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Sex Discrimination

AHRI National Convention and Exhibition

Discover a speech that examines women's workforce participation relating to pregnancy, parental leave, return to work discrimination and sexual harassment.

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Recognising and valuing unpaid care

Women’s economic security and unpaid care work. World Bank /Australian Government Side Event, Commission on the Status of Women, 58th Session

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Women in the Australian Defence Force

The road that has brought me here today has been a fascinating one - one I have found incredibly rewarding. I had been Sex Discrimination Commissioner for three and a half years before I was asked to formally conduct a Review into the Treatment of Women at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and in the Australian Defence Force (ADF).

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

National Press Club Speech -Women on the Verge of Recession: Confronting Gender Issues in Turbulent Times (2009)

It heartens me today to be able to welcome the release of the National Council’s Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. This is the first time we have had a national plan in such a comprehensive form. The challenge now is to ensure that this plan is properly resourced so that all women and their children can live a life free from violence.

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Time for action on parental leave (2009)

HELLO! Is anyone listening? I am the fourth sex discrimination commissioner to argue for a government-funded national scheme of paid parental leave, and I pray that I am the last. Yesterday the "Attitudes to maternity leave in Australia" survey was released, showing yet again that Australians across the board are in favour of this kind of scheme.

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Women on the verge of recession (2009)

We are in economic times that the world has never seen before. Much has been said about the prospect of massive retrenchments and unemployment. Much has been said about ways in which we might work to minimise job losses. Much has been said about the sectors from which these job losses will come. But not much has been said about what this downturn will mean for women.

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Maternity leave scheme is a must (2008)

It would be a baffling about face. In a business climate that calls for decisions that will provide our country with some form of economic certainty and optimism, paid maternity leave is precisely a policy for our times. Not only will it improve national productivity and market competitiveness over the long term by ensuring women remain attached to the workplace, it will support these strong economic outcomes with a strong social dimension.

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Maternity leave is a must (2008)

Tough economic times call for tough business decisions. Decisions made now to strengthen our country’s productivity and market competitiveness will be among the most important of our time. This is precisely the reason why we must stay committed to introducing a government-funded scheme of paid maternity leave.

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Opinion - Time to induce paid maternity leave (2008)

Given that paid maternity leave has been on the public policy agenda for over three decades, the struggle for a universal paid maternity leave scheme can only be described as a protracted labour.

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

Women at Work... (2007)

I want to start by acknowledging that we are gathered on the traditional land of the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay my respect to their elders past and present.

Category, Speech
Commission – General

Opinion Pieces / Articles

The following opinion pieces have been published by the President and Commissioners. Reproduction of the opinion pieces must include reference to where the opinion piece was originally published.

Category, Opinion
Sex Discrimination

After the Barbecue. Perspectives on work-life balance in Australia

After the Barbecue. Thank you for the opportunity to address your Work Life Balance Conference about, of course, work life balance. How quickly those words have become familiar to us, how rich they are in meaning, how endless the possibilities. Synonymous with the Prime Minister’s phrase “the barbecue stopper”, work life balance is a fashionable topic. It has been fashionable for a long time. Even a poor student of history must appreciate that industrialisation, in particular the separation of work from home, is the genesis of this particular question of balance.

Category, Speech
Sex Discrimination

Winds of Change: Indirect Discrimination and University Culture

It is nearly fifteen years since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act - legislation enacted in Australia to meet our international obligations under the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. At the same time too, we have seen the introduction of legislation (The Affirmative Action Act) designed to commit organisations of 100 or more employees to determining measures and programs to ensure that women are afforded equal opportunity.

Category, Speech

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