Category: Inequity

Tackling medical misogyny in Australian healthcare | SMH

The federal government has not yet released the findings of the audit that was completed last year of more than 8000 curriculums at 123 institutions responsible for educating every accredited healthcare and allied health practitioner. The Health Department said the report was undergoing quality assurance checks, which have taken longer than expected to complete.

But Professor Bronwyn Graham, who led the audit, said the key issue was that too often students were not being told that the course content – presented as gender-neutral – was based on evidence developed using males.

“Male subjects, male presentations, risk factors and responses”, said Graham, director of the Centre for Sex and Gender Equity in Health and Medicine. “The assumption that students take away is this is just what we do for all patients.”

As a result, women’s pain is much more likely to be dismissed or denied, while men are more likely to be believed, Graham said.

Doctor and medical philosophy researcher Lea Merone has similar concerns. Her 2024 analysis of six textbooks recommended by Australian medical schools found all implied women and men had the same symptoms for the analysed diseases.

To fix the curriculums, Australia’s gold standard clinical guidelines – which cover everything from anaesthesia to lung cancer – needed updating, Graham said.

Meanwhile, work was finally under way to develop pelvic pain management guidelines, redressing a glaring oversight considering chronic pelvic pain affects up to one in four Australian women.

The decades-old mnemonics doctors and nurses were once taught to remember the 12 cranial nerves

Doctors:“Oh Oh Oh To Touch And Feel Virgin Girl’s Vagina And Hymen”

Nurses:“Oh Oh Oh To Touch And Feel Very Good Velvet, Ah Heaven”

Source: Tackling medical misogyny in Australian healthcare

‘Too pretty to do math’? Here’s the real reason girls aren’t choosing to study maths | The Conversation

The shirt, created by Australian label Lioness, has raised questions about the deep-rooted messages girls receive about who mathematics is for.

Research suggests girls receive signals from family and the community that it is OK – and even desirable – not to be “a maths person”. On the other hand, boys are more likely to have their mathematical potential recognised and encouraged.

For decades, research has consistently shown girls are just as capable of succeeding in maths as boys.

We know Australian girls are less likely to enrol in advanced mathematics subjects (which include calculus and prepares students for tertiary study) in years 11 and 12. As of 2025, only 36.5% of higher mathematics students were female.

In the 2025 NAPLAN tests, 14.4% of Year 9 boys achieved the top level in numeracy compared to 9.2% of girls.

If the issue is not ability, what is driving these participation differences?

Studies suggest the biggest causes of girls opting out of maths are differences in how girls’ perceive their own mathematical ability and their lower interest in the subject.

In short, girls see themselves as less capable, even when they have the same actual maths ability as their male classmates. They are also less interested in maths.

Another concerning message from the t-shirt is what girls are taught to value in themselves.

There is an implication that physical beauty can compensate for, or even replace, difficult intellectual work. In this framing, beauty becomes a form of exemption. This encourages girls to believe their worth lies in external standards of appearance instead of in their capacities and interests.

The phrase “too pretty to do math” suggests girls must choose between being feminine and being mathematically capable – of course they do not. The problem has never been girls’ ability to do maths. It is that too often society fails to tell them they can.

Source: ‘Too pretty to do math’? Here’s the real reason girls aren’t choosing to study maths

Final Report | National Centre for Action on Child Sexual Abuse

Findings relating to Family Court, police and child protection responses are based on a review of 65 published family law cases and qualitative interviews with practitioners and survivors.

Domestic violence in the home somewhat increases the risk of co-occurring child sexual abuse; however, child sexual abuse in the home significantly increases the risk of co-occurring domestic violence.
Girls are more likely to experience co-occurring child sexual abuse and domestic violence than boys.

In the majority of cases (90.7%), initial allegations of abuse were made by the mother. In half of these instances, the child ultimately came to live primarily with their mother, and in the other half, with their father.

In 40% of cases, one or both parties were self-represented for some or all of the proceedings. Just over a quarter (27.1%) of matters were case managed by the Magellan List, which is designed expedite matters that involve (or are suspected to involve) allegations of child abuse.

The majority of cases involved an Independent Children’s Lawyer (ICL). In our study, the ICL supported the account of:
the accused parent (usually a father) in 66.7% of cases
the accusing parent (usually a mother) in 23.8% of cases

The Court either partially or totally adopted the orders proposed by the ICL in the majority (85.7%) of cases where an ICL was involved. In almost half of cases (44.1%) where mothers made allegations of co-occurring domestic violence and child sexual abuse, the Court found their parenting capacity was affected by mental illness.

Child sexual abuse is more difficult to substantiate than domestic violence. In cases of co-occurrence, the alleged perpetrator may have a documented history of domestic violence while a sexual abuse allegation is less likely to be substantiated.

This evidentiary picture has multiple cascading implications. Women are in a double bind: Even where domestic violence has been documented, women can be penalised if they are seen to have overreacted to the possibility of child sexual abuse, but they can also be punished if they are viewed as not responding swiftly or proportionately enough to child safeguarding risks.

Children are at risk of harm: Where domestic violence is documented but child sexual abuse is not substantiated, children may be obliged to spend unsupervised time with their father despite having disclosed sexual abuse by him.

