Natasha de Silva, Principal of Intersection

Natasha has an international and national profile as a human rights and gender equality expert, working with governments and agencies in the region to build knowledge and technical capacity.

While specialising in the rights of women at work, Natasha brings to this a holistic and intersectional understanding of disability rights, age discrimination and racial equality.

Natasha has 20 years of experience as a senior manager and leader in the government sector and prior to establishing Intersection, led significant national policy reforms including:

Set the Standard
the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces (2021)

Respect@Work
the National Inquiry into Sexual Harassment in Australian Workplaces (2020)

Change the Course
on sexual assault and harassment at Australian Universities (2017)

As the Director of the NSW Office for Women, Natasha led the NSW Government response to domestic and family violence under the NSW Blueprint for Reform focusing on system reform, primary prevention and support for women experiencing violence.

Natasha has worked with the Australian Defence Force for over a decade, initially as a member of the leadership team on Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force (2011-2014) examining systemic barriers to women’s participation as well as prevalence of, and response to, sexual abuse - and subsequently on embedding cultural reform to enhance capability.

Natasha has specific expertise in sport and human rights and worked with the AFL, Cricket Australia, Golf Australia, Basketball Australia, Football Australia and FIFA to advance safe and respectful sport for all. This includes the FIFA 2023 Women’s World Cup Human Rights Risk Assessment (2021) and Guidelines on Equal Opportunity for Women and Girls in Golf (2019).

Natasha is a Justice of the Peace in NSW and has degrees in Arts and Commerce in international development and economics and a Master of Global Law from the University of Sydney. Natasha sits on the boards of Full Stop Australia, Plan International Australia and Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College.