How to promote gender equality in laws and policies in Australia?

All China Women’s Federation (ACWF) Workshop,
Australia Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program
Beijing, China

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Good morning, and thank you so much for inviting me to participate in this wonderful workshop with All China Women’s Federation, under the Australia Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program.  It is an honour for me to be able to share some of our experiences of working on gender equality in Australia, and to hear about the experiences of the Federation in China as well.
 

I have been asked today to provide some insights into Australia’s experiences of promoting gender equality through our laws and policies.
 

I thought I would start by providing a very brief overview of women’s position in Australian society.  I then want to identify some of the key Australian laws and policies that protect and promote gender equality and women’s human rights.  And I will finish by saying a few words about the Australian Human Rights Commission – Australia’s National Human Rights Institution and where I work – and its role in advancing gender equality and women’s human rights.
 

Please feel free to interrupt at any time if you have any questions and I will do my best to answer them.  I’ve also tried to leave time for questions at the end. 
 

I think it’s important to start by saying that women in Australia have made significant strides over the past century.
 

We have gained the right to vote, secured a legal right to equal pay for work of equal value and gained legal protections against discrimination on the basis of sex and other grounds.  We’ve secured paid parental leave and live in a country that is one of a group of countries ranked first for women’s educational attainment. 
 

And, compared to many other countries, women in Australia fair pretty well.  For example, Australia ranked 24th in the World Economic Forum’s 2013 Global Gender Gap Report.
 

Yet, if you scratch beneath the surface, it is clear that women continue to experience inequality and disadvantage in Australia and that sex discrimination remains a harsh reality for many women. 

• For example, one in three women in Australia has experienced physical violence since the age of 15 years and almost every week in Australia one woman is killed by her current or former partner.
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 45 times more likely than non-Indigenous women to be victims of domestic and family violence.
• Just over one in five (21%) people aged 15 years and older has experienced sexual harassment in the workplace in the past five years.
• One in two (49%) mothersreported experiencing discrimination in the workplace at some point during pregnancy, parental leave or on return to work.
• And on average Australian women are paid 17.1% less than men doing the same work.
• Average superannuation payouts for women are 57% that of men
• Women comprise half of Australia’s total population (50.2% in 2010) but less than one-third (30.8%) of all parliamentarians in Australia’s federal parliament, and there is only one women in the federal Australian Cabinet. 
• Women held 41.7 per cent of positions on Government boards and bodies, but are only 18.2 per cent of board members of Australia’s top 200 companies (ASX 200).

 

These are just some of the areas where women’s position in Australian society needs to be improved.
 

So, what steps has the Australian Government taken to help protect and promote gender equality and women’s human rights?
 

People are often surprised to learn that Australia does not have a national Bill of Rights. 
 

The Government conducted a national consultation in 2009, which showed there was overwhelming community support for a Bill of Rights, including greater protection of women’s rights.  But the Government decided not to enact a Bill of Rights.   
 

It is worth mentioning, though, that two Australian states have adopted their own state-based human rights laws.  These laws are not specific to women but the general protections available in these laws do advance women’s human rights.  For example, both of these state-based laws protect the right to life and the rights to non-discrimination and equality.  And, as you would know, all of these rights are extremely important in helping to protect women against gender-based violence.    
 

The Australian Constitution does protect a very limited number of rights, for example the right to trial by jury.  But, as I said, these protections are very limited and they are not specific to women.  
 

In 2011, the Commonwealth Government enacted a law – the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 – which sought to strengthen human rights protections in Australia. 
 

It did this by establishing a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights. 
 

The Committee is responsible for examining laws and proposed laws for compatibility with human rights, including those rights protected in CEDAW and other international human rights treaties.  After examining these laws, it reports back to the Commonwealth Parliament on their human rights compatibility. 
 

