Women and Racism Forum:
A Discussion
on the United Nations
World Conference Against Racism
Presentation by Commissioner Susan Halliday, 30 November 2000
I would like to begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the Eora people, the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting today.
Commissioner Bill Jonas has already talked about the upcoming World Conference Against Racism and the importance of using this opportunity to speak out against racism, xenophobia and intolerance. As the Sex Discrimination Commissioner I believe that we should use the World Conference Against Racism to adopt a gender-based approach to the analysis of racism. Australia is one of the most ethnically diverse nations in the world. Women make up over half of Australia's population. Without looking at how women, particularly different groups of women, experience racism, we are unable to understand or properly work to eliminate both racism and sexism.
Racism and sexism compound other forms of discrimination and if this multidimensional aspect is not recognized, simple responses to women as only raced or sexed beings, will be, at best, limited and at worst, harmful. In addition, racism and sexism do not affect all women equally or in the same way. A woman's socio-economic position, race, ethnicity, color, national or ethnic origin, her citizenship status, religion or class will affect the way she is treated and responded to by others including other women and by the system.
This was acknowledged by Mary Robinson, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in a speech made earlier this year:
Concern about the specific position of women in relation to race issues was echoed recently when at the first PrepCom of the World Conference Against Racism, more than 40 non-government organizations, representing all regions of the world came together to form a women's human rights caucus to address the interests of women and girls who are victims of racism.A gender analysis of racial discrimination recognizes that racial discrimination does not affect men and women equally, or in the same way. To promote and protect the rights of all persons to be free from racial discrimination, it is necessary to ensure the rights of women when they are similarly situated to men and when they are not. There are circumstances in which women suffer racial discrimination of a different kind or to a different degree than men, or in which discrimination primarily affects women.(1)
They did so because, like us, they believe that in many cases, the intersection of race and gender discrimination leaves women facing violations of their rights that are unique to them. In their view too, the world conference must include gender, as well as age, class, sexual orientation, and economic status in its analysis in order for it to be truly reflective of the reality of women's lives and for the remedies to be effective. Two of their objectives include making gender, as well as other multiple identities distinct items on the world conference agenda and the positioning of women in leadership and decision making roles.
We recognize Indigenous women and all Indigenous Australians as the first Australians who occupy a central and unique position in Australia society. Racism affecting Indigenous women has its historical roots in colonialism, dispossession and attempted annihilation of Indigenous peoples through assimilationist policies. These atrocities have left a legacy of intergenerational social, mental, physical and economic devastation and poverty.
Aboriginal women were not only dispossessed from their families and communities, many also lost knowledge of their cultural heritage, their languages and connection to their land. Together with the continuing impact of the forced removal of Indigenous children and the subsequent physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the suffering of Indigenous mothers, grandmothers, wives, partners, sisters, aunties, daughters, is immeasurable. Despite all this, they have survived, remain resilient in the face of continuing adversity and maintain a generosity of spirit.
Many immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker women similarly face great difficulties albeit from a different historical basis. Discrimination against them is compounded often by their lack of immigration status, experiences of torture and trauma due to wars and civil unrest, and for some, a denial of access to any or some basic services including an income. Many do not have recourse to domestic remedies because of their status as non-nationals leaving them open to extreme exploitation particularly in the areas of sexual and employment related discrimination. For many poverty, a general lack of sympathy towards asylum seekers and refugees, racism, xenophobia, sexism, grief and language difficulties combined with attacks on some of them because of their religious and cultural differences, result in undermining their confidence and ability to realize their basic human rights in Australia.
Let me now briefly highlight some specific issues affecting Indigenous, asylum seeker, refugee and immigrant women. They demonstrate the importance of dialogue between women and the need to take seriously the multidimensional facets of women's lives.
The lack of social justice in Indigenous women's lives is profound. There are very clear disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous women across all indicators of quality of life. The 1996 census told us that:
- Indigenous females have a life expectancy of 61.7 years, almost twenty years less than non-Indigenous women;
- 11% of Indigenous adults hold a post-school educational qualification compared to 31% of non-Indigenous people.
- The average income for Indigenous women was $190 a week compared to $224 a week for non-Indigenous women.
- 23.1% of Indigenous mothers in 1996 were teenagers, more than four times the non-Indigenous rate;
- the proportion of low birth weight babies of Indigenous mothers is twice the rate than for non-Indigenous mothers;
- the fetal death rate among births to Indigenous mothers is more than double that of non-Indigenous births.(2)
Indigenous women are seriously affected by the lack of interpreter services in Aboriginal languages, which denies many women in remote and rural areas access to health, legal and other essential services.
