On 18th February 2026, Women in International Security – Australia (WIIS-A) partnered with Women in Defence Association (WiDA) for an in-person International Women’s Day event at Clayton Utz. The event brought the WIIS-A and WiDA Victorian community together to discuss the upcoming National Defence Strategy, which is expected to be published in early 2026.

On 5 February 2026, Women in International Security–Australia Inc. (WIIS-A) hosted a virtual panel event titled “Women of Colour In International Security”. The discussion brought together practitioners, researchers, and advocates to explore why intersectionality matters in international security, focusing on how race and gender shape the experiences of women of colour.

From selective repatriations in 2022 to outright refusal in 2026, Australia’s approach to ISIS returnees reveals a pattern of reaction without institutional consolidation.

Understanding and addressing trafficking dynamics along the Indonesia–Timor-Leste border is therefore critical for Australia, because targeted cooperation, improved data, and gender-sensitive, victim-centred approaches can prevent exploitation while strengthening regional governance.

The arrest of junior doctor Ryan Cho in July 2025 for allegedly installing spycams in a Melbourne hospital shocked many Australians. At first glance, it might appear as an aberrant breach of trust: a young professional exploiting his position in a space meant to guarantee care and safety. Yet Cho’s crime is not best understood in isolation.

Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia has released a landmark report highlighting the urgent need for improved reporting mechanisms as more than one-third of Australians now express negative attitudes toward Muslims, with hate crimes particularly targeting hijab-wearing women and those of Palestinian and Arab backgrounds. Beyond addressing Islamophobia specifically, Australia needs a comprehensive national hate crimes register covering all minority groups to combat growing social polarization and ensure equal protection for vulnerable communities.

On 21 August 2025, Women in International Security – Australia Inc. (WIIS-A) partnered with the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy and Defence Dialogue (AP4D) to host an online panel event entitled “Diversity in Development, Diplomacy and Defence.” This discussion brought together experts and leaders from policy, research and advocacy backgrounds to explore how diversity, equity and inclusion can be meaningfully advanced across the interrelated fields of diplomacy, development, intelligence and defence.

In recent years, diversity and inclusion have been at the forefront of political and defence dialogues. However, while efforts have increased representation of women and other traditionally marginalised communities, why are these groups still facing the same oppression?

Following WIIS-A's engaging e-discussion with guest expert Shatabhisha Shetty, Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific Leadership Network, we were delighted to continue our conversation with her in a more relaxed, off-the-record Q&A session. This blog post captures our members' questions and Shata's thoughtful and insightful responses, with anonymity provided to questioners.

Why, in 2024, must we ask where are the women in international affairs? It should be obvious. It should be superfluous. The women should be right there, in the midst of it all. With increased women’s representation in our most prominent international security institutions in Australia, and a robust plethora of research indicating women’s participation improves security outcomes, this question should be outdated.

On Tuesday, November 28th, Women in International Security – Australia Inc. was fortunate enough to have a conversation with Dr Sarah Percy from the University of Queensland. Dr Percy discussed her new book Forgotten Warriors: The History of Women on the Front Line  published with Hachette Australia.

COVID-19 has been declared a public health emergency of international concern and a global pandemic by the World Health Organization. This global threat to health security underscores the urgent need to accelerate progress on achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: good health and well-being. It also reveals what is less obvious, but no less urgent: how health emergencies such as COVID-19, and the response to them, can exacerbate gender inequality and derail hard-won progress not only on SDG 3 but SDG 5 (Gender Equality).

We need to talk about Female Genital Mutilation. We need to talk about FGM as a human rights transgression, as a health concern, and as a form of gender-based violence. We need to talk about FGM as surrounded by an international dialogue that is often reductive, and crude. We need to talk FGM in terms of ‘culture’ and ‘rights’, and how they may be reconciled.

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are widespread, diverse and indiscriminate, affecting the world on both micro and macro levels. Many natural environments are thriving, while economies are crashing and bringing about recessions not witnessed since the Great Depression. The effects of the pandemic are much less severe within Australia than they are elsewhere in the world. However, those effects, albeit less overt than the horrors of overcrowded hospital wings, mass unmarked graves and respirator shortages, are still just as dangerous and unfortunately just as ubiquitous.

As the world has turned its attention to combating the COVID-19 outbreak through lockdowns and self-isolation methods, victims of domestic violence (DV) are suffering. There have been spikes in reports of domestic violence globally, to varying degrees.

In July 2019 the Lowy Institute released Foreign territory: Women in international relations. The report found a severe gender imbalance within the departments and organisations in Australia that are responsible for conducting Australia’s international relations. It subsequently identified issues with the ‘pipeline’ of women via recruitment, as well as the ‘ladder’ of promotion once women were in these institutions. The report concluded with several concrete recommendations for improving the recruitment and retention of women in these workforces.