The Act also requires Bills to be accompanied by a statement – known as a Statement of Compatibility – which, as the name suggests, assesses a Bill’s compatibility with human rights.
If, for example, a proposed new law sought to limit women’s rights or discriminated against women, the Member of Parliament introducing the law would need to explain in the Statement of Compatibility why the proposed limitation was reasonably justified.  They would also need to identify whether they could achieve the objectives of the proposed new law through less restrictive means.   
In addition to this law, the Australian Government has developed a National Human Rights Action Plan.  The Plan outlines a number of measures to improve the protection and promotion of human rights, including women’s human rights.  
 

For example, the Plan states that the Australian Government is committed to achieving at least 40% representation of both women and men on its public sector boards, and as of 2013, this was achieved.
 

Although Australia does not have a comprehensive Bill of Rights, there are a number of federal and state laws that contain human rights protections.   
 

At the federal level, for example, there are a number of anti-discrimination laws that make it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of prohibited grounds. 
 

One such law is the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth).  
 

The Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against a person on the basis of:

• sex;
• marital status;
• pregnancy or potential pregnancy;
• breastfeeding; and
• family responsibilities.

 

The Act also makes it unlawful to sexually harass another person.
 

The Act is an important law because it seeks to:

• eliminate discrimination against women and sexual harassment; and
• give effect to some of the provisions of CEDAW.

 

Other federal laws that aim to protect and promote women’s human rights include the Paid Parental Leave Act 2010 (Cth), which provides 18 weeks of paid parental leave for the primary carer of a newborn or recently adopted child.  A recent amendment also provided for 2 weeks paid leave for a father or partner.
 

They also include the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cth), which aims to promote and improve gender equality in Australian workplaces. This Act provides for the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, to which all companies with 100 or more employees are required to report their performance against identified gender equality indicators.
 

In addition to these and other federal and state laws, the Australian Government has adopted a number of policies that aim to advance gender equality and women’s human rights.
 

One of these policies is the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.  The National Plan is Australia’s primary policy on violence against women.
 

Adopted in March 2011, the Plan aims to reduce violence against women and their children and improve access to services and support for women and children.
 

The Plan identifies six key national goals:

• communities that are safe and free from violence;
• respectful relationships;
• strengthened Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• services that meet the needs of women and children experiencing violence;
• effective responses to violence from the justice system; and
• stopping perpetrators from committing violence and holding them to account for their actions.

 

Under the Plan the government has established a National Centre of Excellence – Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, to bring together existing research and undertake new research on violence against women. 
 

It has also established the Foundation to Prevent Violence Against Women and their Children, which is working to raise awareness and engage the community in action to prevent violence against women and their children.
 

Of course, it’s not possible to provide a comprehensive overview of all the relevant Australian laws and policies that promote and protect gender equality women’s human rights in the short time available this morning.  But these are some of the main laws and policies relevant to women.
 

I think it’s fair to say that while Australia does have some strong laws and policies that aim to protect and promote women’s human rights and fundamental freedoms, there are definitely some significant gaps and room for improvement.
 

The last thing I want to mention before I turn to the Commission is that the federal government and each of the state governments have established an office for women. 
 

These offices are overseen by the relevant Ministers for the Status of Women.  And they are responsible for advancing women’s interests, advising the respective governments on issues related to women, and consulting with women and the women’s sector.  The offices are located in different areas of government, depending on the jurisdiction.  At the federal level, the Office for Women is located within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. 
 

The federal Office for Women, advises and supports the delivery of gender equality policies, particularly in relation to the priority issues of safety for women, supporting women’s economic empowerment, and supporting women’s leadership. The Office for Women consults across government and with a wide range of stakeholders – business, academic and civil society organisations – to deliver better outcomes for women in these priority areas.
 

So, where does the Australian Human Rights Commission fit within this framework?
 

The Commission, which is based in Sydney, is Australia’s National Human Rights Institution. 
 

It is an independent statutory agency established by the Australian Government to protect and promote human rights in Australia.  And it employs approximately 120 – 130 people.   
 

The Commission has a range of legislative and other responsibilities.
 