Responses to domestic violence and child sexual abuse are siloed and relevant services are not cooperating to provide holistic support for women and children.

Responses to complaints of co-occurring domestic violence and child sexual abuse are shaped by gendered stereotypes that heighten suspicion and judgement for women in ways that are not present for men.
Domestic violence constrains and complicates women’s reactions where they suspect, or where their child alleges, sexual abuse by the male partner. Child sex offenders can abuse and groom women in ways that undermine women’s social supports, autonomy, mental health and confidence in their own judgement.

Source: NC_Comissioned_Research_Salter_Improving_Responses_Final_Report.pdf

This Renaissance queen helped build a nation. Her (male) critics called her dangerous | The Conversation

Bona Sforza was one of the most remarkable women of Renaissance Europe. Born into one of Italy’s leading ruling families and connected to figures such as Lucrezia Borgia through the tangled politics of Italian dynasties, she became queen consort of Poland and grand duchess of Lithuania.

More than a royal bride, she brought to Poland the administrative, financial and cultural ideas of Renaissance Italy. She understood how wealth, land and government could be used to strengthen a dynasty.

Although never a reigning monarch, Bona became one of the most politically influential women ever to sit on the Polish throne. Admirers praised her intelligence and determination. Critics condemned her as ambitious, overbearing and dangerously powerful. That tension lies at the heart of her story.

The debate over Bona’s legacy raises a question that still resonates today: why are women who wield power effectively so often judged differently from men who do the same?

.- ——

Like Bona, women leaders today are still often judged by standards that men rarely face.

A United Nations report on corporate leadership found that across 20 advanced economies, women held only 6% of chief executive officer roles, 7% of board chair roles, and 15% of chief financial officer roles.

Modern attitudes to women also matter. A Stanford University institute describes the “likeability penalty”: women leaders who appear competent and assertive can be judged as less likeable, while men often receive praise for similar behaviour.

Five centuries later, the pattern remains familiar. Bona’s wealth, discipline and confidence strengthened the monarchy. They also made her a target. They made her easier to attack.

Source: This Renaissance queen helped build a nation. Her (male) critics called her dangerous

Family law fight: Women forced to ‘work until the day I die’ to afford court cases | SMH

By the time of the final Federal Circuit and Family Court hearing in her case, the financial strain on Eloise was so severe she had to access her superannuation on compassionate grounds to prevent the forced sale of her home to cover legal bills.

“Thirty years of working; I now have zero super,” Eloise said. “This is what happens to so many women my age that have gone through this.

“I don’t regret spending half a million dollars protecting my children … but I will be paying that price for the rest of my life. I will probably work until the day I die.”

Eloise said the system was “absolutely not workable, but there isn’t any other choice”.

“It is exhausting to have to keep proving abuse over and over again. The secondary trauma of family court proceedings takes a huge emotional and financial toll.”

Eloise’s lawyer, whom the Herald has chosen not to name to avoid indirectly identifying her client, said there was a massive gap between people who don’t qualify for legal aid and people who can actually afford legal fees.

“The system is really broken,” she said.

Steve Frost, founder of the not-for-profit Horizons Family Law Centre in Sydney, estimated that “about 70 to 80 per cent of the population … couldn’t afford a private lawyer to run a full family law case”.

“Under current funding arrangements, most people in paid employment wouldn’t qualify for legal aid,” he said. Nor would those with “any form of savings, even if they’re modest”. Home-owners, even with a mortgage, were also mostly ruled out.

“It’s normal people,” Frost said. “When we first set up [in 2005], we used to talk about our service being for ‘ladies and tradies’.

“These days … huge numbers of the people contacting us are in white-collar jobs earning objectively good incomes but without the capacity to pay $330 an hour and upwards for a private solicitor.”

Frost’s centre, a registered charity, does not receive government grants and is funded by donations. Its service is not means tested, but it provides higher levels of help to people who don’t qualify for legal aid and who can’t afford a private lawyer, he said.

Litigation funding by private lenders is available in some family law cases involving property, rather than purely parenting matters. The loan is repaid from the eventual payout. But the interest rates are high.

In the case of amicable splits, Frost said the government-funded AI tool Amica, developed by National Legal Aid, provided guidance about likely court outcomes and generated legal documents for a relatively low cost.

The proportion of parenting cases in the Federal Circuit and Family Court alleging family violence increased from 80 per cent to 86 per cent over the past four years, according to its 2024-25 annual report.

Statistically, it is more common for women and their children to be the victims of family violence by a male partner, heightening the need for lawyers in parenting and property disputes.

National Legal Aid executive director Yvette D’Ath, a former Queensland attorney-general and justice minister, said it was clear the family law system was weaponised in some cases to further traumatise victims of domestic and family violence.

Jacqueline Minors, principal of Minors Family Law in Sydney, said she had seen an increase in the number of clients trying to act for themselves in court to reduce costs.

Ultimately, the cost of proceedings affected how parents could support their children financially in the future, she said.

