The human rights of people who identify as women are an important consideration when legislating drug policy reforms in Australia and across the world. Globally, women are incarcerated for drug-related convictions more than any other type of offence (IDPC 2026; IDPC 2021). While men are more likely to be convicted of a serious, violent crime, women involved in underground drug markets are thought to be increasingly vulnerable to poverty, coercion and heightened police profiling (Penal Reform 2020a; Penal Reform 2020b. Human rights advocates argue that drug-related convictions contribute meaningfully to mass-incarceration of particular groups, including women, and in doing so undermine prisoners’ human rights to health; liberty; equality; freedom; and protection against torture,inhumane and degrading treatment (EHRA 2018; Open Society Foundations 2010; Transnational Institute 2018). Lobbyists both in Australia and internationally, call for drug law reform to be gender responsive and informed by feminist legislative approaches, particularly in light of the risks drug criminalisation poses to human rights (AIVL 2024; HRI 2025). This includes wondering about the important contribution of narcofeminism to the Australian drug policy movement and how framing the issue from a narcofeminist lens can re-imagine new reform possibilities (Chang 2023).
This new PhD research project by Chloe Span aims to contribute to the growing body of Australian narcofeminist literature by investigating the manner in which people who identify as women tend to navigate future and present justice system contact when acquiring, consuming, selling and / or supplying illicit drugs. A key objective is to better understand the intended and unintended consequences of current drug policy infrastructure on the lives of women, especially that of drug criminalisation. It further aims to identify specific gendered harms across the nation as well as capture the ways in which women cope, resist and perceive their worlds which facilitates their resilience in a marginal context.
Chloe states:
As Chang (2023) notes, the term, narcofeminism emerged in Europe by a group of women who felt that their drug use community, predominantly men, did not fully appreciate the need for gender-specific responses and who felt equally excluded from mainstream feminist initiatives. They reacted by creating a safe, welcoming space for people who co-existed on the margins of both drug policy activism and the women’s movement, where they could be free of judgment, activate their own self-determined goals, and pursue a drug regulation agenda (Chang 2023; Dennis et al. 2023).
While critical drug studies in Australia have a strong tradition of adopting feminist theories and practices, there is still a need to better understand the intersections between law, policy, human rights, gender and diverse lived experiences, especially in the sense of drug reform being a feminist issue.
This project has the potential to re-tell stories from the perspectives of women that are honest, healing and that have the power to offer competing truths which may challenge dominant narratives about drugs and the people who use them. Semi-structured interviews will be carried out with women who use drugs throughout Australia, where justice system themes, meanings and purposes of drug use will be explored. Such insights, facilitated by a data collection process underpinned by peer knowledges and wisdoms, can offer new information about women’s drug use that helps to shape gender inclusive AOD program design and future drug policy in a way that is human rights focussed and in line with the wishes of the women legislation intends to serve. Chloe aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how women who use drugs can be recognised with dignity and respect, and how drug law reform and system change can better uphold their rights and wellbeing.