Gender equity work is happening across many places: women’s health, prevention of gender-based violence, disability advocacy, migrant women’s organising, economic justice, climate, technology, academia, government, community services and workplaces. 

But the work is also stretched. Practitioners are navigating increasing demand, short-term funding, fragmented systems, backlash, workforce burnout and the challenge of turning strong analysis into coordinated action. 

Weaving Change was held to create space for the people doing this work to come together, connect across sectors and ask what is needed next. 

The day was designed to support collective sense-making: not to smooth over difference, but to hold complexity, surface shared priorities and strengthen the relationships that make movement-building possible.

Weaving Change brought together gender equity practitioners, advocates, researchers, community leaders, policy workers and sector partners from across Australia. Participants came from a wide range of settings, including community organisations, health, education, government, corporate, advocacy and specialist gender equity spaces. 

Across the day, participants led conversations on: 

• intersectionality 
• burnout and workforce sustainability 
• disability 
• economic security 
• gender-based violence 
• leadership 
• migrant women 
• sex and gender 
• technology, IT and AI 
• collective action 
• climate as a frontier issue. 

About the convenors 

Gender Equity Victoria 

Gender Equity Victoria is Victoria’s independent peak body for gender equity. It brings together people and organisations working to build a gender equal society, connecting and coordinating efforts across sectors, communities and movements. GEN VIC’s work is grounded in collective action, advocacy, evidence-sharing and transformative change. As co-convenor of Weaving Change, GEN VIC helped create a space for practitioners to connect, reflect and strengthen the relationships needed to sustain gender equity work. 

Working With Women Alliance 

The Working With Women Alliance is a national alliance that brings together civil society expertise, evidence and lived experience to inform policy on women’s equality, leadership, safety and wellbeing. Led by YWCA Canberra, the Alliance supports national policy advice and advocacy across women’s equality and women’s safety. As co-convenor of Weaving Change, the Working With Women Alliance brought a national policy and movement-building lens to the unconference, connecting the conversations in the room to broader efforts to advance gender equality across Australia. 

Across the sessions, participants returned to a clear set of shared insights. 

The sector is rich in analysis, relationships and commitment. Practitioners understand the structural drivers of gender inequality and are already working across complex systems of power, patriarchy, racism, ableism, capitalism and xenophobia. 

But the sector is also structurally constrained. Participants named the need for stronger infrastructure: longer-term funding, better coordination, shared spaces, mechanisms to find each other and ways to act together. 

A strong message from the day was that gender equity work cannot rely on individual effort alone. The work needs the conditions that allow it to be sustained: resourcing, coordination, care, accountability and collective power. 

The evaluation of Weaving Change found that participants valued the unconference format, particularly the opportunity to connect with others working across the gender equity sector. 

Participants described the day as a space for feminist solidarity, peer learning, cross-sector exchange and meaningful contribution. Many valued being in a room with people who shared a commitment to gender equity but brought different perspectives, roles and areas of expertise. 

The evaluation also showed that participants left with a clearer sense of both the breadth of gender equity work and the need for deeper collaboration, sustained resourcing, genuine intersectional practice and greater attention to emerging and underserved issues, including climate, AI, migrant and refugee women, and gender-based violence. 

Statement on Weaving Change 2026 

A short public statement capturing the key messages from the day. The Statement names the central insights that emerged across Weaving Change: intersectionality as a power analysis, inclusion as an insufficient frame, burnout as structural, fragmentation as a binding constraint, and the need for infrastructure for collective action. 

Read the statement here: Weaving Change - Statement

Discussion Report: What emerged from a day of collective sense-making 

The Discussion Report provides a fuller record of the day, including the unconference methodology, cross-cutting themes, session findings and reflections from participants. It is designed for practitioners, advocates, policymakers, funders and sector leaders who want to understand what the gender equity workforce is seeing, holding and calling for. 

Read the Discussion Report: Weaving Change - Discussion report

Evaluation Report 

The Evaluation Report summarises participant feedback from Weaving Change. It shows what participants valued about the day, including the unconference format, the opportunity to contribute meaningfully, the breadth of perspectives in the room and the connections made across sectors. 

The report also identifies what participants believe the sector needs next: deeper collaboration, sustained resourcing, stronger intersectional practice, more space for reflection and learning, and continued work on emerging issues such as climate, AI, gender-based violence, economic inclusion and the experiences of migrant and refugee women. 

Read the Evaluation Report: Weaving Change Unconference Evaluation Report

Event animation: Weaving Change in motion 

This animation brings the event’s visual record to life, capturing the energy, themes and connections that emerged across the day.