One of its main responsibilities is providing human rights training and raising public awareness about human rights issues. 
For example, in 2011, the Commission published Mechanisms for Advancing Women’s Human Rights, a practical guide for lawyers, advocates and women on how to use to the Optional Protocol to CEDAW and other international complaint mechanisms.
 

Another responsibility of the Commission is monitoring government actions to ensure they comply with Australia’s human rights obligations.
For example, in 2010, the Commission submitted an independent report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, which outlined some of the major developments in and obstacles to the implementation of CEDAW in Australia.  In 2012, the Commission submitted a second report to the Committee, which focused on the 2 key priority issues that the Committee identified in its Concluding Observations on Australia – violence against women and the situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.
 

Another responsibility is receiving and investigating individual complaints about discrimination and human rights violations and intervening in court cases that raise important human rights issues.
For example, in 2012, the Commission intervened in a coronial inquest into the death of an Aboriginal woman who was murdered by her abusive partner.  In its submission, the Commission raised a number of human rights issues related to how the authorities had handled Andrea’s case.    
 

Another key responsibility of the Commission is undertaking policy, research and law reform work to advance the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia.
For example, in 2012, the Commission conducted its third national telephone survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.  This survey provides the only national and trend data on sexual harassment in Australia.  The survey is based on the right of women and men to be safe at work – to go to work free from sexual harassment. 
 

The Commission is led by its President (Gillian Triggs), and a team of Commissioners, including myself as the Sex Discrimination Commissioner.
 

The primary responsibility for advancing gender equality and women’s human rights rests with myself as Australia’s Sex Discrimination Commissioner.
 

I have been fortunate to have been in this role for the last six years. It is a job that has taken me from 200 metres under the sea in a submarine to the United Nations in New York, to spending time with young women survivors of acid attack in Dhakka, to camping out with Aboriginal women in the Kimberly in Western Australia, to the White House, the Pentagon and the World Bank. 
 

Soon after I was appointed in 2007 I embarked on a national Listening Tour across Australia.
 

During the tour I asked two questions: How far have we come in our journey towards gender equality?  And where should we focus our efforts into the future? Following the tour, I published the stories and experiences of the people she met during the tour.  I then used these stories and experiences to create a Gender Equality Blueprint for my term.
 

The Gender Equality Blueprint identifies a number of key priorities for addressing gender equality in Australia including:

• balancing paid work and family and caring responsibilities;
• ensuring women’s lifetime economic security;
• promoting women in leadership;
• preventing violence against women and sexual harassment; and
• strengthening gender equality laws, agencies and monitoring.

 

In addition to identifying these priority issues, the Blueprint outlines a number of recommendations that I have sought to implement throughout my term. 
 

Before I talk more about my work in these priority areas I want to take a few moments show how my work is informed by CEDAW and the international human rights framework.   
 

For example, the rights to non-discrimination and equality, women’s right to equal participation in political and public life and the right to equal pay for work of equal value have guided my work to ensure women’s lifetime economic security and promote women in leadership. 
 

The right to life, the rights to non-discrimination and equality, and the right to health, to name just a few rights, have been integral to my work around the prevention of violence against women and sexual harassment. 
 

Now to share with you some of the work I have been doing in the priority areas I identified for gender equality, in conjunction with government, the business sector and the community sector.
 

One of the main focuses of my work on balancing paid work and family and caring responsibilities has been the implementation of a paid parental leave scheme in Australia. 
Australia now has a paid parental leave scheme and the Commission has played an instrumental role in the development of this scheme. 
 

The scheme commenced on 1 January 2011. It provides 18 weeks of paid parental leave for the primary carer of a newborn or recently adopted child and, 2 weeks paid leave for a father or partner.
 

I have continued to advocate for improvements to the scheme, including payment of superannuation on paid leave. 
 

One of the main focuses of the Commissioner’s work around ensuring women’s lifetime economic security is unpaid caring work. 
 

In 2009, I published a report called Accumulating Poverty, which identified three strategies to redress women’s disadvantage in retirement.  One of these strategies was around recognising and rewarding unpaid caring work, the overwhelming majority of which is performed by women in Australia.
 

