Photo: Dr Kirsten Abernethy by Breeana Dunbar

The following is a transcript of a speech delivered by Dr Kirsten Abernethy, Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust, at the Trust’s 40th Birthday celebration on 12 October 2025.

I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners from where I live, the Wadawarrung people. I acknowledge and respect their continuing connections to their lands and waters, which were never ceded. I am deeply grateful for their stories, living cultures and the contribution to the life and spirit of our community on our coast.

Coastal communities like mine, and the sea itself, are both core to who I am. It was also the world I worked in for the past 20 years, listening to and sharing the stories of women in fisheries and coastal communities, where gender inequality not only holds women back, but holds back environmental sustainability, food security, and community wellbeing. I also bring to this role my own lived experience — as a rural woman, I have known what it feels like to face the weight of gendered inequality in its many forms. But I had the privilege of having the support and resources to recover, where most do not. These experiences have shaped me deeply.

They have taught me that gender equality and justice are not optional, not a cause to be chosen, but a necessity. And that is what has led me here.

Now, being in the rich world of the Victorian Women’s Trust has me stepping into a new ecosystem — a brave and dynamic ecosystem with different rhythms and relationships. 

Being in a new environment is interesting and thrilling. It challenges you to listen deeply, sit with moments of discomfort, and use them to push the limits of what you thought was possible to achieve.  

As the feminist movement, and the work of the Trust, has shown us – growth rarely happens in safe waters. It is in the most challenging moments, the moments of the greatest tension and discomfort, that change begins.

Someone who has been very comfortable in the discomfort is Mary Crooks. I want to acknowledge Mary’s incredible legacy. Over 28 years, Mary built a powerful movement for gender equality in this country, and a precious and unique organisation fiercely living and breathing feminist values, of openness, inclusion, compassion and connection. She built this movement with all of you – our friends, donors and supporters – and I want to pay tribute to you as well. 

The movement and community Mary has led with you is grounded – prioritising agency, integrity, courage, and actually doing things about gender inequality. We all feel it.

The way we feel about the Trust is why we are here, and it’s why I am here. Thank you Mary on behalf of everyone and personally for our friendship and the gift you have given me with the Trust.

Transitions bring challenges, certainly. But also opportunities. I come with an open heart, and a deep respect for the foundation that has been laid. I feel privileged to have an amazing team around me with decades of experience here between them. I love their boldness and commitment. The Board is a powerhouse of incredible expertise and energy. And combined with all of your support, together we are a formidable force to challenge boundaries and drive change. 

We are at a pivotal time. Around the world and right here in our communities, the hard-won gains in gender equality are being tested. The very fact that our gains are being tested shows their power. 

This change is unsettling at a deep level to those who cling to the old order or believe that equality and inclusion is a threat to them. 

There is also a worrying sense of complacency within the wider community that the job is done – underestimating how common gender‑based violence is, or the scale of the economic or health gaps, particularly for First Nations women, women from migrant or refugee backgrounds, women with disability, LGBTIQA+ women, or women living in rural or remote areas. 

Then there are the new frontiers for us to watch — from the impact of digital technologies and the misogyny and abuse coded into the design of artificial intelligence, rising levels of loneliness ,particularly among young women, the differential impacts of the climate crisis on women, to the rising housing insecurity women face — these are deepening inequalities and demand new responses.

Our work remains urgent and deeply relevant. We have to be clear in our understanding of the environment we are now in, and stand up as advocates, as agitators, and as allies. For four decades, the Trust has challenged the systems that diminish women and girls, and we have worked to create pathways to equality. We listen to communities, we fund grassroots solutions, we stand up in public debates, and we keep gender justice on the agenda. Our role has always been to push boundaries — to speak truth, to test ideas, and to open doors for those whose voices are too often ignored. In this pivotal moment, our role is more important than ever.

Standing here today with all of you, I am reminded of how vital it is that we do not swim alone.

Feminism and the Trust has always been about the collective — the relationships, the solidarity, and the courage we share when we work together.

The deepest learning in my career and my life has been the importance of connection and collaboration. I am committed in this role to building genuine connections: with you, with our communities, and with those whose voices most need to be heard.

As we mark our 40th birthday of bold feminist advocacy, I invite you to join us in shaping the next 40. Walk with us and ensure that together we continue to create real and lasting change for women, girls and gender diverse people in Victoria, and across Australia.

Dr Kirsten Abernethy is a social scientist, researcher and educator with over 20 years’ experience working with coastal and seafaring communities across Australia, the UK, and the Pacific. Her work is grounded in feminist values, and her research and advocacy has been centred upon worker’s rights, looking deeply at the experiences of women, a demographic often underrepresented. In 2017, she won the VIC AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award. In 2025 she was appointed Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust.