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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-19 Daily Xml
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Economic Equality for Women

Ms CLANCY (Elder) (15:20): On 8 March we celebrated International Women's Day, and today, on the two-year anniversary of being elected alongside six other new Labor women, it seems like a good opportunity to reflect on that important day. The UN Women theme for International Women's Day this year was Count Her In: Invest in Women, Accelerate Progress. This theme highlights the need for greater economic inclusion for women and girls everywhere, the need to reshape systems and remove barriers so women and girls will have equal opportunities to earn, learn and lead.

This is especially important in our post-COVID economy going forward. Women experienced the most acute impacts of the pandemic and while lockdowns and closures ended a few years ago, COVID will continue to compound women's historic economic disadvantage. It is well established that disadvantage is rooted in the cultural responsibilities expected of women in our society. This may be changing, albeit slowly, but it is women who bear children, predominantly who raise children, women who structure their work and social lives around the wellbeing of children and women who experience the negative economic consequences of the choice that families make to have children.

Women do the lion's share of unpaid work, including housework and caring responsibilities. Extra unpaid work means women have less time available for employment and education. This extra burden on women has long-term consequences for women's careers and economic security. While women are doing up to an extra hour a day (I wish), in unpaid caring roles, women are racking up an extra two hours of paid work, padding their pay packets and superannuation and generally improving their economic futures.

Unfortunately for women, we are more likely to work part-time or in casual jobs that do not have paid leave entitlements. Single parents, the vast majority of whom are women, are regularly forced out of the workforce, most likely due to caring responsibilities. Single mothers in particular have not rebounded to pre-pandemic level employment yet.

While important progress has been made, women continue to face significant obstacles to achieving equal participation in the economy. It is women in Australia who are working part-time in order to care for family, whether children or elderly parents; in fact Australia has the fourth highest rate of part-time work among women of all OECD countries. Women's part-time working patterns continue past childbearing age and into later life. Having children is not limited to a finite window of care; rather, women adjust their entire working lives to accommodate their family care responsibilities.

Reduced time for work over a lifetime can result in financial insecurity, poverty and homelessness in later life. We are seeing the consequences of these systemic factors right now in the increase in women over 50 experiencing housing insecurity and homelessness. In addition, many of these women did not benefit from compulsory superannuation. Many were paid at a lower rate than their male colleagues. Many faced systemic discrimination and were forced to give up their jobs when they became pregnant or were married.

These policies seem archaic now and as women we appreciate those before us who fought hard to make change. However, I regularly meet with women in my electorate over the age of 55 who are struggling to find secure housing, do not own their own homes and do not have enough superannuation to retire on.

The Minister for Urban Development and Minister for Planning recently gave councils greater powers to approve self-contained accommodation. We know, from listening to older women, that what they want is a place to belong, that there is not enough accommodation suitable for single older women and that women want to live independently but within a community where they can feel safe and secure.

Our government's decision to activate an underutilised housing option will give families the option to co-locate in multigenerational arrangements, a benefit to both older women who desire to age in place, and young families looking for affordability and community. Given the current housing crisis, which we are working very hard to address, as well as the need for a greater range of housing options, this is a practical step we have taken that will immediately allow for additional accommodation to enter the market.

Through South Australia's Women's Equality Blueprint, our government has outlined the key initiatives we are progressing to improve the status of women and girls. The huge range of initiatives span across four priority focus areas: women's safety and security, leadership and participation, economic wellbeing and health. The blueprint highlights our vision of South Australia as a fair and inclusive state in which girls and women can equally and actively participate in the economy and all aspects of life.

Our government has implemented a number of initiatives aimed at supporting women to gain additional skills, address the gender pay gap and increase women's participation in non-traditional roles. This includes investing in grants to encourage women into trades and address skill shortages in priority areas such as defence, commercial cookery, concreting and technology.

Our Labor government will continue to work towards economic equality for women and girls within the government, private sector, non-government organisations and within all our communities.

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