Unemployment among Indigenous Australians is estimated to be 38% according to the government's report National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Indigenous women continue to be dispossessed of their land through racist Native Title Act amendments. They suffer the continuing effects of separation from their families.
Despite all this, Indigenous women's strength and resilience has been a powerful force in helping their communities survive. It is Indigenous women who have taken a stand against alcohol and drug abuse, a legacy of intergenerational poverty and despair. In some areas like Curtain Springs and Wiluna, Indigenous women have initiated alcohol restrictions and social programs, which have resulted in a significant reduction of deaths (due to alcohol related) accidents, domestic violence, poverty and incarceration. Aboriginal women's art is nationally and internationally acclaimed.
Indigenous women along with their brothers are leading in many areas of the struggle for equality and recognition of their unique and central position as Australia's first peoples and the traditional owners of land.
We often hear that for reconciliation to be lasting it must live in the 'hearts and minds' of all Australians. We have not achieved reconciliation. It is a long and difficult process to which we must be committed beyond the walks for reconciliation, wonderful and heartening as they have been and to be continued I hope. I place the success of the reconciliation process at a higher level. For it to be truly meaningful and lasting it must involve the full recognition and protection of the rights of all Australians - including those of Indigenous peoples. Governments and the community must be committed to the long haul of action and attention to the detail that is required for Indigenous people to achieve equality. It must be done on their terms. Unfortunately the Federal government has recently rejected the principle of self-determination, considered fundamental to the realisation of Indigenous peoples rights in this country.
In relation to asylum seeker, refugee and immigrant women, the Beijing platform for action, paragraph 46, recognises:
These women experience severe disadvantage in all areas of their lives. It is compounded in the case of asylum seekers by their lack of status and a denial of their rights to judicial review and other forms of redress....that women face barriers to full equality and advancement because of such factors as their race, age, language, ethnicity, culture, religion or disability, because they are indigenous women or because of other status ... Additional barriers also exist for refugee women, other displaced women, including internally displaced women, as well as for immigrant women and migrant women, including women migrant workers.
Asylum seeker and refugee women are mandatorily detained for long periods of time, in basic conditions, many in remote parts of Australia with no access to the world beyond the detention centre. Women in these centres are victims of unnecessary and prolonged detention and suffer unacceptable conditions whilst they are detained such as no contact with loved ones. The rights of children being detained are not adequately protected, as are the rights of asylum seekers not to be arbitrarily detained.(4)
Selective use of language by government, media and others such as "illegal" "criminal elements" "queue jumpers" etc is undermining human rights protection of asylum seeker and refugee women and men. Xenophobic undertones underpin the increasing tendency in Australia to demonise those who come here escaping from trauma, persecution, wars, and economic, political social and cultural devastation. While many come in search of a better life, many others come simply in order to survive.
The most recent attempt by government to change the domestic violence provision of the Migration Act, if successful, threatens to force partner sponsored migrant women in domestic violence situations to remain in the violent situation or face destitution and possible deportation.
Newly arrived immigrant women must wait two years before they are entitled to receive income support, including the safety net payment of Special Benefit, regardless of their hardship. The impact has been devastating resulting in poverty, malnutrition, illness stress and family breakdown for some. Others have been forced into exploitative employment situations, including, in some cases, prostitution.
Anecdotally, it appears that the 1996 Workplace Relations Act has resulted in many women, especially immigrant and refugee women, being disadvantaged in employment due to inequality in bargaining power and linguistic and cultural difficulties. Many are not able to bargain on equal terms with employers. This leaves them vulnerable to exploitation and low wages.
Of the 329,000 home-based workers in the clothing and textile industries, most are women from immigrant non-English speaking background with very little knowledge of their rights and entitlements.(5) Conditions are poor, their rates of pay low, chronic injury is commonplace, and children are involved in this work.(6) Many work in excess of 60 hours per week with no annual leave payments or workers' compensation cover and payments have amounted to as little as two dollars per hour.
Many refugee and immigrant women are denied access to employment in their chosen profession or trade because of barriers to recognising overseas qualifications or racism.
