Girls Own Magazine: The Women's Legal Service Publication
For over 40 years, Women’s Legal Service (WLS) volunteers and employees have challenged and improved how the law and legal system recognises and supports women. Yet this collective activism is a little-known story. [1] We created a digital catalogue for internal use to improve access to WLS’s history. While there is still more to work to do for Victorians to understand the roots of how Victorian women and families experience the legal system, we have uncovered amazing projects and campaigns during this work. Within this body of impressive work is Girls Own Magazine, a magazine designed and distributed to girls and young women, educating them on their legal rights and the unique and diverse issues which concern them. WLS services such as a volunteer run Telephone Advice Service, information booklets, and community workshops and professional training have sought to “encourage women to know their rights, to act in their own interests, and to seek assistance where necessary but also to recognise and acknowledge the injustices they face”. Designing education specifically to empower women, the organisation is better positioned to understand and address a wide range of experiences, backgrounds, and needs Women’s Legal Resource Group (now Women’s Legal Service) was formally founded in 1982 by a collective of female lawyers and law students who saw the “vital need for legal support for women by women” particularly around family violence. This piece offers background on the formation of WLS and its commitment to education to improve women’s access to justice. The founding members set out to work differently in two key ways;
1) working as a collective with members from various backgrounds including “lawyers, law students, community workers, and other women interested in legal issues” on individual and shared cases;
2) choosing to focus on education programs and law reform projects for a broader perspective and impact, as opposed to individual case work.
Educating vulnerable women about legal issues is one way that WLS improves access to justice. This comes out of the belief that “many general legal education materials are not appealing or appropriate for women” as they overlook structural inequalities.
In 1987, WLS highlighted a concerning lack of education services for young women. All too often it was assumed that young women’s interests were being catered for by the generalist “youth” or “women’s” programs. They found that young women and girls despite having “very specific problems and questions”, were “largely ignorant of their legal rights, and the legal and non-legal remedies available to them”, ultimately representing “a particularly vulnerable group in our community”. To connect young women with professional information and legal resources, WLS published the first edition of its magazine Girls Own in July 1989, with funding from the Community Legal Education Committee of the Legal Aid Commission. Written and edited by WLS members from diverse expertise in legal issues, the magazine demystifies and explores topics relevant to young women’s lives and experiences, such as money, health, family relationships, pregnancy, drugs, sexuality, sexual abuse, discrimination, dealing with the police, and work.
Writers also considered intersectionality, such as the experiences of First Nations, non-English speaking, and LGBTQIA + people and balanced discussing abstract legal rights and overtly legal issues with more personal worries like exploring sexuality, managing difficult emotions, or body image. The magazine also appreciated young women’s experiences by acknowledging that these experiences can be just as complex, if not more so, than adults. Readers could also learn how some entrenched policies, and the courts and police systems disadvantaged them, and read information and tools to better protect themselves. These articles might have also fuelled a young person’s resistance to widespread discrimination.
The first Girls Own magazine was a success and demand became quickly “overwhelming”. 8,000 magazines were distributed between July 1989 to December 1990, mostly being purchased by community centres schools, youth refugees, and councils with strong praise. Another edition was published in October-November 1992 and a final edition, which we have been unable to date, offered more useful advice and vital resources. It is a shame that only three issues of Girls Own Magazine could be produced, and it’s story only scratches the surface of the story and impact of WLS. But every community organisation operates under a tight budget, and this is especially true for not-for-profits working in the field of family violence. It is with great hope that WLS receives future funding to continue to preserve and share its history with the public. I also feel it is important to acknowledge that the freedoms I enjoy on a daily basis are tied to the determination of WLS’s campaigners, writers, lawyers, educators, and creatives. For me, this research has provided a greater sense of how (alarmingly recent) reforms that better represent women have been achieved.’
Blog post written by Lauren Impey
[1] All quotations and references were collected from the Women’s Legal Service archive.
