4 December 2007

Two more events as part of the NSW Listening Tour this afternoon have left me thinking about some key questions and I’m keen to hear what you think.

We had a focus group with some men working in financial services this afternoon and it became clear to me again that engaging men in the dialogue around gender equality is a critical part of our work. The men told me about the pressure they felt around being the breadwinner. This pressure was born out of financial necessity, including the cost of childcare and housing, as well as social expectations placed on men.

Work intensification was an issue for the men, and it was apparent that the competitive nature of paid work was having an impact on how flexible work practices could be implemented, particularly in times of high work pressure such as the end of the financial year. There was an example from one man who was able to negotiate an agreement with management which allowed him to work from home and partake in family caring responsibilities. Management agreed that his performance would be assessed by the results that he would achieve, rather that the time that he put in to the job. This was an embryonic change in the big scheme of things but it represents the start of change.

I left this focus group asking myself some questions which I will put out to you:

How can we engage men on the gender equality agenda?

How can we give a platform and voice to the silent majority of men who support gender equality?

We held a public consultation in the CBD this evening and some more interesting questions came to the fore. Participants raised issues such as how we can make flexibility a universal practice, the problems of the individual complaints process under the Sex Discrimination Act and the legal response to women experiencing violence.

One interesting point from this consultation has stuck in my mind and it relates to how we can bring about attitudinal change on flexibility in the paid workplace. It might be useful to look at how attitudes towards climate change shifted. At first, the attitude about climate change was that we couldn’t afford to do something because of the impact on the economy. We have now reached a point of urgency where the attitude has changed - we now can’t afford not to do something about climate change. I think that we are close to point of urgency around flexible work practices with Australia’s ageing workforce and impending skills shortage. We are in a position where we simply can’t afford not to implement flexibility in the workplace.

Some more questions for you:

Do you think we are at the tipping point with change around flexibility in the paid workplace?

How do you think this change will happen?

I look forward to hearing some of your ideas on these questions.

That’s all from me for now.

Liz

In the last couple of days I have been fortunate enough to meet with a diverse range of energetic and inspiring women who are all working towards making Australia a more fair and equal place.

Yesterday I met with Women with Disabilities Australia and heard about some of the barriers for women with a disability in accessing simple health checks, such as surgery beds that can not be adjusted for pap smears. The issue of access to safe housing in the event of domestic violence was also brought to my attention, with reports that women with a disability have been turned from women’s refuges because of physical access barriers and lack of capacity. I was very concerned to hear that there is a shortage of data relating to women with a disability. This has significant impacts on how we can monitor progress in this area.

Today I co-hosted a Women’s Roundtable with the Office of Women (NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet) at Parliament House. It was encouraging to hear about the great work that is happening out there, whether it is an advocacy group for women with a disability, a rape crisis service, an immigrant women’s organisation or lesbian health organisation. These diverse organisations are a huge resource for me in my role as the Sex Discrimination Commissioner in our collective pursuit of gender equality.

The issues raised at the roundtable echoed the concerns of people I heard from in South Australia. Violence against women and sexual harassment resonated as strong themes that need an educational focus to change attitudes and behaviours. There is a real need for a nationally consistent response. I also heard concerns raised around women’s access to reproductive health services and in particular, the difficulty of accessing safe and affordable pregnancy termination services.  I also heard some great ideas for solutions.

The organisations at the roundtable were very supportive of having national indicators so that we can measure how we are travelling in terms of gender equality. Another brilliant idea was for a project to look into the value of paid work to assist us in making some progress in the area of pay equity.

Well, half a day in NSW has given me plenty to think about.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who have given their time and considered input to the Listening Tour so far.

Liz

Academic Innovation and Collaboration a Key…Thank you Salisbury and South Australians….30 November 2007

Today we visited the Centre for Work + Life (http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkeinstitute/cwl/default.asp), a part of the Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies at the University of South Australia. It is a national research centre that investigates work and its intersection with household, family, community and social life in Australia. The Centre for Work + Life aims to generate innovative thinking about work and life in Australia.

We discussed a range of research projects being undertaken and noted the national fragmentation of research in this area. With many talented academics contribute to the research framework, the Centre is working on expanding a more coherent research capacity that can feed into public policy across the nation. We could see the clear benefits of the Sex Discrimination Commissioner also adopting a clear, transparent research agenda as part of my 5 year plan. This would allow academics to see where we are heading and engage with us at an earlier stage.

