Equality Rights Alliance

This work from Women for Election & Global Institute for Women's Leadership - ANU highlights how important it is to collect intersectional data on political participation. The 47th Parliament is Australia’s most gender equal - but only 7% come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. According to this research: "Indigenous (75%), young (65%), culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women (64%), those identifying as having disability (72%) and LGBTIQ+ participants (56%) are all more likely to identify bias against candidates from marginalised as a barrier to political engagement." Candidates should not have to contend with racist and derogatory attacks when trying to engage in our political systems. When we only collect data on white cisgender women we erase a key part of the story of Australian women's leadership.

Yesterday we saw the final report and recommendations from the recent senate inquiry into issues related to menopause and perimenopause. These are just two of the recommendations from that report, but I'm feeling really encouraged to see the Committee recognise the need for inclusive responses that are mindful of gender diversity. Equality Rights Alliance pushed for both an examination of how reproductive leave could be included in the existing National Employment Standards and the collection of stronger intersectional Australian data which includes LGBTQIA+ communities. Hopefully this is just the start of the conversation! You can see the full list of recommendations here: https://lnkd.in/gq4sVRHH

ERA's Statement on the Paid Parental Leave Amendment: "Yesterday Minister Rishworth introduced the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill 2024 into the House of Representatives. The announcement that super would be added to Paid Parental Leave for first made in March, however seeing the bill introduced by the Minister represents a huge win for Australian advocates. Paid Parental Leave has been both the only type of workplace leave directed predominantly at women and the only type of workplace leave that does not include superannuation guarantee payments. Adding superannuation to government parental leave will help reduce women’s lifetime earnings deficit, and encourage more men to access the scheme and take on caring roles at home. This is an important step towards weakening the power of the damaging gender norms identified in Working for Women, the government's National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality. ERA’s Acting Convenor Madeleine Clark said: “This bill follows years of committed advocacy from the women’s movement, feminist economists, and Equality Rights Alliance members, and we thank everyone who has contributed to making this reform a reality.” She continued: "Equality Rights Alliance congratulates the government on their commitment to closing the super gap between men and women and pushing forward sensible economic policy. We hope that this bill is part of an ongoing effort to ensure Australians have equitable retirement outcomes regardless of their gender.""

Yesterday (August 19th) was Equal Pay Day. The size of the current gender pay gap in Australia means that it will take an extra 50 days of work, on average, for women to earn the same salary as men. We've made progress, but we need to do more. An extra 50 days of work is particularly startling when you consider that WGEA reports women spend 64.4% of their average weekly working time performing unpaid care, compared to just 36.1% for men. Instead of asking women to do more, we need to start asking how to make our economic systems equitable and appropriate for people of all genders.

A big thank you to BroadAgenda 50/50 for publishing my thoughts on the need for more community spaces in the women's sector... So many of us are walking around completely exhausted without the support we need to keep doing good work. Meeting at professional panels and consultation sessions is encouraging, but these kind of events don't typically allow us to talk openly about the emotional intensity of working in this space. I'm grateful to have the sisterhood and solidarity of my National Women's Alliances colleagues in what is a particularly strange moment in my professional life, and I wish others could experience the kind of support that has been extended to me 💜

ERA member Violence Prevention Australia are currently running a violence prevention themed art competition, Stop It Before It Starts! The second of three rounds closes the 29th of October - check out the poster below for more details.

Seeking research participants! YWCA Australia and Swinburne Uni want to hear from young people aged 18-30. Find out more: https://lnkd.in/gMvE6saG

You can now find videos of all of the panels and keynotes from the ERA Gender Equality Symposium: Working Together for Women on our You Tube page: https://lnkd.in/gRppBTzZ This was an amazing event which asked hard questions about the future of feminist advocacy in Australia. Many thanks to our many brilliant panellists and everyone else who helped to make it happen, especially our fabulous MCs, Brianna Delahunty and Tasha Ritchie, my partner in crime: Madeleine Clark and Kate Whittle, Rachel Avery and Vicki Carter from YWCA Australia.

Just one of the incredible panels from our Symposium for those who couldn't be there... A robust discussion on gender responsive budgeting led by Sally Moyle, with contributions from Dr Helen Hodgson, Tanja Kovac, Dr Ramona Vijeyarasa and the inaugural Victorian Commissioner for Gender Equality in the Public Sector Dr Niki Vincent. Head to our YouTube channel to see more of our panels and speakers!