Category: Workforce Discrimination

Liberal MPs call for vote on reinstating Moira Deeming to party room – ABC News

Five Victorian Liberal MPs have called for a vote to reinstate ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming to the parliamentary wing of the party.

Ms Deeming was exiled from the party room last May after threatening legal action against party leader John Pesutto. However, she has remained a member of the broader Liberal Party.

Last Friday Ms Deeming won her defamation case against Mr Pesutto in the Federal Court, after she alleged he had defamed her by suggesting she was a Nazi sympathiser in the wake of an anti-trans-rights rally on the steps of Victorian parliament last year that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

On Friday, in the wake of the Federal Court decision, Mr Pesutto said Ms Deeming’s potential re-entry to the party room was up to its members, but he would not support it.

Source: Liberal MPs call for vote on reinstating Moira Deeming to party room – ABC News

Being carers costs women more than $500,000 over a lifetime, leaving them with less in retirement than men | The Conversation

By the time they retire, women typically have about one third less superannuation than men.

This can amount to more than $500,000 when wages and super are combined over their lifetime.

For most of the 20th century, Australia’s retirement incomes system produced more equal outcomes because the age pension is not linked to a person’s lifetime earnings.

But the introduction of compulsory super in 1992 linked lifetime earnings and retirement income.

The gender super gap arises because women and men have different patterns of paid work and earning over their lifetimes. Women have 14% lower average weekly earnings than men.

On average, a woman in full-time permanent employment accumulates 17.7% less superannuation per year than a man in an equivalent role. That amounts to A$1,540 less per year. This annual shortfall compounds over time resulting in a wide gender super gap by the time women retire.

The interruptions to work caused by providing unpaid care reduces people’s opportunities for accumulating superannuation. For example, having a child leads to substantial reductions in mothers’ workforce participation and earnings. Women’s earnings fall by an average of 55% in the first five years after entry into parenthood.

In contrast, research suggests men’s earnings are unchanged, or even increase, after they become parents.

It’s not just parenthood. One in 10 Australians provide care for an ageing relative or person with a disability or chronic illness. Women do most of this unpaid care. Unpaid carers often reduce their working hours, withdraw from work, or put their careers on hold. Among primary carers only 58% are in paid work.

Some older workers, especially women, also care for their grandchildren. More than a quarter of grandparents of a child aged 13 or under provide care for the child in a typical week, usually while the parents work.

Boosting women’s workforce participation is an important step. But another is to pay super contributions to parents during the time they are off work providing childcare, as recently agreed by the federal government.

But we need an equivalent for other kinds of unpaid carers.

Even so, as long as care continues to circulate between different groups of women – older women, low paid women – and as long as care isn’t valued for the large social and economic contribution it makes, the gender super gap will persist.

Source: Being carers costs women more than $500,000 over a lifetime, leaving them with less in retirement than men

Barrister relieved after professional misconduct case ‘hell’ dismissed |MSN

A high-profile barrister has told of her relief as “more than two-and-a-half years of hell” came to an end after a professional misconduct case against her was dismissed.

Women’s rights campaigner Dr Charlotte Proudman, who specialises in family law, had faced a Bar Standards Board disciplinary tribunal over a 14-part Twitter thread criticising a judge’s ruling over a domestic abuse case, saying it echoed a “boys’ club”.

The five charges against her were dropped on Thursday. They alleged Dr Proudman had “failed to act with integrity” in posting the tweets, that they amounted to professional misconduct, were “misleading” and “inaccurately reflected the findings of the judge” in the case.

Panel chairman Nicholas Ainley found her tweets are protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European Convention on Human Rights, which protects the right of freedom of expression.

He said her tweets did not “gravely damage” the judiciary, which would “put them outside” of Article 10 protection.

“We take the view that the judiciary of England and Wales is far more robust than that,” he said.

Source: Barrister relieved after professional misconduct case ‘hell’ dismissed

Bosses want to kill off working from home. There’s just one problem with that | SMH

Is work from home dead? Bosses have made headlines during the past few months, ordering employees back to the office five days a week, and there’s been some grumpy rhetoric to match: “All this work-from-home nonsense is completely changing,” David Harrison, chief of commercial property giant Charter Hall, told a recent Australian Financial Review property summit.

But there’s a problem for those who want to drag our workplaces back in time: hybrid work will deliver economic benefits Australia can’t afford to squander.

