9 Overarching themes from the combined women’s voices (a) Self‑determination in the area of land justice The area of land justice highlights the way that many fundamental human rights, such as the right to self‑determination, the right to culture, and property rights, will look different for Indigenous compared with non‑Indigenous Australians. This can be easily misrepresented, by those looking to maintain the status quo, as giving some people different (or more) rights than others. But that is indeed a significant misunderstanding of the nature of human rights and the meaning of equality compared with equity, or the difference between formal and substantive equality. As I said in Wiyi Yani U Thangani, the equality we are provided with under Australian law is formal – or symbolic – equality, not substantive. This has resulted in a singular focus on our equal treatment under the law which ignores our inherent cultural differences and the deprivation we have suffered over the past 232 years. It has resulted in no real equality at all – no equity. For example, if our substantive rights to self‑determination and culture were genuinely fulfilled, we would have access to our Country as and when we want and need. Women talked about native title in the Wiyi Yani U Thangani consultations and particularly about the degree to which it did or did not provide control and opportunities for self‑determination. I noted in that report that the reality for many native title holders is that non-exclusive native title rights do not allow Traditional Owners to control access to, or the use of, land and waters. This restricts economic development driven by us, and also limits the rights of Traditional Owners to contest development driven by others. There are a number of factors which women identified as limiting their ability to participate properly in native title, including in the claims stage and the post‑determination governance stage. i. Lack of information and education In Wiyi Yani U Thangani, women told me that they are limited in their capacity to enjoy their native title rights because of a lack of education around what native title means in each circumstance and the processes associated with it.100 This is a really important issue that I have come across with all groups I’ve worked with. And that is education around native title for our people. That is actual real education, not just bullshit education from the lawyers of the mining companies. But actual education around your rights and what they mean and how you can enforce them … Some people have been involved in native title for 20 years and they don’t understand it. They just say they do. Being involved in a process, does not actually mean that you understand what it is. Karratha women, WYUT consultation This was a recurring theme in the direct contributions to that report too. It appears to be a significant source of the dissatisfaction and disempowerment that native title is so poorly understood. We spoke to lawyers who have constant dealings with communities where community members do not understand their rights and the processes associated with them. We spoke to individuals who are highly competent, educated women who also struggled to understand certain elements of the system and had been unable to get clear answers from the professionals who had advised their native title group over time. Australian Human Rights Commission 111