In the fast lane to gender equality

Official Welcome Reception of the
‘Accelerating Gender Equality: Introducing UN Women’
Summit

Speech by Elizabeth
Broderick

Sex Discrimination
Commissioner

Australian Human Rights
Commission

The Refectory, Holme Building, Science Road

The
University of Sydney

Monday, 5^th September
2011

Let me start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which
we meet, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. I pay my respects to their
elders past and present.

I want to share with you my excitement at
attending the launch of UN Women in the General Assembly in New York, in late
February this year.

I felt so fortunate to be a part of this landmark
moment in the history of the international women’s movement. As I sat
there among over a 1000 advocates who had fought so hard to have a high level
champion created within the UN, it brought home to me that we were entering a
new era of women’s rights.

On that night, 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.’^[1]

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.^[2]’

It was heartening to see this kind of personal commitment from a male
leader, especially since we all know that it will take both women and men to
bring about the seismic cultural shift that is necessary to deliver equality.

We leapt to our feet in a standing ovation to welcome the new
Under-Secretary General of UN Women, Dr Michelle Bachelet and heard, loud and
clear, the cry of members of the GEAR Coalition when they held up signs across
the room calling for people to ‘Gear Up’! It was a great thrill to
be part of that event- one that I will remember for the rest of my life.

I left with a great sense of hope and excitement about what might be
possible.

Fewer countries, businesses, communities and everyday people are
asking the question ‘Why should we fight for gender equality?’
Today, more than ever before, they are asking ‘How can we achieve gender
equality?’

In the international fight for women’s rights, I
feel a stirring – there is a mood for change – and if we are smart,
we will move swiftly to capitalise on it.

UN Women is doing just that
– since its inception only months ago, it has already launched:

• a 3 year programme to address the social ostracism of widows in South
  Asia^[3];
• a 5 year initiative, together with UNICEF and UN-HABITAT, to improve the
  quality of life of women and children by helping them feel safer in
  cities^[4]; and
• the Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice Report – a powerful, comprehensive and timely publication documenting the
  failings and potential of the world’s justice systems in the fight for
  gender equality^[5].

UN Women also recently launched its Strategic
Plan^[6]. The Plan identifies 6 goals
that will determine the work of UN Women over the coming years.



There is
a focus on the areas of participation, economic empowerment, violence against
women and girls and leadership in peace, security and humanitarian response. UN
Women also encourages:

• the integration of a gender perspective into all plans, budgets, policies
  and programmes; as well as the
• development of a set of global standards to provide a basis for government
  and stakeholder action in respect of women’s
  empowerment.

And it doesn’t stop there. UN Women’s
18 National Committees also support UN Women in their own individual regions.

UN Women Australia, for example, recently developed an advocacy toolkit
and presented a parallel session at the 55^th Commission on the Status
of Women to help youth activists with their efforts around gender
issues^[7].

It co-organised the
high profile Australian Women in Science and Engineering Summit to devise
strategies to address the issue of highly trained women leaving the science
industry mid-career^[8]. It continues
to raise funds for the Pacific Fund to End Violence against Women, to which it
is the second largest donor^[9]. And
this is just the beginning!

When I started in my role as the Sex
Discrimination Commissioner in 2007, the first thing I did was undertake a
Listening Tour. I travelled the length and breadth of Australia where I met
many diverse groups of women and men – from abattoir workers, young women,
bankers, Chinese factory workers, African women, lesbian mothers, prison
advocacy groups, indigenous women, community workers, academics, business
roundtables, ministers and bureaucrats just – to name just a few. What I
heard informed the basis for my agenda as Sex Discrimination Commissioner, an
agenda which is reflected in my Gender Equality Blueprint released last
year.^[10]

I was delighted to
see that the goals set out in UN Women’s Strategic Plan complemented and
reaffirmed the priority areas set out in my Gender Equality Blueprint.

What this tells me is that while each woman has their unique
circumstances, women’s issues are not confined to any one group of
countries or societies – they are universal - the issues of equal
participation, economic security and violence are the same issues that affect
all women, everywhere.

And of course, when we speak about promoting
women’s rights and gender equality, 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
the world.

Yes, there has been much progress, but, there is still so much
to do. Whilst each of the goals set out in UN Women’s Strategic Plan is
deserving of deep consideration, I want, this evening, to focus on just two
– women’s economic empowerment and violence against women.

The first goal of UN Women is ‘to increase women’s access to
economic empowerment and opportunities’. Why is economic empowerment an
issue for women in Australia?

