Our Story

In March 1982, 300 women gathered in Sydney to speak out publicly on the issues affecting women of non-English speaking backgrounds. This led to the establishment of the Immigrant Women’s SpeakOut Association of NSW (SpeakOut) in 1985 and its incorporation in 1987.

 

These strong, visionary women realized, more than 40 years ago, that migrant women have specific needs and requirements. They need empathy, support and specialized organisations that understand their issues and provide assistance in culturally appropriate manner.
SpeakOut continues to have the same vision and is following the footsteps of these visionary women. SpeakOut is managed by migrant women for migrant women. Since then, SpeakOut has focused on the following key areas:

• Domestic violence
• Homelessness
• Immigration
• Employment and training
• Housing pathways
• Health
• Anti-discrimination
• Education
• Access and equity