What can be done to help this Group?
Another reason for the miserable condition of the aboriginal women, for that matter aborigines as a whole, is largely related to the issue of political representation. For a society that gained its electoral rights only in the Federal elections of 1965, (it was not before 1967, however, that they were counted in the distribution of electoral seats), only two aborigines have been elected throughout history to the Australian Parliament: Neville Bonner (1971-1983) and Aden Ridgeway (1999-2005). As a result, the clamour of these marginal voices has never been sounded in the general canon of the Australian parliament. The heinous discourse of power and negligence has made these women mere instruments in the power game. And they continue to be exploited mercilessly at the hands of their own society, with its traditional laws, and also at the hands of a nonchalant government. More sadly, there has been no effort made by the government to recompense for the centuries of injustice and exploitation they have endured (Cole, 1993).
What is interesting to note in the case of these aboriginal women is the manner by which they have borne the drudgery of complete alienation. The aboriginal women’s sense of separation emanated from the fact that history had made her a mere spectator to the brutalities of the superior race and the colonial administration (Ashcroft, 1998). Moreover, the lack of support she received from the non-aboriginal women was also instrumental in worsening her condition.