Reempowering Ourselves: Australian Aboriginal Women

The arrival of the colonists, the invasion of Aboriginal lands, and the subsequent colonization of Australia had disastrous effects on Aboriginal women, including ongoing dispossession and disempowerment. Aboriginal women’s lives and gendered realities were forever changed in most communities. The system of colonization in Australia deprived Aboriginal women of land and personal autonomy and restricted the economic, political, social, spiritual, and ceremonial domains that had existed before colonization. It also involved the implementation of overriding patriarchal systems. This is why Aboriginal women may find understanding within the women’s movement and why feminism might offer them a source of analysis. There are some connections in the various forms of social oppression that give women connection and a sense of sharing some issues. However, imperialism and colonialism are also part of the women’s movement and feminism. This essay demonstrates why attempts to engage with feminism and to be included in women‐centered activities might result in the denial and sidelining of Aboriginal sovereignty and in the further oppression and marginalization of Aboriginal women. Moreover, strategies employed by nonindigenous feminists can result in the maintenance of white women’s values and privileges within the dominant patriarchal white society. By engaging in these strategies, feminists can also act in direct opposition to Aboriginal sovereignty and Aboriginal women. This essay states clearly that women who do not express positions or opinions in outright support of these activities still benefit from their position of silence by proxy and contribute to the cultural dominance of nonindigenous women. I argue that Aboriginal women need to define what empowerment might mean to themselves, and I suggest reempowerment as an act of Aboriginal women’s healing and resistance to the ongoing processes and impacts of colonization.