Canberra YWCA CEO Frances Crimmins says a survey focussing on Canberra’s women and gender-diverse residents shows they are “not just numbers”. Photo: YWCA.
For YWCA CEO Frances Crimmins, it’s worth peeking behind the curtain and seeing who is giving you the data.
In 2019, YWCA Canberra launched the Our Lives: Women in the ACT Survey and ran further editions in 2021 and 2023.
Ms Crimmins says surveys such as Our Lives, which offer a well-rounded view of Australian life, are a valuable tool for advocates, researchers and politicians.
As Our Lives returns in 2025, women and gender-diverse residents are encouraged to complete the survey. It takes about 10 minutes.
“If you go to the standard data sources, like the Bureau of Statistics, women are higher income earners of the country, participate in employment at higher rates, and have more leisure and recreation time [than in the past],” she says.
“That does not tell the story of the women our frontline services support.”
She says YWCA is seeing women struggling in an expensive housing market (including those being made homeless), being affected by family and domestic violence, and cost-of-living pressures.
Some younger women are “already concerned about retiring into poverty”.
The survey covers areas such as housing security, financial stability, experiences of sexual harassment and discrimination, and hopes for the future.
The 2023 survey found 32 per cent of respondents didn’t have sufficient savings to cover one housing payment if they lost their income, one in four were receiving income support payments, and 54 per cent had experienced public sexual harassment.
YWCA Canberra has partnered with research consultant Sustineo to conduct the survey.
It is open to women, girls aged from 16 years and gender-diverse residents of Canberra and the surrounding region. The survey is available in English, Arabic, Vietnamese, Bengali and Mandarin.
Ms Crimmins says the survey’s “deep dives” into different factors affecting women and girls in Capital country provide a unique picture.
“We really want to capture women in primary care roles, women living with a disability, women who are recent migrants to Canberra, to make sure we’re getting the breadth and depth of the diversity that makes up Canberra,” she says.
“[It’s not only for] someone who might be a public servant – who also can struggle to pay rent in this town, I must say!”
Ms Crimmins expects the survey will find the number one issue is cost of living, which she says is being especially felt by groups including older women and single parents.
“[This is information] you can’t get looking at Bureau of Statistics data because the population isn’t large enough,” she says.
“You see it in that expectation of Canberra, where we’re all wealthy and we’re all doing fine … that granular information is really important to policy makers.”
She says the results will be shown to the ACT Government as the organisation pushes for tailored funding, programs and other support to ensure women and families are not left behind.
“We will make sure it gets in front of the people with power and the policymakers in the ACT,” she says.
“Every data point is a woman sharing something valuable with us, and we take that really seriously. It’s not just numbers. It’s a woman; it’s a woman and children; it’s your aunt, your grandma, your sister.”
The Our Lives: Women in the ACT Survey will be open until October, ahead of the final report in December. It is available online.
If this story has raised concerns, 1800RESPECT, the national 24-hour sexual assault, family and domestic violence counselling line can be contacted on 1800 737 732. Help and support are also available through the Canberra Rape Crisis Centre on 02 6247 2525, the Domestic Violence Crisis Service ACT on 02 6280 0900, the Sexual Violence Legal Services on 02 6257 4377 and Lifeline on 13 11 14. In an emergency, call Triple Zero.