A recent IMF blog titled Remote Work’s Growth Gift spelt out how work from home can boost productivity and power economic growth. The author, Stanford University economics professor Nicholas Bloom, argued that firms, employees and society in general have all reaped huge dividends from remote work.

“In my lifetime as an economist, I have never seen a change that is so broadly beneficial,” he wrote.

Among the biggest beneficiaries are those who care for children or the elderly, those with a disability, and older people who would like employment.

Research by the Committee for the Economic Development of Australia think tank shows that carers, women with children, people with a health condition, and those with a disability “have significantly increased their workforce participation in occupations that have made large transitions to remote work since the pandemic”.

Remote work has “levelled the playing field” for groups that traditionally faced barriers to employment, the report concluded.

The long commute to a distant office is not the dealbreaker it once was. For some women with caring responsibilities, remote work has allowed them to take on a higher paid, more productive job that better matches their training.

Remote working in some form is here to stay. A return to the five-day office week would only set us back.

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/business/the-economy/bosses-want-to-kill-off-working-from-home-there-s-just-one-problem-with-that-20241203-p5kvbl.html?

WATCH LIVE: Judgment handed down in John Pesutto and Moira Deeming high-profile defamation battle in federal court | Sky News Australia

Ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming has won her high-stakes legal battle against John Pesutto as the judgment in their defamation stoush was handed down on Thursday.

Justice David O’Callaghan found Ms Pesutto defamed the expelled Liberal MP in comments he made in the days after a Let Women Speak rally Ms Deeming attended on March 18 2023, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

The judge awarded Ms Deeming $300,000 in damages.

“I have also found that Mrs Deeming has established that the publication of each of the five impune publications has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to her reputation,” the judge said.

Mr Pesutto’s defences of public interest, honest opinion and qualified privilege were failed, while the judge dismissed the contextual truth defence.

Source: WATCH LIVE: Judgment handed down in John Pesutto and Moira Deeming high-profile defamation battle in federal court | Sky News Australia

Barrister who criticised judge for ‘boys’ club’ mentality appears at tribunal

A high-profile barrister has been accused of professional misconduct after criticising a judge’s ruling over a domestic abuse case saying it echoed a “boys’ club”.

Women’s rights campaigner Dr Charlotte Proudman, who specialises in family law, is facing a Bar Standards Board (BSB) disciplinary tribunal over a 14-part Twitter thread criticising a ruling in a case she worked on.

In the thread, Dr Proudman wrote that the judge had described the relationship of the couple as “tempestuous”, which she argued was a “trivialization” of domestic abuse.

The five charges against Dr Proudman allege that she “failed to act with integrity” in posting the tweets, that they amounted to professional misconduct, were “misleading” and “inaccurately reflected the findings of the judge” in the case.

She is also accused of behaving in a way “which was likely to diminish the trust and confidence which the public placed in her and in the profession” and that she “knowingly or recklessly misled or attempted to mislead the public” by making the posts.

On Tuesday, Dr Proudman’s defence team argued that the proceedings brought against her by the BSB, the regulatory body for barristers in England and Wales, were an “unlawful interference” of her right to freedom of expression.

The 36-year-old cried as the charges were read out to her and denied them all during the first day of the tribunal.

The BSB “disproportionately targeted” Dr Proudman for expressing “legitimate critique of systemic bias” while Sir Jonathan’s Garrick Club membership went “unquestioned”, she said.

Mr McDonald told the tribunal that Dr Proudman was a former mentee of his who had first come to his attention when she wrote and complained about the lack of female portraits in the hall at Honourable Society of Lincoln’s Inn, one of the four inns of court.

The subjects depicted in the hall’s portraits, he said, are now more diverse.

“That’s an example of how Dr Proudman has led the charge to change things,” he added.

Source: Barrister who criticised judge for ‘boys’ club’ mentality appears at tribunal

Premier, stand up and end this gender madness | Courier Mail

A courageous Queensland Health psychiatrist who was suspended for daring to question the “affirmation model” at the Queensland Children’s Gender Service says she now feels vindicated.

Dr Jillian Spencer should be reinstated immediately, and the new Health Minister Tim Nicholls should offer her a public apology.

So should Shannon Fentiman, who championed transgender rights as health minister and minister for women in the last government.

