Category: Inequity

Australia has ranked last in an international gender pay gap study — here are 3 ways to do better

Australia was one of the pioneers when it came to legislating for equal pay in 1969 and 1972, and then with gender equality reporting since 1986.

Introduced in 2012, the Workplace Gender Equality Act requires employers to report data by gender on remuneration, workforce composition and the recruitment, promotions and resignations of their employees. This data goes to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Although Australia’s legislation has generated a world-leading dataset on workplace gender equality, our research found that data collection and monitoring alone are not enough to drive widespread change.

Australia falls behind on aspects of transparency and accountability for corrective action.

Source: Australia has ranked last in an international gender pay gap study — here are 3 ways to do better

All-boys netball team dominate girls team 46-12 in under-18s state final – sparking backlash | Daily Mail Online

 

  • The Queensland under-18 netball title saw an all-boys team beat a girls’ team
  • The Queensland Suns men’s team trounced Bond University Bull Sharks 46-12
  • Members of the crowd directed abuse at the boys for playing in the match
  • Parents and fans were divided online about whether the match was wise
  • Queensland Netball said the boys had no where else to play 

Netball Queensland defended its decision to include the boys in the tournament, where they easily won their seven games on the way to the title, on the basis they had nowhere else to play due to the lower number of male players.

‘We are hopeful this will be a catalyst for a stand alone men’s competition in 2022.’

Source: All-boys netball team dominate girls team 46-12 in under-18s state final – sparking backlash | Daily Mail Online

What it’s like for Indigenous women giving birth in jail.

According to the Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research (BOCSAR) the number of women held in NSW prisons increased by 50 per cent (from 682 to 1,021) between 2011 and 2017.

The growth has been particularly marked among Aboriginal women, with the number in prison rising by 74 per cent (from 195 to 340), compared with a 40 per cent growth in the number of non-Aboriginal women in prison over the same time period.

Increased prison numbers are being driven by the numbers of women on remand and not an increase in crime rates. Remand means these women are being held in custody without being found guilty of a crime.

A 2019 report developed by Keeping Women Out of Prison (KWOOP) coalition, for which I am a member, indicates that although Aboriginal people make up only 2.9 per cent of the NSW population, 32 per cent of women in prison are Aboriginal.

Sixty-one per cent of women in NSW prisons are mothers to one or more children below the age of 18. We know the long-term detrimental impacts of separation of children from their families due to parental imprisonment. We also know the guaranteed negative effects on their life trajectories and the greater likelihood of entry into juvenile and adult correctional systems. Despite this, the State continues to lock our women up at alarming rates.

The unnecessary hyper incarceration of women, particularly women who are pregnant, does not create safer communities or reduce risk to the community. How much of a risk to the community can a woman pose who is about to give birth?

Through our work at Deadly Connections Community and Justice Services, we know that many women in prison serve short sentences. Short sentences which are often short enough to disrupt their lives including loss of their home and child but not long enough for the women to engage in any type of program while in custody. We also have a high proportion of women imprisoned for non-violent offences.

This is a human rights issue that requires our urgent attention.

Source: What it’s like for Indigenous women giving birth in jail.

Australia’s gender pay gap has widened to 14.2 percent

Australia’s national gender pay gap has widened, seeing women working full-time taking home $265.50 a week less than their male counterparts.

The figure was released Thursday afternoon by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), revealing the change that has occurred over the past six months on comparing men and women working full-time.

They also announced that ‘Equal Pay Day 2021’ will fall on August 31 this year, marking the 61 extra days women have to work from the end of the financial year to achieve the same annual pay as men.

The difference was driven by a rise in men’s full-time wages that far outpaced a rise in women’s wages, 1.8% compared with 0.9%, with the ABS particularly highlighting earnings growth in construction — an industry that received considerable pandemic stimulus from the Federal Government — as largely supporting this growth.

Source: Australia’s gender pay gap has widened to 14.2 percent

Female-only swimming sessions in Ellenbrook denied despite multicultural community’s calls – ABC News

A local council in Perth’s east rejects a bid for female-only swimming sessions, despite support from the mayor and multicultural groups who say the proposal could save lives.

Source: Female-only swimming sessions in Ellenbrook denied despite multicultural community’s calls – ABC News

Volunteers keep Australia moving, but their unpaid work won’t be explored in the Census

For many Australians who spend chunks of their time volunteering, the Census will not ask details about the work they do.

Source: Volunteers keep Australia moving, but their unpaid work won’t be explored in the Census

Women participate less at conferences, even if gender-balanced – study | Gender | The Guardian

Women are less likely to participate in proceedings at medical and scientific conferences, even with gender-balanced delegates, although simple interventions in conference design sparked a significant improvement in female inclusion, a study has found.

Over the last few decades, women have comprised roughly half of undergraduates in medicine, but remain distinctly underrepresented in medical faculty positions. This imbalance should have been corrected by now, said the study’s lead author, Dr Victoria Salem, an endocrinologist and senior research clinical fellow at Imperial College London.

Despite the even gender balance of delegates, the researchers found that women asked fewer and shorter questions at the 2017 conference – about one out of five questions or comments came from women. Questions from men lasted a combined total of two hours 54 minutes, versus 56 minutes for women over the course of both conferences.

For the 2018 conference, the researchers worked with the organisers to ensure more sessions with at least one woman in a chair position – and found that more female chairs resulted in an increase in female audience questions. In addition, if a woman was the first to ask a question, that increased the odds several times of subsequent audience contributions from a woman, according to the paper, published in the Lancet.

Source: Women participate less at conferences, even if gender-balanced – study | Gender | The Guardian

Transgender Sexual Offending: Context is ALL | Women Are Human

Many people are surprised to discover that despite an approximately 50:50 female-to-male in the total population, less than 5% of the total prison population is female.
In fact, this is a pattern repeated globally: the female prison population is always a small fraction of the total prison population, with this less than 5% figure consistent across settled western democracies such as western countries of the European Union and the U.S. and countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
This difference between female and male criminal offending is even more stark when it comes to prisoners serving sentences for one or more sexual offences. In fact, at no point in the two decades since 2001 has the percentage of male sexual offenders dropped below 99%. This stark sex differential in sexual offender is the same in the U.S. and other comparable countries, notably Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the Republic of Ireland and the Nordic five (made up of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland).

Source: Transgender Sexual Offending: Context is ALL | Women Are Human

Allowing male-born competitors in female sports excludes women

When transwomen are included in the female category, what happens to the women and girls? They miss a spot on the team, they self-exclude, they are withdrawn by their parents, they are silenced if they resist, they lose out on the opportunity for prizes and scholarships and are threatened with loss of sponsorship. Inclusion really means exclusion for women and girls.

Source: Allowing male-born competitors in female sports excludes women