What Working Australian Women Need (Now): A Message from UN Women

This week we celebrate International Women's Day. In Australia, lately, we have heard a lot of debate about paid parental leave and childcare – and how our current arrangements act as barriers to women's workforce participation. But what's missing, what we are far less comfortable discussing, is the sexism that women still face in the workplace. Before you respond by thinking, 'I've never seen or experienced sexism', let me explain....

Australian workplaces are still largely based on the 'ideal worker' model, where people are available at their desks, 24/7. That model best suits workers who do not have any other caring responsibilities. Women continue to dominate low-paying 'caring' roles because from the youngest possible age, we start to reward girls for nurturing behaviours, while encouraging boys to be 'tough and strong'. More than that, when women have children, they do the vast majority of caring work and unpaid work, limiting their available time for paid work. And even if women can jump over all these hurdles, we know one in two will face pregnancy discrimination either when they tell their boss they are pregnant, or when they return to work after leave.

Suddenly, the conversation in promotion boards is 'She has other commitments now' or when project teams are being formed we hear 'She won't want to do the travel required'. Here's an idea - ask women!! Rather than making assumptions (which are entirely based on stereotypes), we need to start having a conversation about how to make work possible, rather than endlessly talking about why it isn't.

Last year, the Australian Government was recognised on the world stage for getting G20 leaders to commit to closing the workforce participation gap between men and women by 25 per cent by 2025.

To put this promise in context, in the past five years we have officially increased women's workforce participation by …zero.

So – let's be clear - doing what we are currently doing will absolutely not get us to this goal. In Australia, closing the gap by 25 per cent equates to getting 250,000 more women into work over the next 10 years. Worldwide it means serious advancements in gender equality and economic growth.

In Australia, up till now, we have tended to look towards paid parental leave and affordable childcare as the best ways to address these goals. But this IWD, we are calling for something different. Something bigger.

This International Women’s Day, the National Committee for UN Women is calling for a National Women's Workforce Participation Strategy. It's time to realise that no single policy or initiative is going to be a silver bullet in this agenda. Instead, if we are going to set a global standard - as we committed to at the G20 - we need to admit the complexity of this issue and build (and of course implement) a comprehensive strategy that addresses bias, discrimination, paid parental leave, childcare and of course enhances workplace flexibility.

I was in Year 7 when the Beijing Conference took place in 1995 and member states of the UN agreed to a progessive blueprint for gender equality. Back then, at the age of 11, the world was my oyster. Today, I am sad that progress has slowed and my rights, our rights, are at risk of going backwards. And 20 years from now, if we don't do something differently, something significant, we are going to be telling the next generation that they, too, won't see equality in their lifetimes.

International Women’s Day was built on the courage and conviction of women and men, fighting for gender equality. Now it is our turn. Join the National Committee for UN Women as we seek to engage the government and the private sector in a genuine commitment to equality and opportunity for all.

Happy International Women’s Day!

For more: see https://support.unwomen.org.au/join_our_20for20_campaign

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