Source: Family law fight: Women forced to ‘work until the day I die’ to afford court cases

The government is reforming child support. Here’s what’s changing – and what’s been missed | The Conversation

The proposed changes would encourage child support to be collected directly from wages more often. About half of child support payment arrangements are made privately, which can be hard to enforce.

The government is also planning to release an online tool to help parents select the most suitable collection method.

The proposed laws would also be more flexible, allowing either parent to switch from private to government collection to recover child support debts.

There’s also funding to crack down on people who repeatedly don’t lodge tax returns to reduce the amount of child support they owe.

When child support is unpaid, delayed, or underpaid, payees (mostly mothers) can lose access to higher government payments or face unexpected debts because government payments are linked to expected child support. Single mothers with young children almost always carry the greatest financial burden of non-payment because they are less likely to be employed than other mothers.

Under the changes, late or unpaid child support is increasingly being framed as financial abuse.

Source: The government is reforming child support. Here’s what’s changing – and what’s been missed

Tightening NDIS eligibility will disproportionately affect women – in more ways than you’d expect | The Conversation

Public hearings are underway this week to highlight the impacts of the government’s new National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) bill to tighten eligibility and save costs.

Over the past two days, the Senate inquiry heard that if the bill passes in its current form, it risks entrenching gender inequities in the NDIS and further excluding women and girls.

We have long known the NDIS has a gender problem.

Women and girls only make up 38% of the scheme. Men outnumber women in every age category (except for 55 and over) and dominate nearly every disability type within the scheme.

From the age of 15, access requests from men are also approved at a higher rate than access requests for women.

Women are more likely than men to have medically unexplained or chronic conditions, such as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia, which causes chronic pain.

These “pay to prove” dynamics also disproportionately affect those with fewer financial resources. Women with disability are more likely than men with disability to live on lower incomes. They also have higher expenses and lower earning capacity due to greater caring responsibilities.

Tightening access to the scheme in this way – without first addressing costly and difficult-to-access treatment pathways – risks excluding these women and girls from key supports.

The bill gives the minister power to make cuts to entire categories of supports in the future, without introducing legislation or consultation.

The 50% across-the-board cuts will shift these responsibilities back onto informal carers – largely women.

There are more than twice as many female primary carers as male primary carers. Of those providing primary care to children with disability, the overwhelming majority (84.7%) are women.

Cuts to social and community participation funding are also likely to increase social isolation and reduce natural safeguards of community connection for people with disability.

Women with disability are disproportionately likely to experience violence, so cutting them off from vital community participation supports poses an unacceptable risk.

Source: Tightening NDIS eligibility will disproportionately affect women – in more ways than you’d expect

Family courts show ‘widespread’ gender bias and victim-blaming, report finds | Family law | The Guardian

Exclusive: Analysis shows 72.5% of 91 judgments in England and Wales contained judicial victim-blaming, with mothers scrutinised more intensely

Source: Family courts show ‘widespread’ gender bias and victim-blaming, report finds | Family law | The Guardian

Federal court transcript crisis as VIQ Australia collapses | Financial Review

The embattled transcription business relied on by the federal justice system is being wound up and will cease service imminently, threatening the day-to-day operations of some of Australia’s most important courts and forcing them to scramble to find a replacement.

Administrators for Canadian-owned transcription giant VIQ Australia told court officials on Wednesday the company would be wound down, affecting 600 staff and the production of daily transcripts in almost 200 courtrooms nationwide.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after the federal courts revealed they had paid $5.3 million more in their contracts with VIQ than previously disclosed.

In Senate estimates on Tuesday, the CEO of the Federal Circuit and Family Court, David Pringle, said that VIQ had threatened to “withdraw services”, which forced the courts “to scramble to try and find appropriate contingency arrangements”.

VIQ has come under sustained scrutiny over the past year, including from Greens senator David Shoebridge, over alleged data breaches, as well as the inaccuracy and high cost of its transcripts, which can reach between $3000 and $5000 for a single day’s hearing.

Source: Federal court transcript crisis as VIQ Australia collapses

Former Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze Sentenced to 60 Days in Jail | The Marshall Project

Nearly six months after resigning in disgrace, former Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze was sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for falsifying records to steer work to a friend.

Celebrezze, who spent 16 years on the bench, stood motionless as Visiting Judge Mark Wiest from Wayne County handed down the punishment.

Celebrezze faced a potential prison sentence of up to three years for the third-degree felony charge of tampering with records for steering work to Mark Dottore, a longtime family friend whom she’d repeatedly appointed to oversee lucrative divorce cases.

Across multiple generations, the Celebrezze family built an enduring political dynasty that has wielded power and influence from Cleveland to Washington, D.C.

During disciplinary hearings before the Ohio Supreme Court, Celebrezze admitted to 15 violations of professional and judicial conduct rules. The court suspended her in January from the practice of law for two years, with one year stayed. She is now expected to lose her law license after being convicted.

Since the 1920s, Celebrezze family members have occupied an extraordinary sweep of public offices, from Cleveland mayor and state attorney general to the state Supreme Court, appellate courts and county benches.

Source: Former Judge Leslie Ann Celebrezze Sentenced to 60 Days in Jail | The Marshall Project