from the caregiver.
“Assess consent carefully and remain alert to the possibility of coercion, particularly where there are differences in communication, understanding or decision-making capacity between the parties.” Ms Drew said.
(1) Fox, J., Carroll, J. A., & Death, J. (2025). ‘… there’s so much within the work that we do where all we kind of need is the space and the safety’: The experiences of Australian practitioners who support autistic survivors of sexual and domestic violence. Autism, 29(10), 2524-2534.
This Primary Care Family and Sexual Violence is funded by Primary Health Tasmania (Tasmania PHN), through the Australian Government’s Primary Health Networks Program. The program is delivered by Engender Equality in partnership with Laurel House.
Media Contact: Alina Thomas 0438 788 291
If you would like to engage a lived experience representative (case study), please see Advocates for Change – Engender Equality, email advocates@engenderequality.org.au or phone: 0415 740 524.
Media Release - New project launch - Dads for Gender Diversity
MEDIA RELEASE
13 March 2026
NEW PROJECT LAUNCH – DADS FOR GENDER DIVERSITY
Tasmanian family violence service, Engender Equality has launched a new project –Dads for Gender Diversity – to support Tasmanian fathers in affirming, celebrating, and advocating for their trans and gender diverse ‘children’ (of any age).
Engender Equality CEO, Alina Thomas said,
“We are delighted to roll out this programme in Tasmania.”
“It is such an important area and there is so little research available to guide the formation of a framework of support for fathers of trans/LGBTIQA+ people.
“In a society of ongoing transgender prejudice and discrimination, parental support is the most important factor protecting the health and wellbeing of trans and gender diverse young people.
“However, evidence from practice and the limited research available, suggest that this support is primarily provided and led by mothers.
“Dads face unique challenges to understand, affirm, and support their ‘child’s’ gender identity.
“Challenges come from rigid ideas in our community about gender, and what it means to be a man and father,” Ms Thomas said.
Our Watch’s Innovation Grant underpinning this project comes through their Violence Prevention Innovation Lab. The Violence Prevention Innovation Lab is designed and led by Our Watch and funded by Minderoo Foundation and has enabled us to pick up this significant work.
Project Manager, Don Pitcher said,
“Ideas about male independence, and social judgement and prejudice towards trans and gender diverse people mean that dads are often isolated.”
“They do not get the chance to talk with other fathers about either the barriers they confront, or the joy they can experience in understanding and affirming their kids gender identity.
“This social judgement of gender diversity, along with rigid gender stereotypes can even invite some men to feel like a failure as a man and father when their young person identifies as trans or gender diverse.
“We are going to create a space where dads of trans and gender diverse people can come together to share their experiences and love for their trans kids, and to support, challenge and inspire each other.
“More than that, we want to find a way to collect these dads’ stories and learning, and to make them available to others, so that all dads of trans young people know that they can do this,” Mr Pitcher said.
For more information email don@engenderequality.org.au, visit the Engender Equality website or phone (03) 6278 9090.
Ends.
Media Contact: Alina Thomas 0438 788 291
Rethinking our response to gender-based violence: An International Women's Day speech, 2026
Alina Thomas, CEO, presented this speech to the staff of Home Base Hobart as part of International Women’s Day 2026.
Together we discussed the challenges young women face in Tasmania and the practical ways organisations and communities can strengthen support, build resilience, and create opportunities for safety, belonging, and growth.
Meaningful change grows when organisations connect, share knowledge, and work side by side for the future of young Tasmanians.
Change grows when we work together.
Media Release - Call for Tasmania to transform the systems that condone and enable violence - No to Violence National Conference, Hobart
MEDIA RELEASE
11 March 2026
CALL FOR TASMANIA TO TRANSFORM THE SYSTEMS THAT CONDONE AND ENABLE VIOLENCE – NO TO VIOLENCE NATIONAL CONFERENCE, HOBART
CEO, Alina Thomas will lay down the gauntlet tomorrow to Tasmanian institutions saying systems are built on social norms that privilege male dominance and female compliance.
Speaking tomorrow at the 2026 National Conference: Ending Men’s Family Violence: From local practice to national strategy, the CEO of Tasmania’s specialist family violence organisation, Engender Equality said,
“If we are serious about addressing gender-based violence, we must examine the actions of individual people who use violence alongside the institutional ecosystems that enable and sustain harm.
“Systems that claim impartiality while ignoring structural power dynamics may inadvertently reinforce those dynamics of inequality.
“Transforming institutional responses therefore requires honesty, and sustained commitment.
“It requires listening to victim-survivors, following the leadership of specialist services, and confronting the structural biases embedded within our systems.
“Ultimately, we need to eliminate men’s violence, but we will not do this until we are willing to redesign the system that condones and enables the violence.
“If we want different outcomes, we must be willing to design different systems,” Ms Thomas said.
Ms Thomas spoke to Engender’s latest publication entitled Systems abuse, patriarchy, and the institutional production of harm which explores how institutional responses to intimate partner violence can inadvertently produce harm. It outlines three interrelated forms of institutional involvement in abuse: systems abuse, systemic harm, and systemic collusion. It also situates these dynamics within the broader framework of patriarchal social structures and argues for systemic reform grounded in gender equity, relational accountability, and victim-survivor expertise.
If you would like to engage a lived experience representative (case study), please see Advocates for Change – Engender Equality, email advocates@engenderequality.org.au or phone: 0415 740 524.
Ends.
Media Contact: Alina Thomas 0438 788 291
EXAMPLES
- Police identifying discrete incidents of violence instead of ongoing patterns of coercive behaviour
- With a significant proportion of male police officers reporting having used violence in their own intimate relationships, complex questions arise about whether institutional culture and accountability can protect women
- Legal systems frequently require victim-survivors to provide extensive proof while people using violence benefit from institutional caution
- Child protection systems sometimes interpret mothers’ inability to avoid violence as “failure to protect”, effectively penalising victim-survivors rather than holding perpetrators accountable
- Family law processes may prioritise male parental contact over safety concerns, placing victim-survivors and children at continued risk.
Submission in relation to systems abuse, patriarchy and the institutional production of harm, 6 March 2026
Violence against women, gender diverse people and children does not occur in a vacuum. While acts of violence are often enacted by one individual against another, violence occurs within broader social, cultural, and institutional contexts that shape both the conditions in which violence occurs and the responses available to those experiencing it. Gender-based violence is therefore not solely an interpersonal issue; it is embedded within systems.