TRANSCRIPT
It's more than just a day.
For half the world's population, International Women's Day is an opportunity to reflect as well as take action.
The federal Minister for Women Katy Gallagher has launched Working for Women Australia's first national strategy to achieve gender equality.
The strategy sets out as areas of priority:
- gender-based violence;
- unpaid and paid care;
- economic equality and security;
- health;
- and leadership, representation and decision-making.
Ms Gallagher says the strategy highlights what action has already been taken by the government on these areas and what further action needs to be taken to drive change in these areas.
"In developing this strategy it was incredibly important that it wasn’t just another bureaucratic document or words on a page. Because women in this country don’t need another empty promise. They need action and accountability. For our Government, Working for Women is a commitment to the women and girls of Australia; to a little girl who is born today, that by the time you go to school, you won’t have preconceived ideas about 'girl' jobs and 'boy' jobs. That as you grow up, you and your male peers learn about respectful relationships and enthusiastic consent rather than how women should protect themselves and their friends from the threat of violence."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the strategy adds to existing announcements made in a number of areas to improve the lives of women.
"It follows the announcements and decisions that we've made to make childcare cheaper, to have 10 days paid domestic and family violence leave, to publish the gender pay gap, and therefore make those issues transparent, to provide support for feminised industries through measures such as our 15 per cent increase for aged care workers that have seen the gender pay gap head to its lowest level ever of just 12 per cent."
The government also released its second annual Status of Women report card, which shows the gender pay gap is at a record low of 12 per cent - but other serious disparities remain.
The report, published on International Women's Day, shows Australia is ranked 26th globally for gender equality, up from 43rd place in 2023's report card.
But it also reveals women still do over nine hours more unpaid work and caring duties than men.
And over a quarter of women who recently experienced sexual harassment experienced it at work.
Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth told ABC News the government is committed to tackling domestic violence, holding perpetrators to account and countering negative stereotypes and violence enabled by online influences.
The Counting Dead Woman project reports 64 women were killed by violence in 2023.
Ms Rishworth says women have a right to feel equal - and safe - in the community.
"We do have to work towards doing more to close that gender pay gap, while it is at a record low, there's still more to do. But particularly we need to look at ways to promote more shared care. I think many dads would like to do more caring and spend more time with their children, and more women would like their partners to be able to have that support."
When it comes to leadership in Australia, finding women in key roles is still a rarity.
In Australia’s 20 largest listed companies, while women comprise more than 40 per cent of all directors there are still no women chairs.
Under-representation is still an issue for women in STEM.
When Sheryyne D attended her first IT class just over a decade ago she was one of three women in a class of 30.
But that didn't stop her from pursuing a career in tech; today she's working as a technology delivery lead.
She says diversity of every kind is crucial in every workforce.
"Women have a different perspective. We have different biases to men. So fundamentally, we're going to have different views and approaches to how we approach problems. And that's essentially what we do in business. We're always solving problems for the wider majority. So whether that be our customers, our clients, so having people who represent those customers and clients is essential to being able to solve those problems effectively."
The Albanese government strategy comes at a time when globally women continue to struggle.
UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
Their latest data shows one woman in every 10 is living in extreme poverty.
73.5 per cent of women in wage employment do not have access to social protection such as unemployment benefits or maternity leave.
And the global gender wage gap is estimated to be 20 per cent, meaning women earn 80 per cent of what men earn.
It also shows women continue to do the majority of essential unpaid care and domestic work, and that often goes unrecognised.
