Introduction by Croakey: The achievements of Indigenous women are in the global spotlight, from federal, state and tribal elections in the United States, to climate negotiations now underway at COP31 in Türkiye.
Indigenous women are participating in the COP “as political actors, knowledge holders, and builders of solutions to the climate crisis”, according to FIMI, the International Indigenous Women’s Forum.
This week at COP31, Rikki Dank, a Gudanji and Wakaya Traditional Owner from the Barkly Tablelands in the Northern Territory, stood alongside Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg and others, calling for governments to stop expanding fossil fuels and to protect people and Country.
Dank, a nurse who featured in this 2022 article at Croakey, is one of the claimants behind The Hard Truths case, the first international legal claim brought against the Australian Government for its responsibility for climate harm linked to coal and gas exports.
Meanwhile, First Nations academics from the University of Queensland – Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, Dr Angela Baeza and Associate Professor Levon Blue – reflect in the article below upon the significance of Indigenous women’s contributions in diverse contexts.
Bronwyn Fredericks, Angela Baeza and Levon Blue write:
It is estimated that there are currently 185 million Indigenous women who belong to more than 5,000 diverse Indigenous communities. Indigenous women hold essential roles within Indigenous communities and continue to be at “the frontline of the defence of natural resources, land and territories”.
On 5 September, the first International Day of the World’s Indigenous Women and Girls was commemorated. The United Nations General Assembly set this date at the end of 2025, and it will be observed every year.
It commemorates Bartolina Sisa, an Indigenous Aymara woman who led an Aymara-Quechua revolution against the exploitation of Spanish colonisers in Latinoamérica in 1780.
The importance of this day goes beyond a simple celebration; it acknowledges Indigenous women and girls as knowledge holders, carers, and leaders who, despite their contributions, still face systemic barriers that affect their wellbeing, safety, and participation in decision-making, including in Australia.
Indigenous women hold various roles including that of academics and researchers. For thousands of years, Indigenous women understood something that contemporary research confirms – that people’s wellbeing is shaped not only by health, but also by place, education, culture, and identity.
Distinguished Professor Aileen Moreton-Robinson’s book, ‘Talkin’ Up to the White Woman’, explores this.
Cover of Talkin’ Up to the White Woman: Indigenous Women and Feminism.
Scholarship
As Indigenous scholars working in education, health and Indigenous studies, we see these connections every day.
Professor Bronwyn Fredericks, one of the authors of this article, has advocated for Indigenous women’s health and wellbeing over decades. In 2010, she was the primary author of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Health Strategy, and has worked with women’s health programs across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, did a PhD research exploring Indigenous women’s health and has offered workshops, conference presentations, and papers on research with Indigenous women since the mid-2000s.
She is currently the Chief Investigator on two research projects on Indigenous women’s issues in Australia. One of her research projects, on Indigenous midwifery practice in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contexts, illustrates the vital role Indigenous women play in family and community wellbeing. It emphasises the importance of culturally safe healthcare that respects Indigenous knowledge, cultural practices, and women’s rights to make decisions about their care and childbirth experiences.
Similarly, research in the Chilean and Canadian contexts has highlighted the important role of Indigenous women.
In Chilean Indigenous educational contexts, Indigenous women working as traditional educators in remote schools play a crucial role in improving the quality of their children’s education and preserving Indigenous traditions.
These educators also serve as role models for young girls, demonstrating that they can pursue professional success despite the challenges and barriers they may face.
Meanwhile, in Canadian Indigenous contexts, research in financial literacy education has evidenced the need to move beyond an individual wealth accumulation focus toward a praxis-oriented approach that emphasises collective wellbeing, self-determination, and community.
Memory, justice and recognition
The International Indigenous Women’s Forum reflects that the celebration of this day is and “Act of Memory, Justice and Recognition”.
The Forum welcomes the adoption of this day, affirming that it “must reaffirm the responsibility of States to eliminate racism, discrimination, violence, and the inequalities that continue to affect the lives of Indigenous Women”.
“The full exercise of the individual and collective human rights of Indigenous Peoples –and especially of women – is a commitment for all of us.”
This message is particularly relevant today, given the increasing prominence of Indigenous women as leaders in political and social structures throughout the world.
In the United States, this trend is evident in the political achievements of Indigenous women such as Mary Peltola, the first Alaska Native elected to Congress, in 2022, and Sharice Davids, one of the first Native American women elected to the US Congress, in 2018.
In the recent US elections, in Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan, a citizen of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, became the first Native American woman elected to the US Senate, while Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, became the first Native American woman elected governor of a US state.
Together, these leaders demonstrate the growing influence of Indigenous women in shaping contemporary political institutions and public policy.
Post by Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, a Yanyuwa Garrwa woman from the Gulf country in the Northern Territory, and the Minister for Indigenous Australians
Agency and leadership
The Closing the Gap agreement highlights the importance of Indigenous agency and leadership. It also acknowledges culture as a foundation for health and wellbeing.
Indigenous women are often at the heart of maintaining culture, passing on knowledge, nurturing future generations, and strengthening communities and have been on the international stage for decades.
So Indigenous women’s voices must be recognised, supported, and meaningfully included in political, economic, and cultural decision-making processes.
In Australia, Indigenous women are already doing much of the work that governments identify as essential for achieving Closing the Gap outcomes.
At the Women Deliver 2026 conference, a delegation of 150 sovereign First Nations women, girls, Sistergirls and gender-diverse peoples issued a call to action through the Wiyi Yani U Thangani Institute for First Nations Gender Justice that can be read and endorsed now.
The call to action urges five systemic shifts that articulate what is needed for meaningful reform for First Nations gender justice and equality. It states that Indigenous women, girls, Sistergirls and gender-diverse peoples hold the solutions as “carers, leaders and backbone of communities”.
What is needed is for governments, organisations, institutions, business and key stakeholders to turn the scores of recommendations in reports, reviews and inquiries into actions!
About the authors
The authors, from left, as below
Professor Bronwyn Fredericks is an Indigenous woman from south-east Queensland, and the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous Engagement) at The University of Queensland, a theme lead with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures, and Chair of Croakey Health Media.
Dr Angela Baeza is a Diaguita Woman from the Chilean desert, educator, and a Research Fellow at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Indigenous Futures at The University of Queensland.
Associate Professor Levon Blue is a member of Beausoleil First Nation (Canada) and is the HDR Coordinator at The University of Queensland and an academic in the School of Education.
See Croakey’s archive of articles on Indigenous health
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