Immigrant and refugee women experience markedly higher rates of employment-related illnesses, injuries and disabilities than their Australian born and English speaking counter parts due to their location within the labour market that predisposes them to high unemployment and hazardous employment; the nature and conditions of the unpaid work in maintaining households caring for family members, and the very real constraints on access to key social resources namely English classes, social supports, income, housing, transport and child care.
There has been a sharp decline in the information collected and independent research on refugees and immigrants. Scant or no information will render this group more and more invisible in programme planning and service delivery by ignoring their needs.
Negative images of non-English speaking background women especially those visibly different from Anglo-Australian people such as Asian, Middle-Eastern, black Africans, Southern Europeans are often portrayed in the media, TV radio and films. The other extreme is their complete absence in the media as if they do not exist in Australian society at least in ways that warrant their affirmation in the public arena.
Increasingly, groups within society with distinct identities and issues are being denied the right to speak for themselves. Advocacy organisations are being defunded in the name of mainstreaming. Men or mainstream women's groups are given the role of speaking for Indigenous, migrant or refugee women. Often the effect is one of invisibility of these women and the issues specific to them. Indigenous, migrant and refugee women have a right to speak on their own terms - it is a fundamental human right.
Indigenous, immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker women who are lesbians face discrimination both in the general community and within their own specific communities. Much of this discrimination is justified on the basis of religious beliefs and community norms. We must support these women's rights too.
In this context, the Australian government's recent refusal to sign or ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) becomes an important issue. The Optional Protocol establishes a new complaints procedure for women around the world who have suffered human rights abuses. The government's refusal to become a party to it shows little understanding of, or commitment to the rights of Australian women to have recourse to the full range of remedies including those beyond our borders. Once again, I urge the Australian Government to reconsider and sign the Optional Protocol.
I have by no means outlined all the race, gender and other issues Indigenous, immigrant and refugee women face on a daily basis. I present these here today simply to begin the discussions and encourage you to talk with each other and with us at HREOC about your issues, concerns, and evidence in relation to sex and race discrimination in Australia.
We have the task collectively to devise workable strategies to combat racism and sexism. We know that despite laws and programs to combat these discriminations, direct, indirect and institutional forms of discrimination persist. Formal equality as expressed in laws and policies do not deliver substantive equality in most instances. We need to ensure real equality by devising strategies and programs that take account of the differences that women experience and respond accordingly.
While these laws and policies must be maintained and improved we must also in the words of Aung San Suu Kyi understand that
The aim of the World Conference Against Racism indeed is to identify innovative and effective ways to shape the spirit of this new century in recognition of the inescapable fact that all of us, whatever our differences, belong to one human family.the quintessential revolution is that of the spirit, born of an intellectual conviction of the need for change in mental attitudes and values. without a revolution of the spirit, the forces which produced the iniquities of the old order would continue to be operative, posing a constant threat to the process of reform and regeneration.
I believe as do all of us here I am sure, that the World Conference Against Racism should reaffirm a vision where a person's gender, colour, ethnicity, nationality, race, religion, sexuality, class or any other difference, makes no difference to that person's entitlement and in fact go further to help her realize her full potential.
I urge you to speak up and speak out - against racism and sexism.
Footnotes
1. Extract from a speech made by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Mary Robinson, at Women 2000: A symposium on Future Directions for Human Rights at Columbia University in New York.
2. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Indigenous mothers and their babies 1994-1996, AIHW National Perinatal Statistics Unit, Sydney, 1999.
3. This is based on unofficial Department of Correctional Services (NT) figures for the 1998-99 financial year. In numerical terms there were 43 Indigenous women imprisoned in the 1995-96 financial year, increasing to 225 in 1997-98 and 276 in the 1998-99 financial year: Australian Women Lawyer's Association, op.cit. This increase cannot be attributed to the introduction of mandatory sentencing alone, however.
4. See joint submission by the Race Discrimination and Human Rights Commissioner of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity commission to the Department Of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs February 2000, and to the CERD in June 2000, and ICESCR in August 2000, concerning Mandatory Detention of Asylum seekers in Australia.
5. Textile, clothing and Footwear Union of Australia, Fairwear Campaign Kit; Background Information, TUFCA, Melbourne.
6. Mayhew, C & Quinlan, M, 'Outsourcing and Occupational Health and Safety; a Comparative study of factory -based and outworkers in the Australian TCF industry", Industrial Relations Research Centre Monograph no. 40, University of New South Wales; Textile, clothing and Footwear Union of Australia (TCFUA) 1995, The Hidden Cost of fashion, TCFUA.
Last updated 1 December 2001