We also discussed a recent, progressive report by the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (the equivalent of the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission) called “Enter the timelords : Transforming work to meet the future” http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/Documents/Gender/Formal%20investigations/EOC%20Transformation%20of%20work%20Formal%20investigation.pdf . The Report found that, in the UK:

“Half the workforce wants to work more flexible hours …research revealed 6.5 million people, including 2.9 million graduates, are not fully using their skills and experience at work and would have made different choices if flexible working had been available. Belying the assumption that flexible working is only for those with caring responsibilities, only 2.9 million are parents and 3.6 million non-parents…This waste to talent can’t continue if our economy is to survive the challenges or wider competition in global markets. Creative new ways of working would enable this ‘lost’ generation of workers to use their skills in ways that they want and the economy needs.”

Sound familiar? Definitely worth a read.

From there we travelled to Salisbury, a satellite city of Adelaide, for our final public consultation in South Australia. There was continuing support for a program of federally funded paid maternity leave, one that would be a nil cost to small business. Other themes included the challenge of child care, diverse desires and aspirations of women and their families, and the extent to which women really do have choice about how they play their futures in terms of economic independence.

We have learnt much from our week in South Australia. Importantly we have learnt that our second theme “balancing work and family across the life cycle” is very much on the South Australian state government agenda.

This is demonstrated by the following initiatives:·

* targets for women in leadership set out in the State Strategic Plan http://www.stateplan.sa.gov.au/

* work of the Joint Parliamentary Select Committee on Balancing Work and Life Responsibilities (chaired by Grace Portolisi) http://www.parliament.sa.gov.au/Committees/Select/HA/51/BalancingWorkandLifeResponsibilities/

* Safework SA’s work life balance project managed by Michelle Hogan http://www.premcab.sa.gov.au/pdf/news/2007sep20_womenvaluable.pdf·

* Office for Women’s online gender equality indicators http://www.aisr.adelaide.edu.au/gio/ .

Over the week we have been inspired by people’s stories and the work that is being done in NGOs, academics, businesses and government authorities. The issue of achieving gender equality is alive and well in South Australia.

Let’s keep it that way!

That’s all for now. See you in New South Wales where we hold our first public consultation in that state on Tuesday evening 4 December at 6pm at the Wesley Centre, Pitt St, Sydney.

Liz

We set off early on our drive out from Adelaide to Murray Bridge, a town of 17,000 people near the mouth of the Murray River. Water - or the lack of it - is a hot topic in this area and the stresses on families are evident, and growing with the drought.

Warmly welcomed by the Deputy Major of Murray Bridge, Mr Bob England, I was offered his chair in Council Chambers as we gathered together with a group of active and committed local residents, from small business, government and health services and community organisations. Many issues and challenges were presented to me. So were solutions. A number of themes emerged.

Innovative programs to reskill workers who are losing their jobs because of the drought were drawn to our attention. One program called “Jobs Without Water” was proving successful. There was also a program called “mature worker” which was aimed at ensuring workplace culture was amenable to older workers.

The added difficulty people had in combining work and family in rural areas when no family support was available was also highlighted. Childcare was often not available because of geographic isolation. For many women with tertiary education, there was a conflict between supporting the work of the farm and using their education and skills off the farm. Opportunities to work off the farm where limited in some areas. For families fortunate enough to have grandparents nearby, the caring work could be shared around. However for many grandparents, this caused difficulty when they had to take on full time caring roles once again.

The pressure men feel in being the main breadwinner in the family, particularly when they are not in full time, permanent employment is a real emerging theme for me. Many men we met were working in casual employment or on contract where they had no certainty about the continuation of their employment from week to week. With small children and partners not in the paid workforce, they felt significant stress about being the only breadwinner.

With small businesses the main employers in the area, many pointed out that, whilst very supportive of a scheme of paid maternity leave as a basic workplace right, these businesses could not afford the payments themselves. Any scheme would need to be government funded.

The pressure on families is escalating with the impact of the drought - people moving off the land and attempting to retrain. This has lead to an increase in domestic and family violence which is increasing the demand on emergency and interim housing. The women’s shelter has been closed which limits the options for women and children escaping violence in this area. Typically, women are needing to travel to Adelaide, and are often pressured to return to their community because of the need for supports.

Visiting Murray Bridge demonstrated that in many ways the struggles of regional and rural Australia are in many ways greater than in metropolitan areas. Thanks to all the inspiring people who contributed to our learning today.

Liz