‘International Women’s Day: Celebrating the achievements and looking to the future’
Sex Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination
Governor-General’s International Women’s Day Reception, Government House
8 March 2011
Your Excellency, honourable guests, ladies and gentlemen good evening. It is a great pleasure to be with you tonight to celebrate 100 years of International Women’s Day.
I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people and pay my respects to their elders past, present and future. They cherish the memories, the traditions, the culture and hope of all Australians. I honour them for their custodianship of the land on which we gather today.
When the Governor General called me to discuss the idea of having this reception tonight, we were quite clear that tonight should be a celebration!
And what a celebration it has been!
But International Women’s Day also gives us an opportunity to reflect on the road ahead, what remains to be done in our quest for gender equality and how we might harness our collective energy, so that when we look back in 100 years time we will say “Yes 2011, I remember – that was a year of great celebration – but it was also the year we resolved to finish the unfinished business of gender equality.”
Of course, when we speak about gender equality, and promoting women’s rights, we are not just talking about the interests of women. The kinds of changes that women have fought for and made, have been improvements not only for women, but for our community as a whole. When we talk about the progress of women, we are talking about the progress of Australia.
And it is the voices of Australians that have helped me understand what still needs to be done.
More than one in five women has experienced sexual harassment in the workplace and we have seen an increase in complaints of sexual harassment since the recent high profile cases.
Women have half the retirement savings of men despite doing some of the most valuable caring work in the country.
Women are still not paid equally for work of equal value. And this gap is compounded by the fact that most workplaces operate with a view that people who are paid more, matter more. The very existence of the pay gap further marginalises women and is an added burden. Not only are women paid less but they are perceived to be less valuable.
Women in decision making roles are still the exception rather than the norm. Without a critical mass of women in our parliaments or our boardrooms, women’s voices are still absent from the major decisions made in this country.
We need to redouble our efforts to reduce violence against women and their children. In 2005, 1.2 million women in Australia over the age of 15 had experienced domestic or family violence. The gravity of this particularly for marginalised women was brought home to me by an Aboriginal woman in Perth. She explained that kin provides people with enormous strength and a profound sense of identity but as a consequence, ones connection to kin makes it difficult to leave violent partners. To leave would separate a woman not only from her family but from her traditional lands, and her entire social, cultural and spiritual world.
I have been very fortunate over the last 3 years to witness so much positive change in many fields - the introduction of a national Paid Parental Leave scheme, the anticipated strengthening of the Sex Discrimination Act, particularly to support men with caring responsibilities and to strengthen the sexual harassment provisions, a six-fold increase in the number of women appointed to ASX 200 boards (admittedly from a very small base), legislative and policy changes to support victims of trafficking, and a national plan to reduce violence against women and their children.
While in New York last week for the Commission on the Status of Women, I attended the launch of UN Women. It was a landmark moment in the history of the international women’s movement. I sat there among women advocates who had fought so hard to have a high level champion created within the UN.
When we heard the words of Hilary Clinton from the Fourth World Conference for Women repeated - “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights, once and for all” – it reaffirmed that equal opportunity for women is not a gift but a right – one which has been richly deserved but long delayed.
And it was also moving to hear the words of the Secretary General Ban Ki -Moon, who said ‘I will support UN Women in every way I can, with every ounce of my energy and commitment.”
It is heartening to see this kind of personal commitment from male leaders, whether they be leaders of our countries, our boardrooms, our schools, or our communities. What it shows is that it will take both women and men to bring about the seismic cultural shift that is necessary. Referring to this need one woman from Nigeria put it eloquently when she said ‘Can anyone run fast on one leg?’
Many in the global community remember the valuable contribution of our present Governor General during her term as Sex Discrimination Commissioner. Despite our terms being separated by 14 years I sometimes have a sense of déjà vu when I attend the UN – I imagine the Governor General sitting in exactly the same room having exactly the same discussions!
But there has been change at the global level. Whereas 100 years ago we had a few thousand women calling for action, we now have many hundreds of thousands of women and men, from across Australia and millions more across the world, not just calling for change, but taking action themselves.
We see this happening in our parliaments, our boardrooms, our workplaces, our schools, on buses, trains and planes, on the internet, the blogosphere and social media and where it matters most, in our own homes.
I am humbled and excited today, to be in the company of so many women and men who through their dedication, commitment and energy have found the courage to speak out, to make change and to support each other.
Yours are profound accomplishments - accomplishments that provide a solid foundation for the next evolution of our struggle.
In closing, I want to remember and acknowledge the work of a fellow commissioner from the Afghanistan Human Rights Commission, Hamida Barmaki. I learnt last month that she died in a suicide bombing. It was the birthday of her second daughter (who was turning 14) and the whole family (Hamida, her husband and four children) went out to lunch to celebrate. None of them came home.
As a Human Rights Commissioner she spoke out about the injustices perpetrated upon women and children across her own country. As a Professor at Kabul University she taught many young people about the importance of the rule of law, about democracy and the international human rights system. She worked tirelessly to create a world where all women and men would be treated equally and with dignity.
One of the women she taught wrote movingly about Hamida’s death recalling a saying by Albert Pine: “What we do for ourselves dies with us. What we do for others, and the world, remains and is immortal.”
On this International Women’s Day she stands as an inspiration to all of us.
I want now to bring this day to a close with some thank yous – firstly I want to express a special thanks to Qantas and Allan Joyce the CEO who very generously sponsored a number of women from all around Australia to be with us here tonight.
Finally to each and every one of you, thank you for all the ways you have contributed to women’s equality both in Australia and across the world. For all the people you have supported, for all the moments when you found the courage to speak up, when doing nothing might have seemed like a preferable option.
Let us stand on the shoulders of those who have come before us to create a world where:
- women are equal partners with men in all aspects of economic, political and social life
- women are able to work and have a family life
- women do not live with poverty because they have chosen to care; and where
- we are all free to live our lives without discrimination, harassment and violence.
Together we can create a world we are proud to hand down to our grandchildren.
Happy International Women’s Day.