In 2013, I launched a follow-up report on the nature of unpaid caring work in Australia and the barriers it creates for women’s equal participation in the workplace.  Titled Investing in care: Recognising and valuing those who care, it identifies and analyses different models and measures of valuing unpaid work used in 24 countries around the world and in Australia. 
 

Based on the research the report identified a number of potential reform options for recognising and valuing unpaid caring work in Australia including:

• Strengthening legislation to recognise discrimination based on family responsibilities including caring.
• Introducing carer assessments to determine a carer’s support needs.
• Ensuring unpaid carers have the right to request flexible work arrangements.
• Ensuring  income support reflects the costs of providing care; and strengthening leave provisions.
• Properly resourcing and coordinating services for unpaid carers
• Introducing workplace initiatives and changes to workplace culture
• Reforming the retirement income and savings system.

 

Such reforms aim to address the inequity of retirement incomes and savings that leaves many women in poverty in older age, especially women who are or have been unpaid carers
 

Promoting women in leadership has been a major focus for my work. 
 

I have worked closely with some of Australia’s largest companies and some of Australia’s most well-known business leaders to increase women’s representation in leadership positions.
 

One of the major initiatives has been the Male Champions of Change.
 

In this initiative I have brought together some of Australia’s most influential and diverse male CEOs and Chairpersons, from the private sector, the public sector and the military, to work on gender equality. 
 

The group works to ensure that the issue of women’s representation in leadership is elevated on the national business agenda.
 

What has become clear is that promoting gender equality not only promotes and protects the rights of affected women; but it also contributes to better functioning organisations and businesses – as a result of diversity of thinking, better financial results, improved decision making, reduced turnover, and utilising the best talent. Thirdly, women’s increased participation in the workforce can make a significant difference to economic growth.
 

The Grattan Institute has identified that a six per cent increase in women’s workforce participation could generate an increase in Australia’s gross domestic product by $25 billion.  I have also looked into increasing women’s representation specifically in male-dominated industries.
 

In 2013 I launched an online platform to facilitate an interactive dialogue about how to increase women’s representation in male-dominated industries - a complex problem that has been the subject of much discussion over the years

We also launched a toolkit based on global research and many discussions with organisations in mining, utilities and construction committed to increasing women’s representation and leadership.  The toolkit describes leading practices from around the world on how best to attract, recruit, retain and develop the skills of women in traditionally male-dominated fields.

In a nutshell, while male-dominated industries have traditionally been slow to increase female participation in their workforces and in their leadership - this is changing. 
 

I have also working hard to prevent violence against women.
 

In 2012, the Australian Human Rights Commission organised a study tour for Rashida Manjoo, the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.
 

As part of her tour, the Special Rapporteur gathered information on violence against women, its causes and consequences, from government and non-governmental organisations, including women's organisations. She looked at issues of culture and violence against women in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; and heard of strategies to eliminate all forms of violence against women and its causes, and remedy its consequences.
 

Some of the issues and gaps she heard of during her included:

• Where governments fail to address violence against women as a human rights issue can lead to an inappropriate and inadequate response by government and state agencies with long-term social and economic consequences.
• There can be a disconnect between government plans, programs and projects and the needs of women ‘on the ground’

 

Men’s programs can often divert essential resources from critical women’s services.

• Intersectional discrimination based on sex, race, disability, and sex/gender identity on violence against women, can undermine the utility or effectiveness of mainstream plans and programs aimed at reducing violence.
   

The Commission produced a report on the study tour, which is available from our website.
 

One of the ways I have sought to do this is by engaging Australian workplaces and promoting awareness of domestic violence as a workplace issue.
 

I feel strongly that domestic and family violence is not just a private matter or even just a community matter.  It is also a concern for business.
In 2005, 2 out of 3 Australian women who reported violence by a current partner were also employees in workplaces.
 

