Every year, IWD rolls around, and we talk aspirationally about what we want to achieve. This year I’d like to do something different. I want to shine a light on someone who is actually getting stuff done. Making a difference in the systems they work in and changing the experience for women and girls everywhere; Not once a year, but all year round.

But first, let’s check in with the IWD theme for 2026:

"Balance the Scales is a promise that every woman and girl – regardless of background or identity – should be safe, heard, and free to shape their own lives. Yet in 2026, too many across Australia and the world are still denied that fair go. Discriminatory laws, policies, and practices persist. Gender-based violence remains widespread, and structural barriers block too many from seeking or receiving justice.
These barriers are not inevitable. They are built – and they can be dismantled.
Equality is not about advantage for some; it's about dignity, safety, and fairness for all.
When women and girls stand equal, families are stronger, workplaces are fairer, communities thrive, and society becomes safer for everyone."

Given this year’s theme and focus on laws and structural barriers that prevent women seeking justice, I thought it fitting to shine the light on Professor Easteal AM. https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciaeasteal/.

Professor Easteal AM, is an Australian academic, author, activist and advocate. Among many other awards, in 2010 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia, 'For service to the community, education and the law through promoting awareness and understanding of violence against women, discrimination and access to justice for minority groups.'

Professor Easteal has spent decades working at the intersection of law, research and social justice — not to accumulate influence, but to change outcomes.

Her work focuses on violence against women, discrimination and access to justice. What makes her contribution so powerful is not just the depth of her expertise, but how deliberately she uses evidence to challenge systems that consistently fail women.

Through research, education and public commentary, Professor Easteal has helped expose the gap between legal protections on paper and the lived reality of women navigating family violence, courts and institutional bias.

She understands something essential. Justice doesn’t shift through good intentions alone. It shifts when evidence becomes impossible to ignore.

In the context of International Women’s Day 2026 and the theme Balance the Scales, her work reminds us that reform doesn't occur from one conversation a year. It’s the result of a consistent and persistent focus on shifting the systems that hold our biases and inequity in place. Every. Single. Day.

To Professor Easteal AM, we thank you for shining a light on the legal issues that affect women and girls and for tirelessly advocating and educating for reform. Your work is essential, and your voice impactful.