NARRATIVE REPORT ON

GENDER EQUALITY IN

AUSTRALIA

Carolyn Grace Cabral

Jose Emmanuel Floresca
Jessa Mae Macaraeg
Jan Matillano
Rossini Ann Torres
Jay Villafria, Jr.

GENDER EQUALITY
Under
Judge Anarica J. Castillo-Reyes

March 9, 2018
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I. History of Gender Equality in Australia

The British Colonial Administration (1788-1901)

Early colonial administrations were anxious to address the gender imbalance in the population

brought about by the importation of large numbers of convict men. Between 1788 and 1792,

around 3546 male to 766 female convicts were landed at Sydney. Women came to play an

important role in education and welfare during colonial times. Governor Macquarie's

wife, Elizabeth Macquarie took an interest in convict women's welfare. Her

contemporary Elizabeth Macarthurwas noted for her 'feminine strength' in assisting the

establishment of the Australian merino wool industry during her husband John Macarthur's

enforced absence from the colony following the Rum Rebellion.

The Catholic Sisters of Charity arrived in 1838 and set about providing pastoral care in a

women's prison, visiting hospitals and schools and establishing employment for convict women.

They established hospitals in four of the eastern states, beginning with St Vincent's Hospital,

Sydney in 1857 as a free hospital for all people, but especially for the poor. Caroline

Chisholm (1808–1877) established a migrant women's shelter and worked for women's welfare

in the colonies in the 1840s. Her humanitarian efforts later won her fame in England and great

influence in achieving support for families in the colony. Sydney's first Catholic bishop, John

Bede Polding founded an Australian order of nuns—the Sisters of the Good Samaritan—in 1857

to work in education and social work.[9] The Sisters of St Joseph, were founded in South

Australia by Saint Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods in 1867. MacKillop travelled

throughout Australasia and established schools, convents and charitable institutions. She

was canonised by Benedict XVI in 2010, becoming the first Australian to be so honoured by the

Catholic Church.
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From Federation to the Second World War (1901-1945)

Women energetically participated in the war effort, with few signs of defeatism or resistance to

government policies. In 1922, the Country Women's Association was formed with the intention

to improve the lives of women in rural Australia. It has since expanded to become the largest

women's organisation in the country.

Post War Conditions (Since 1945)

In 1974, the Commonwealth Court of Conciliation and Arbitration granted women the full adult

wage. However, resistance to women being employed in certain industries remained until well

into the 1970s. Because of obstruction from elements of the Unions movement, it would take

until 1975 for women to be admitted as drivers on Melbourne's trams, and Sir Reginald

Ansett refused to allow women to train as pilots as late as 1979.

Suffrage

Australia had led the world in bringing women's suffrage rights during the late 19th century.

Propertied women in the colony of South Australia were granted the vote in local elections (but

not parliamentary elections) in 1861. Henrietta Dugdale formed the first Australian women's

suffrage society in Melbourne in 1884. Women became eligible to vote for the Parliament of

South Australia in 1895. This was the first legislation in the world permitting women also to

stand for election to political office and, in 1897, Catherine Helen Spence became the first

female political candidate for political office, unsuccessfully standing for election as a delegate

to the Federal Convention on Australian Federation. Western Australia granted voting rights to

qualified non-aboriginal women in 1899.

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Edith Cowan was elected to the West Australian Legislative Assembly in 1921. Dame Enid

Lyons, was the first woman to hold a Cabinet post in the 1949 ministry of Robert Menzies and

finally, Rosemary Follett was elected Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory in 1989,

becoming the first woman elected to lead a state or territory. By 2010, the people of Australia's

oldest city, Sydney had female leaders occupying every major political office above them,

with Clover Moore as Lord Mayor, Kristina Keneally as Premier of New South Wales, Marie

Bashir as Governor of New South Wales, Julia Gillard as Prime Minister, Quentin

Bryce as Governor-General of Australia and Elizabeth II as Queen of Australia.

Post-Colonial Analytical Writings (Since 1970s)

Up until the 1960s the Australian national character was typically masculine. Only in more

recent decades has attention been paid to the role and marginal status of women and minority

groups. One of the earliest studies on the role of women in Australian culture was conducted by

Miriam Dixson in her 1975 study, The Real Matilda. Dixson concluded that there was deep

contempt for women in the Australian ethos and that the only role for women was within the

family.

Marilyn Lake argues that the first stage of women's history in the 1970s demonstrated an angry

tone, with a revolutionary critique that reflected its close connections with the women's

liberation movement. By the late 20th century, women's history was less strident and more

thoroughly integrated into social history and labour history. In the 21st century, the emphasis has

turned to a broader horizon of "gender relations", which includes such concepts as femininity and

masculinity.
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Excerpt from the Abstract of “Women and Gender History in Australia: A Transformative
Process” (Journal of Women’s History, Vol 25, No. 4, 2013):
“The new concept of “gender relations” enabled feminist history to claim all historical processes
and relationship, not just women’s experience, as its proper subject. Feminist history has been at
the forefront of the transnational turn in Australian history that has reinvigorated research into
biography, empire, colonialism, migration and the women’s movement itself. The new
transnational feminist history faces the most urgent contemporary political challenges: the need
to address the interconnectedness of the world, evident in the terrible plight of the tens of
thousands of asylum seekers crossing national boarder.”