Spencer believed many young people complaining of gender-related distress or “gender dysphoria” may in fact be suffering from autism spectrum disorder or have hidden traumas or distress due to family breakdowns or bullying and exclusion at school.
In England, a landmark four-year study by Dr Hilary Cass exposed the “shaky foundations” on which the National Health Service allowed the growth in gender identity services.
The NHS has now banned puberty blockers for those under 18.
In the US, the American Society of Pediatricians has called for gender clinics to stop using puberty blockers. And it has called for an end to social affirmation and trans support programs like those still operating in Queensland state schools.
President-elect Donald Trump has pledged to defund gender clinics and ban puberty blockers.
Spencer, 47, who had an unblemished record at Queensland Health for two decades, was suspended on full pay 19 months ago after she drew criticism for not fully accepting the “affirmation model” – well before the Cass report was released.
Spencer refused to drink the Kool-Aid. In response she was directed to use children’s preferred personal pronouns.
In documents filed with the Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, psychiatrist Jillian Spencer alleges that her human rights were breached when Queensland Health stood her down for her gender-critical beliefs.
In three other cases she is asking the QIRC to give her whistleblower status.

Source: Premier, stand up and end this gender madness

Female-led companies are less likely to go bust, new research shows | MSN

Despite progress in recent years, the number of female CEOs in the UK remains much lower than their male counterparts.

Yet, new research reveals that women-run SMEs are significantly less likely to face insolvency than those led by men, suggesting that female founders might be better at keeping their businesses steady.

The study revealed that nine times as many companies are run by men than women. Construction businesses are more likely to be run by men, while education businesses are predominantly female-dominated.

Moreover, despite the financial obstacles female founders face when starting a business, many remain optimistic about the growth of their business, as nearly two thirds of women (65%) expect their businesses to grow in the next year, while 40% expect a 20% increase in income.

In March 2024, research revealed that companies with more than 30% female executives were more likely to outperform those with less. Organisations with a good level of gender diversity were also 25% more likely to achieve above-average profitability than companies with less diverse teams.

While the above figures paint a positive picture for women-led businesses, it’s impossible to ignore the problem of the UK’s current gender pay gap, and the lack of investment funding for female-led businesses compared to their male counterparts.

Source: Female-led companies are less likely to go bust, new research shows

Parliamentary Workplace Support Service fields 339 complaints in first nine months

Thirty reports of serious wrongdoing – including sexual assault, stalking and intimidation – have been lodged with parliament’s new support service in its first nine months of operation, prompting former staffer Brittany Higgins to ask if perpetrators working in politics are being held to account.

More than three years after Higgins went public with claims she had been raped in then-minister Linda Reynolds’ office, the first annual report published by the support service established in response reveals it handled 339 cases – spanning everything from serious sexual crime allegations to bullying and mental health issues – within nine months.

Nine per cent, or 30, of the allegations were in the category that takes in rape, sexual assault, assault, sexual harassment, stalking or intimidation, while 10 per cent were bullying claims.

Eighteen per cent related to family and domestic violence, alcohol, drug or mental health incidents and more than a quarter, 27 per cent, were workplace conflicts. A further 124 cases were classified as unknown or other.

The annual report further reveals that more than 50 per cent of the complaints were lodged by political staffers, 12 per cent by parliamentary department staff, and 17 per cent by MPs or senators.

Complaints do not necessarily come from alleged victims inside parliament. Allegations or calls of concern can be made by friends or colleagues, and the service is also available to people working in parliament who experience a personal incident unrelated to their workplace or colleagues.

Source: Parliamentary Workplace Support Service fields 339 complaints in first nine months

Devastated Harris voters conclude America hates women as Trump defeats second female rival |MSN

Democrat-voting Americans say they feel reaffirmed in their belief that most of the United States would rather anyone else as president than a woman after Kamala Harris lost to Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.

“the only thing america hates more than a rapist is a woman,” an X user wrote racking up more than 600k likes and 100k reposts.

Harris’s campaign, which ran staunchly on protecting reproductive rights and upholding democracy, had hoped to follow similar results to Biden’s win.

But the message to Democrats on Wednesday morning was that it wasn’t enough to convince most of the country, especially men, to keep Trump in the past.

“When Trump wins twice against 2 separate women, but loses against another man, it’s not about the candidate, it’s about their hate for women,” one X user wrote.

[Ed: Kamala’s willingness to betray all women by denying the reality of sex and quashing all dissent on this subject may have also played a role . . . )

Source: Devastated Harris voters conclude America hates women as Trump defeats second female rival