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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-03-07 Daily Xml
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Motions

International Women's Day

The Hon. M. EL DANNAWI (16:13): I move:

That this council—

I. Acknowledges that 8 March is International Women's Day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women;

2. Notes this year's theme 'Inspire Inclusion' recognises the need to ensure that all women and girls are included to equally and actively participate in our economy and in every aspect of community life;

3. Acknowledges the need to continue to tackle gender stereotypes, call out discrimination and draw attention to bias; and

4. Commits to doing whatever it can to work towards preventing and ending sexism, harassment, violence and abuse of women in all its forms and to advancing the status of women and girls everywhere.

International Women's Day is celebrated on 8 March every year. As we celebrate this Friday, we acknowledge not only the strength of women who came before us in the fight for gender equality but the work we still have in front of us. We must not shy away from the realities in our own backyard if we want to achieve better outcomes for women and meaningful change.

Every person in this chamber must stand firm in their commitment to eradicating violence against women: challenging harmful gender stereotypes, calling out discrimination and dismantling the barriers to women's full and equal participation. Women are the backbone of society. As the saying goes: if you educate a man you educate an individual, if you educate a woman you educate a nation. We know that when you invest in women the whole community experiences the benefit.

International NGOs have recognised this fact and have begun shifting their economic strategies for developing countries towards investment in women. However, the role of women as the foundation of community is not exclusive to developing countries. It is also true here in Australia, where we know that women still take on the vast majority of care work for families, domestic work and volunteer community work. They will often manage all this while working a job. The value of unpaid care work in Australia has been estimated by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to be $650.1 billion. This would be equivalent to 50 per cent of GDP.

The latest result of the gender pay gap from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency shows that women's lack of equal participation in the economy is still a massive issue. Every single industry surveyed had a gender pay gap that skewed towards men. In addition, there was a trend across every industry where, as the pay bracket increased, the percentage of women in that quartile decreased. This was true of both male and female-dominated industries. The results also showed that female-dominated industries tended to attract lower salaries than male-dominated industries.

I do not think it is a coincidence that some of our most underpaid, under-resourced jobs are in highly feminised industries that emphasise so-called 'soft skills' traditionally seen as feminine. According to the WGEA, the two most heavily feminised industries are health care and social assistance, and education and training. In these sectors you will find your nurses, your teachers, your social care workers, your disability care workers, your aged-care workers and, of course, your early childhood educators.

These jobs are absolutely essential to the healthy functioning of society; however, there is a significant overlap between many of them and the unpaid care work that many women take on. A lot of these jobs require skills that we take for granted in women, and there is an expectation that women will perform these roles for free; after all, they are jobs that need to be done, and when work needs to be done we know that women step up and do it. In 2017, my colleagues in early childhood education and I celebrated International Women's Day by walking off the job in response to a sector-wide wage crisis. Paying women in these feminised industries what they are worth is essential to closing the gender pay gap.

The gender pay gap is one way that we see misogyny in Australia, but it is not the only way. The threat of violence that many women live under is the most heinous example of misogyny and sexism in our country. Last year, our state experienced a spike in violence against women when four women were murdered within the span of a week by men who were known to them. We were not alone in seeing this spike. Sadly, an increase in violence against women could be seen nationally.

In 2023, 71 women lost their lives due to violence. This number had increased by nine from the year before. This is a shame we all must carry. Moreover, there was an increase in the number of sexual assaults recorded by SA Police in 2022 compared with 2021. This fact is even more frightening when we consider the fact that most women who face sexual assault do not report the incident at all.

When times get tough, women often feel it first. During the pandemic, women were the first to lose their jobs, and unemployment statistics indicated that the jobs most at risk were in feminised industries. Too often, a negative change in circumstance is taken out on women. The Australian Institute of Criminology researched economic insecurity and intimate partner violence in 2020 and 2021. The report concluded that economic insecurity was associated with an increased likelihood of intimate partner violence. This is a well-known fact among those who work in domestic violence prevention.

Domestic violence is also a leading cause of homelessness and is one of the main reasons that women and children are put at risk of losing their home. This is all without mentioning the numerous detrimental impacts of domestic and family violence on children, the details of which deserve their own speech. Full participation for women and girls in every aspect of society can only happen when basic material conditions are met. One of those conditions is safety. Ensuring that women in our society are safe is literally the bare minimum.

The royal commission into domestic and family violence is urgently needed, and I was proud to see this government commit to it. I know there will be much for us to do in this place when it is complete. There is a systematic, persistent undervaluing of women in our society that expresses itself both loudly and quietly. It is a responsibility of all of us to end it in the workplace and in the home.

I would like to end my speech today with a personal reflection. Since joining the parliament, I have been inspired by the many extraordinary women I have met. I have been blessed to meet women who are doing incredible work volunteering for their communities, celebrating their cultures, advocating for those in need and contributing to better conditions for the next generation. These women possess strength, kindness, passion, integrity and intelligence. It is these remarkable women in our South Australian community who I will be celebrating this International Women's Day. I commend the motion to the chamber.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.S. Lee.

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