II. Present State of Gender Equality in Australia

Australia has worked towards offering equal opportunity to women in the workplace and the

statistics appear to reflect significant progress. However, its advancement towards eradicating

gender disparity maintains a glacial pace.

According to the Australian Government, women account for 46.2% of the local workforce. The

majority are part-time workers, followed by casual employees. A third are employed full-time.

At the work place, 22% of women aged between 18-64 experienced sexual harassment, one in

five mothers were made redundant from their positions, and one in two have

experienced discrimination. When they leave the office, one in three Australian women aged 15

years and over experience physical violence and nearly one in five has experienced sexual

assault. In other words, women in Australia are over-represented in lower-paying part-time jobs

and under-represented in executive positions. At the workplace, they are at risk of experiencing

harassment and discrimination. And when they leave the office, there is also a high chance of

them being subjected to violence or sexual assault.

In 2014, one in two (49 per cent) mothers reported experiencing discrimination in the workplace

at some point during pregnancy, parental leave or on return to work, and one in five (18 per cent)

mothers indicated that they were made redundant, restructured, dismissed, or that their contract
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was not renewed because of their pregnancy, when they requested or took parental leave, or

when they returned to work.

Every citizen of a Nation is dreaming of an equal treatment which includes equal or

proportionate pay, however, there is this Gender Pay Gap which still exists. The gender pay gap

is the difference between the gross hourly earnings for all men and the gross hourly earnings for

women.

Australian women, as of 2014, took home on average $283.20 AUD less than their male

counterparts each week. That means the average Australian woman has to work an extra 66 days

a year to earn the same pay as the average man.

Sexism is the main reason for women being paid less than men. Gender pay gap has often

blamed on women’s over representation in low wage sectors of the economy such as food and

beverage; that women take time out of the workforce to have babies; and that women forget

their skills or do not train while away from work, and they also miss out on promotional

opportunities.

The gender pay gap is influenced by a number of factors, including:

1. Discrimination in hiring and pay decisions

2. Women’s disproportionate share of unpaid caring and domestic work

3. Lack of workplace flexibility to accommodate caring and other responsibilities,

especially in senior roles

4. women’s greater time out of the workforce impacting career progression and

opportunities
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5. Women and men working in different industries and different jobs, with female-

dominated industries and jobs attracting lower wages

Positive Developments:

1. The percentage of women on the Boards of ASX 200 listed companies has grown from

8.3 per cent in 2010 to 18.6% per cent in August 2014.[

2. Since 2013, over one million Australian workers are able to take leave and enjoy other

protections because of domestic violence clauses in their workplace agreement or award

conditions.

III. Challenges to Gender Equality in Australia

1. Women in Australia are over-represented in lower-paying part-time jobs and under-

represented in executive positions. At the workplace, they are at risk of experiencing

harassment and discrimination. And when they leave the office, there is also a high

chance of them being subjected to violence or sexual assault. Experts warn that

Australia’s paltry gender equality record is due to a culture of oppression that has long

been embedded into the country’s societal cloth--a culture that has devalued the role of

women and their role in society.

2. The Australian workforce is highly segregated by gender and female-dominated

industries – such as aged care, child care and health and community services – have been

historically undervalued.7 Australian women are over-represented as part-time workers in

low-paid industries8 and in insecure work and continue to be underrepresented in

leadership roles in the private and public sectors.9

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3. A quarter of women were sexually harassed in the workplace over the past five years.10

The harasser was most likely to be a co-worker (52 per cent) and the most common forms

of sexual harassment included sexually suggestive comments/jokes (55 per cent),

intrusive questions about private life or appearance (50 per cent) and inappropriate

staring or leering (31 per cent).

4. Women do two-thirds of the unpaid caring and domestic work in Australian households.

They spend almost three times as many hours each week looking after children compared

to men.

5. In 2009-2010, Australian women reached retirement age with an average of 36 per cent –

or $87,532 – less superannuation than men. As a result, women are more likely to

experience poverty in their retirement years and be far more reliant on the Age Pension.

6. One in three Australian women experiences physical violence in her lifetime16 and

nearly one in five experiences sexual assault. It is estimated that violence against women

and children will cost the Australian economy $15.6 billion per year by 2021- 2022

unless decisive action is taken to prevent it.

7. Equality seems a long way off for Australia's girls, with a survey showing most feel they

are treated unfairly compared to boys. Plan International Australia surveyed more than

1700 girls aged 10 to 17 about their experiences of inequality and discovered 98 per cent

believed they were unfairly treated particularly in sport, the media, as well as at school

and home.