Chantelle lives and works on Ngunnawal Country. She is a passionate feminist and leading global gender equality expert dedicated to advocating for and creating lasting improvements for women and girls globally. As part of the 2024 Australia Day Order of Australia Honours, Chantelle received a Public Service Medal for outstanding leadership and innovation in gender equality and women’s policy.
Chantelle is an experienced internationalist, representing Australia’s interests in women’s rights at the United Nations, OECD, G20, APEC, and other global fora over many years. As the Chair of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy (2023 and 2024), she played a pivotal role in centring equality and feminism in the global economic discussion. Her current work focuses on improving gender equality in Defence and national security settings, global advocacy for economic equality, supporting corporate and philanthropic efforts to eradicate inequality, and driving change across the care economy.
Chantelle has served as the Head of Australia’s Office for Women, overseeing the introduction of key economic and social policy reforms, including legislating pay transparency, introducing Australia’s first gender budgeting system, and securing policy reform for women in paid parental leave, housing, the Australian Skills Guarantee, care economy, and industrial relations.
Chantelle led national policy on Women’s Safety for many years, notably steering the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children and securing record government investments. Her role included contributing to the Women and Women’s Safety Ministerial Taskforce, addressing sexual and family violence during COVID-19, and overseeing the 1800RESPECT national domestic violence service. She has served on the boards of Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) and Our Watch – Australia’s national primary prevention agency – in addition to leading large-scale reforms to modernise Victorian community services as part of their response to the Royal Commission into Family Violence.
Chantelle currently serves on the Boards of the International Women’s Development Agency, the National Council of Women Australia, and Global Sisters, and is the Principal Gender Specialist at VOXFEMINA, a global feminist start-up focused on eradicating gender inequality.
Chantelle holds a Master of Arts and post-graduate qualifications in gender mainstreaming, international development, and women’s health and human rights.