Firstly, as is the case in most of the
world women in Australia are still not paid equally for work of equal or
comparable value. 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 earn
only 83 cents for every dollar that their male counterparts
earn^[11]. They
have only half the retirement savings of men. Many women in Australia will
enter retirement in poverty. It should not come as a surprise then, that
single, older women may be the new face of
homelessness^[12]. So what is being
done in Australia?

One of Australia’s largest trade unions,
Australian Service Union recently brought a case before our industrial umpire,
Fair Work Australia seeking an equal remuneration order in respect of the
largely female social and community services industry. The Australian Human
Rights Commission also made submissions on the
case^[13].

Fair Work
Australia released an interim decision finding “there is not equal
remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal or comparable value
.... and that at least part of the reason for that underpayment is
gender^[14]. A final decision is due
to be handed down in the coming months. I am hopeful that the outcome of this
case will see an increase in the wages of almost 200 000 mostly female workers
across the country, particularly those working in health and community services
industries.

Secondly, women continue to experience difficulties combining
paid work with family responsibilities. In 2010 Australia was 1 of only 2 OECD
countries without a paid parental leave
scheme^[15]. Along with others, the
Commission advocated for paid parental leave and as of 1 January this year, I am
glad to say, we now have a national Paid Parental Leave Scheme!

Under
this scheme, new parents receive 18 weeks of leave at the federal minimum wage.
And from the beginning of next year, fathers and other supporting parents will
be provided with another two weeks Paid Parental Leave.

More progress
came in June this year with the amendments to our federal Sex Discrimination
Act, the principal piece of gender equality law in Australia. The new
legislation provides men, as well as women with a greater level of legal
protection for family and caring responsibilities than existed previously.

Given that significant cultural change will not occur until and unless
men start working differently – more flexibly – and until they take
on a greater sharing of unpaid caring roles, this reform is vital.

The
second goal of UN Women that I want to talk about is ‘to prevent violence
against women and girls and expand access to services’.

As I
travel Australia, I often ask people to name countries where they consider
violence against women to be a problem. More often than not they reel off a list
of other countries, but fail to recognize the high prevalence rates in their own
country.

Violence against women continues to be endemic and widespread
in Australia. 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. Domestic violence also has an economic cost -
costing the Australia economy $13.6b per
year^[16].

On 15 February
2011, the Australian Government launched a National Plan to Reduce Violence
against Women and their Children 2010-2022. The Commission warmly welcomed the
launch of the plan. We are, however, advocating for the plan to be independently
monitored and evaluated. This will be important in ensuring that all Australian women, including the most vulnerable are potential beneficiaries of
this plan- that is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, culturally and
linguistically diverse women, women with disabilities, lesbian and trans women,
older women and young women and girls.

Women living in rural areas are
another particularly vulnerable group because of their isolation and consequent
lack of access to legal and other services.

I recently met a courageous
woman, Catherine, who lives in rural NSW, whose story has been reported in the
Australian press. Catherine was repeatedly assaulted and raped by her then
husband for 20 years.

When the matter progressed to court
Catherine’s ex husband represented himself and was permitted to
cross-examine his own daughter, who had witnessed many of the violent incidents.

Following a month-long trial, this man was found guilty on 17 charges
including attempted murder. But Catherine’s story shows that there are
many challenges, particularly for women living in rural and remote areas –
challenges that we hope will be discussed at CSW next year when Catherine
accompanies our delegation to the United Nations to tell her story.

What
does the future hold?

Last year the Australian Government announced a
40% increase in funding to UN
Women^[17] and, in recognition of the
progress made by UN Women since it began operations in January this year,
Australia announced a further $2 million core contribution. This brings
Australia's contribution for 2011 to $9.4 million, making us one of the leading
contributors to UN
Women^[18].

There is no doubt
the Australian government is committed to supporting UN Women, but we can and
have to do more. It has been noted that of all of the Millennium Development
Goals, those relating to women have shown the worst performance to
date^[19]. Even now, UN Women cannot
support many of the countries that request assistance due to the limited
availability of human and financial resources.

As Michelle Bachelet
recently stated at the Annual Session of the UN Women Executive Board, UN Women
needs:

‘Greater resources, more dynamic partnerships, more men and boys
taking leadership to advance women’s rights, and significantly enhanced
capacity ... for improving the lives of women and girls who need us most and who
have a huge amount to offer in
return.^[20]’

The
creation of UN Women represents an historic opportunity to jump-start progress
for women– it heralds a new chapter in the fight for women’s rights.

