Elena Rosenman
Elena Rosenman is the Centre’s CEO.
Elena is committed to increasing the accessibility and accountability of the legal system for women.
Elena is a passionate advocate for the role of specialist, community-based organisations to respond to gender-based violence and discrimination.
Under her leadership, the Women’s Legal Centre ACT has quadrupled its resources and increased from a staff team of 6 to more than 30. She has led a remarkable agenda of transformation and growth. This includes introducing new practice areas and partnerships and implementing a multi-disciplinary, trauma-informed service model involving a team of specialist social workers and other professionals who work alongside legal practitioners to keep women safe and engaged throughout their legal matter.
Prior to joining the Centre, Elena worked in the Human Rights Branch of the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, providing strategic advice on key sex discrimination and LGBTIQ human rights issues to the Australian Government. Her previous roles include gender policy advisor to the previous Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Liz Broderick; Government Relations Advisor for Amnesty International Australia; and a range of advocacy roles in local and national peak bodies. Her previous appointments include as a Director on the Board of the Aids Action Council, Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT, the NSW Gay and Lesbian Rights Lobby, the ACT Canberra Rape Crisis Centre , the ACT Youth Coalition and Meridian ACT.
Elena ‘grew up’ while working with Toora Single Women’s Service, developing a deep respect for feminist women’s services while researching a book on Toora’s history, published in 2002. Elena’s work with Toora gave her a strong client focus, and valuable practical experience identifying and overcoming some of the less visible barriers to access. Working across the women’s community and government sectors has informed her approach to the critical nature of partnerships to build system capacity to meet need.