• Entry type: Organisation
  • Entry ID: AWE2118

Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia

(From 1987 – 1997)
  • Occupation Migrant Women's Organisations

Summary

The Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia (ANESBWA) was established in 1987, with the aim of promoting access and equity for the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women of Australia. The founding members argued that women could not rely on the male heads of existing multicultural, ethnic and feminist organisations to represent their interests and that they must speak up for themselves.

As well as networking with women in state and territory Ethnic Community Councils, ANESBWA sought to link up with existing organisations that catered for women, such as social, cultural and political groups. A key feature of the organisation was that it was not ethnically aligned and was therefore in a position to cut across multicultural politics to lobby on behalf of all CALD women.

According to an executive member of the organisation, ANESBWA ceased operating in 1997, due in large part to the federal government of the day removing funding. It was deemed by the Coalition government that migrant women of CALD background should simply function under the auspices of FECCA (the Federation of Ethnic Community Councils of Australia), thus ignoring the women’s need for an autonomous voice. Nowadays, CALD women are represented by the Network of Immigrant and Refugee Women of Australia.

Published resources

  • Book Section
    • Double Disadvantage: Migrant and Aboriginal Women, Sawer, Marian, 1990
  • Report
    • Issues for non-English speaking background women in Multicultural Australia/ Australian Office of Multicultural Affairs Policy Options Papers Series, Eliadis, Maria; Colanaro Rosetta and Roussos, Patricia, 1988
  • Resource

Archival resources

  • National Library of Australia, Oral History and Folklore Collection
    • Matina Mottee interviewed by Nicola Henningham [sound recording].
  • Private Hands (These regards may not be readily available)
    • Papers of the Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia
  • National Library of Australia, Manuscript Collection
    • Records of the Women's Constitutional Convention, 1997-1998 [manuscript]
  • State Library of New South Wales
    • Association of Non-English Speaking Background Women of Australia (ANESBWA) records and sound recordings, 1985-2000

Related entries


  • Convenor
    • Mottee, Matina (1931 - )
  • Related Women
    • Mulder, Beryl (1941 - )
  • Founder
    • Buckland-Fuller, Dorothy (1922 - 2019)
  • Foundation Member
    • Buckland-Fuller, Dorothy (1922 - 2019)
  • Featured Organisation
    • Being Seen And Heard: Migrant Women Organising In Australia, A Documentary History (2006 - )