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 through UN Women.

Yours are profound accomplishments - accomplishments that provide a
solid foundation for the next evolution of our struggle.

As I look around
this room tonight I have abundant confidence for the future of the women’s
movement both here in Australia and globally.

Thank you.

^[1] Hillary Rodham Clinton 1995, Remarks to the U.N. 4th World Conference on Women Plenary Session,
American Rhetoric – Top 100 Speeches at http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/hillaryclintonbeijingspeech.htm (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[2] United Nations Secretary General 2011, Remarks at UN Women Launch, at http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2011/sgsm13415.doc.htm (Accessed 12 August 2011)

^[3] UN
Women – National Committee Australia 2011, Bringing Widows to the
Forefront: UN Women to Implement Programme for Widows in South Asia, News
(18 April 2011) at http://www.unifem.org.au/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=49541 (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[4] UN
Women 2011, UN Launches Initiative to Make Cities Safer for Women and
Children, News (22 June 2011) at http://www.unwomen.org/2011/06/un-launches-initiative-to-make-cities-safer-for-women-and-children/ (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[5] UN
Women 2011, Progress of the World’s Women: In Pursuit of Justice at http://progress.unwomen.org/ (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[6] Executive Board of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the
Empowerment of Women 2011, UN-Women Strategic Plan 2011-13 at http://www.unwomen.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/UNW-2011-9-StrategicPlan2011-2013_advance-unedited_20110517.pdf (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[7] UN
Women Australia 2011, UN Women Australia heads to CSW in New York, News
(14 February 2011) at http://www.unifem.org.au/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=45816 (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[8] UN
Women Australia 2011, Supporting Australian Women in Science (28 July
2011) at http://www.unifem.org.au/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=53656 (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[9] The
Sun Herald’s City to Surf 2011, UN Women Australia’s Fundraising
Page at http://www.fundraise.city2surf.com.au/unwomenaustraliac2s (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[10] Australian Human Rights Commission 2010, 2010 Gender Equality Blueprint at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/sex_discrimination/publication/blueprint/index.html (Accessed 12 August 2011)

^[11] Australian Bureau of Statistics, Average Weekly Earnings, Cat. 6302,
cited in Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, Gender
Workplace Statistics at a Glance. at http://www.eowa.gov.au/Research_And_Resources.asp (viewed 6 July 2011).

^[12] Australian Policy Online 2011, A predictable crisis: older, single women as
the new face of homelessness at http://www.apo.org.au/research/predictable-crisis-older-single-women-new-face-homelessness (Accessed 12 August 2011)

^[13] Australian Human Rights Commission 2011, Application by the Australian
Municipal, Administrative, Clerical and Services Union and Others for an Equal
Remuneration Order in the Social and Community Services Industry - Submissions
of Australian Human Rights Commission at http://www.fwa.gov.au/sites/remuneration/submissions/AHRC_Final_Submission.pdf 9Accessed 12 August 2011)

^[14] Australian Services Union 2011, FWA says “Yes to Equal Pay” -
more information required before pay rates are set at http://asumembers.org.au/sacs/sacs-news/1473-fwa-says-yes-to-equal-pay (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[15] Parliament of Australia – Parliamentary Library 2010, Background Note
– Paid Parental Leave at http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bn/eco/PaidParentalLeave.htm (Accessed 12 August 2011)

^[16] The National Council to Reduce Violence

against Women and their Children
2009, The Cost of Violence against Women and their Children, pp. 4 at http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/women/pubs/violence/np_time_for_action/economic_costs/Documents/VAWC_Economic_Report.PDF (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[17] UN Women Australia 2010, Press Release: Australian Government Announces $14.5
Million in Funding for UN Women at http://www.unifem.org.au/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=41520 (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[18] AusAID 2011, Australia welcomes UN Women’s new Strategic Plan at http://www.ausaid.gov.au/hottopics/topic.cfm?ID=8948_9535_6719_8268_6074&From=HT (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[19] UN News Centre 2011, UN Women’s first chief voices optimism after being
named to new post at http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35944&Cr=women&Cr1 (Accessed: 12 August 2011)

^[20] UN Women 2011, Introductory Statement by Michelle Bachelet at the Annual
Session of the UN Women Executive Board at https://www.unwomen.org/2011/06/introductory-statement-by-michelle-bachelet-at-the-annual-session-of-the-un-women-executive-board/ (Accessed: 12 August 2011)