Category: Workforce Discrimination

How Australia missed the point about stay-at-home mums being a drain on the economy

According to the World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Report published in October 2016, Australia fell from 15 in 2006 to number 46 in 2016. Australian women’s low workforce participation rates were cited as one of the key drivers behind Australia’s dramatic slip in just ten years.

The government’s omnibus savings bill is still on the table, though it is unlikely to pass. It proposes significant changes to parental leave and childcare subsidies, all in the name of making it ‘fairer’. The whole plan, frankly, is pants.

The changes aren’t radical enough and go nowhere near addressing the barriers to high quality affordable childcare and parental leave that keep mums out of work. Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner Kate Jenkins said so in remarks to a recent Senate inquiry on the bill. And on that basis the Human Rights Commission rejected it.

https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/stay-at-home-mums-being-a-drain-on-the-economy/

Sexism in Sport

Money Talks: Golf Club accepts women, after being threatened with major tournament withdrawal

https://womensagenda.com.au/business/money-talks-golf-club-accepts-women-threatened-major-tournament-withdrawal/

Women in AFL are paying to play & it needs to change.
https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/eds-blog/the-pay-gap-in-afl-women-are-paying-to-play-and-it-needs-to-change/

Why are so many women leaving the law?

The International Bar Association’s Legal Policy & Research Unit recently launched a global investigation into the reasons why so many women lawyers are leaving the legal profession.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-so-many-women-leaving-law-claire-bibby?trk=v-feed&lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_feed%3BCy6UegqLIEDD%2B4lpqeEX0A%3D%3D

Unpaid childcare is Australia’s largest industry – it needs to be acknowledged

The value of unpaid childcare makes it Australia’s largest industry, larger than any in the formal economy.

Unsurprisingly, because of traditional role allocation, women do 76% of childcare and 72% of unpaid work overall. They also do 67% of domestic work, 69% of care of adults and 57% of volunteering.

With women doing three-quarters of the unpaid work, attaching a dollar value helps in understanding how it affects their participation in the paid workforce, says Thorpe.

https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/mar/10/unpaid-childcare-is-australias-largest-industry-it-needs-to-be-acknowledged?

Amal Clooney’s maternity wardrobe: more important than genocide?

“Amal Clooney nails an elegant maternity look as she speaks against Isis at the UN” (Daily Telegraph)

this is the definition of sexism, ignoring a woman’s achievements and focusing instead on her fertility and appearance? That it is a sad indictment of us all that a pregnant woman in a dress is deemed more newsworthy than international slaughter?https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2017/mar/13/amal-clooney-maternity-wardrobe-media-human-rights-lawyer-appearance-sexism-mermaid-hair?




	


	





	

		
		
Legal body underscores troubling silence in court
	


	
	
	

		
A survey published in the article, ‘Gender Equality Among Barristers Before the High Court’, suggests that female barristers continue to be very nearly invisible in Australia’s highest court, the Australian Women Lawyers (AWL) has said.



http://www.lawyersweekly.com.au/wig-chamber/20703-legal-body-underscores-troubling-silence-in-the-court?utm_source=LawyersWeekly&utm_campaign=10_03_17&utm_medium=email&utm_content=4

http://www.smh.com.au/comment/female-barristers-are-barely-seen-and-rarely-heard-in-our-high-court-20170224-gukfec.html



	


	





	

		
		
With great female minds idling on the sidelines, how much progress have we lost?
	


	
	
	

		
Considering that approximately 130 million girls worldwide are not attending primary through upper-secondary school and that women represent nearlytwo-thirds of the world’s illiterate, we must ask: how many other innovations and inventions – great and small – have been lost to the world because so many minds are idle on the sidelines of human progress? 


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/mar/08/with-great-female-minds-idling-on-the-sidelines-how-much-progress-have-we-lost?



	


	





	

		
		
ABC to use only female presenters on International Women’s Day
	


	
	
	

		
THE ABC’s controversial man-ban, that will mean all TV and radio programs will be presented by women for a 24-hour period, has been billed by the broadcaster as an opportunity to “celebrate the achievements” of its female talent.


Meanwhile the ABC’s youth radio network Triple J will go one step further than having all female presenters – it will only play songs by female artists.


Over in Melbourne, meanwhile, traffic lights are being used to promote gender equality. As of today, new pedestrian traffic lights flashing female-looking figures will be installed across the city’s CBD, as part of a 12-month trial from VicRoads. (We’re wondering what could go wrong during the trial, could they be found to be too distracting).


https://womensagenda.com.au/latest/traffic-lights-turn-female-abc-boots-off-men/http://thenewdaily.com.au/entertainment/tv/2017/03/07/abc-international-womens-day-presenters/

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/media/abc-female-talent-takes-back-seat-to-ringins/news-story/eef6f4922cf04c62c0abf2c1f08c1f3f



	


	





	

		
		
How Geena Davis became a champion for women on screen
	


	
	
	

		
So her institute commissioned more research: this time, a global study of gender in film in the 10 biggest film markets (including Australia) in the world. The findings were “bleak”, she said: of those characters seen to be holding a job, 77.5% were male and 22.5% were female.


This lack of onscreen depiction contributes to symbolic annihilation, she said, by which those that don’t see themselves reflected on screen believe they are unimportant. She quoted damning statistics that show the more hours of television a girl watches, the fewer options she thinks she has in life.



https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2017/mar/06/how-geena-davis-became-a-champion-for-women-on-screen?



	


	





	

		
		
Returning to work after a baby: The worst thing for women is the best for men
	


	
	
	

		
That is, when a woman becomes a mother it holds her career back. It automatically renders her a less valuable employee in the eyes of those who work with her. However when a man becomes a father this new-found responsibility actually works in his favour at the office.


The motherhood penalty has been proven again and again but more recently researchers have also noted a fatherhood bump.


http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/kids/why-the-worst-career-decision-for-women-is-the-best-for-men/news-story/eef595882b92eca4130fccc6dbdaad5b