So, I have been working with Australian businesses, encouraging them to take responsibility for this issue.  I have asked Australian businesses to identify domestic violence as an issue within their own workplaces.  I have asked them to provide a supportive work environment for victims / survivors.  And I have asked them to recognise and address abusive behaviour and to provide education and training on domestic violence.
 

Another area of gender equality I have focused on is preventing sexual harassment.
 

One of the ways I have sought to do this is by conducting a national telephone survey every 5 years on the prevalence, nature and reporting of sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.
 

The latest survey, published in 2012, found that one in three women has been sexually harassed since the age of 15 years.  It also found that a quarter of women have been sexually harassed in the workplace in the past five years. 
 

The survey provides the only national data on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces.  It also provides the only trend data on sexual harassment in Australia.
Workplace sexual harassment is a deeply personal issue for me, as it is for many women and men in Australia.  When we launched the Know Where the Line Is awareness raising strategy, I told my story of being sexually harassed when I was a young lawyer starting out in my career.  It was the first time I had ever told my story in public, and I didn’t share my own experience because it was more important than anyone else’s,  I shared it because the features that underpin my story underpin all stories of sexual harassment. That is – a power imbalance, fear, embarrassment and shame, an inability to make a formal complaint and a positive outcome through the intervention of bystanders.
 

Because this is such an important issue for Australians – and Australian businesses – I’d like to take a few moments to talk to you about our new national strategy that was launched at the end of May in partnership with the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Australian Council of Trade Union. We came together to develop this strategy because all three of us recognise the impact of sexual harassment, not only on individuals but on businesses themselves and we’re determined to work together to create safer and more equitable workplaces in Australia.

What our research showed is that very few people actually recognise sexual harassment when they experience or witness it. In fact, almost 1 in 5 people who said they hadn’t been sexually harassed based on the legal definition of harassment then went on to describe experiencing behaviours that were likely to constitute harassment under the Sex Discrimination Act.

The Know Where the Line Is strategy is designed to raise awareness about what workplace sexual harassment looks like in 2014 through a suite of posters and videos that are on the strategy’s website. These posters ask people to think about where the line is…and what crosses it. Does saying to a colleague ‘how are you…sexy?’ cross the line? Does asking someone how their weekend was – and whether they got any? Does joking around about how one of the office staff is ‘great with her hands…if you know what I mean’?

Importantly, the strategy is also particularly targeted at bystanders by encouraging people to ‘See. Talk. Support’ if they know that sexual harassment is happening in their workplace. The Commission’s research shows that 82% of people took some sort of bystander action if they directly witnessed sexual harassment at work and almost half of sexual harassment stops after a formal complaint is made. Supporting a colleague who is experiencing harassment can assist them to take this step and feel safe at work again.

As part of this strategy we’ve developed a comprehensive resource for employers to support them in ending workplace sexual harassment, and a practical information sheet for employees. This strategy is designed to complement existing harassment prevention and response efforts being undertaken by workplaces around the country. The key messages – know where the line is and encouraging bystanders to see, talk and support – can be incorporated into policies and procedures around workplace sexual harassment, and the suite of audio visual resources can be utilised in workplace.
 

Before I conclude I do want to mention the work I have been doing in a major review into the treatment of women in the Australian Defence Force.
 

The Review made recommendations on the recruitment and retention of women; women’s representation; opportunities, pathways and barriers to women’s advancement; support mechanisms; balancing a military career and family; and sexual harassment, sex discrimination and sexual abuse.
 

We also then went back 12 months afterwards, to audit the implementation of the recommendations, and have found that while there are still areas for improvement, significant progress is being made.
 

Thank you so much for the opportunity to share with you some of the work being done in Australia, and in particular some of the work I am doing, to promote and advance gender equality and women’s’ human rights in Australia.
 

As you can see that while Australia has made a lot of headway, there is still much work to do.
I will be here for the duration of the workshop and I would love to hear about your work and would be happy to talk further about the state of gender equality and women’s human rights in Australia.
Thank you.