Showing posts with label International Women's Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label International Women's Day. Show all posts

Friday 8 March 2024

International Womens Day 2024: So how is female suffrage getting along in Australia?

 

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So how is female suffrage getting along in Australia?


After federation came into effect and the Commonwealth of Australia began its life in January 1901, the first federal parliament contained no women as elected representatives.


It wasn't until 1902 that Commonwealth Franchise Act established equal suffrage at a federal, allowing adult women the right to vote in federal elections and elect members to the House of Representatives and the Senate.


By 1903 women began to stand for federal election - as independents or as candidates for minor parties as neither the forerunners of the Liberal Party of Australia or the Australian Labor Party would support woen candidates.


It took another forty years before the first two women were elected - Enid Lyons, the Liberal MP for Darwin (Tas) and Dorothy Tagney Labor Senator for West Australia.


Both women entered a Parliament House which since its erection in 1927 had been totally devoid of toilets set aside for female members of parliament. [National Museum Australia, "First women in parliament", 2024]


For another forty years between 1946 to 1986 another 6 women MPs and 26 women senators came and went in the federal electoral cycles. A woefully small number. [Australian Parliament website, "Women parliamentarians in Australia 1921-2020", December 2020]


In May 2010 first federal Labor elected & then in August the national electorate endorsed the first female prime minister of Australia. In the federal government ministry, as at the end of June 2010, there were nine female ministers and parliamentary secretaries (representing 23% of ministers and parliamentary secretaries), including the Prime Minister The Hon Julia Gillard MP and a further three who were Cabinet members. Around 17% of shadow ministerial and parliamentary secretary positions were held by women [ABS, Measures of Australia's Progress, 2010]


However, it took until 2014 before women made up 26.7 per cent of the House of Representatives and 38.2 per cent of the Senate.


Now in 2024 the gender landscape in the Australian Parliament stands thus......


A total of 37 of the 78 Labor Government MPs in the Australian House of Representatives are women. That number represents 47.53 per cent of all those sitting on the government benches in the Lower House and 63.79 per cent of all federal women MPs in 2024.


A total of 17 of the 25 Labor Government senators in the Australian Senate are women. That number represents 68 percent of all those sitting on government benches in the Upper House and 40.7 per cent of all women senators in 2024.


Women in the Albanese Labor Government make up a combined total of 24 per cent of all MPs and Senators in the Australian Parliament. While women of all political persuasions comprise 44.44 percent of all parliamentarians sitting in the Australian Parliament in 2024. [Australia Parliament website, March 2024]


By December 2023 17,721,975 Australian citizens over the age of 18 years were enrolled to vote and the enrolment rate was 98 per cent. Historically overall voter turnout at elections is high. However, if the trend since 1996 holds, slightly more female registered voters are likely to turnout to vote than male voters at a federal general election.


In June 2023 the Australian estimated resident population numbered 26,638,544 individuals of which est. 50.35 per cent were female. [ABS, National state and territory population, June 2023]


It has only taken women 123 years to get to less than half the elected political representation their population demographic suggests they are entitled to expect.


Tuesday 12 March 2019

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is happy for a woman to rise in the world so long as it doesn’t disadvantage a man.


Australia’s unselfconsciously chauvinist and gaffe prone Liberal Prime Minister Scott John Morrison is happy for a woman to rise in the world as long as it doesn’t disadvantage a man.

Excerpt from a speech given by Prime Minister Morrison at a Chamber of Minerals and Energy International Women’s Day Breakfast in Perth on Friday, 8 March 2019:

“One of the other female members of my Cabinet, Kelly O'Dwyer, said at the Press Club last year, our Minister for Women, “Gender equality isn't about pitting girls against boys.” See, we're not about setting Australians against each other, trying to push some down to lift others up. That's not in our values. That is an absolutely Liberal value, that you don't push some people down to lift some people up. And that is true about gender equality too. We want to see women rise. But we don't want to see women rise only on the basis of others doing worse. We want everybody to do better, and we want to see the rise of women in this country be accelerated to ensure that their overall pace is maintained.”

* Cartoon from Google Images

Wednesday 8 March 2017

*************International Women's Day 2017*************




International Women's Day
#BeBoldForChange

To all the grandmothers, aunties, mothers, daughters, 
sisters and female friends in Australia 
(and women around the world)
Hold you heads up high today
As always your individual and collective 
courage, resolve and goodwill
enables communities to thrive and grow

Tuesday 8 March 2011

The more things change the more they stay the same when it comes to gender inequality


It would be comfortable to say “Could only happen in America” when reading this study, which indicates that it is not only developing countries which favour male children. However one cannot escape the thought that the finding of this study might easily be mirrored in Australia.

Do parents have preferences over the gender of their children, and if so, does this have negative consequences for daughters versus sons? In this paper, we show that child gender affects the maritalstatus, family structure, and fertility of a significant number of American families.
Overall, a first-born daughter is significantly less likely to be living with her father compared to a first-born son. Three factors are important in explaining this gap. First, women with first-born daughters are less likely to marry. Strikingly, we also find evidence that the gender of a child in utero affects shotgun marriages. Among women who have taken an ultrasound test during pregnancy, mothers who have a girl are less likely to be married at delivery than those who have a boy. Second, parents who have first-born girls are significantly more likely to be divorced. Third, after a divorce, fathers are much more likely to obtain custody of sons compared to daughters. These three factors have serious negative income and educational consequencesfor affected children. What explains these findings? In the last part of the paper, we turn to the relationship between child gender and fertility to help sort out parental gender bias from competing explanations for our findings. We show that the number of children is significantly higher in families with a first-born girl. Our estimates indicate that first-born daughters caused approximately 5500 more births per year, for atotal of 220,000 more births over the past 40 years. Taken individually, each piece of empirical evidence is not sufficient to establish the existence of parental gender bias. But taken together, the weight of the evidence supports the notion that parents in the U .S. favour boys over girls…….Our findings are important for several reasons. First, regardless of how one interprets ourfindings on family structure and fertility, we show that child gender matters. The results on the educational and economic outcomes indicate that the negative effects on children living in families where the first-born child is a girl are substantial. While our findings indicate that some o fthe negative consequences of a first-born daughter affect younger siblings of both genders, girls are overall more likely to be exposed to these negative effects. Moreover, if there is evidence of parental sex bias in family living arrangements and fertility decisions, it may be indicative ofother ways in which parents treat boys and girls unequally. For example, even in families where the parents are married, parents who prefer boys may give less attention and nurturing to their daughters. They may also devote fewer financial resources to their education and health. In this sense, our results are related to the existing literature that documents an unequal intra-household allocation of resources. [The Demand for Sons, GORDON B. DAHL University of California, San Diego, and NBER and ENRICO MORETTI University of California, Berkeley, and NBER,2008]

Tuesday 3 March 2009

International Women's Day events in the Clarence Valley, 6-13 March 2009


There is a range of activities during the week before and after 8th March, the official International Women’s Day. Clarence Valley Council and the NSW Office for Women’s Policy are supporting the following events.

Friday 6 March
Breakfast organized by Clarence Valley Women Inc with guest speaker, UrsulaWilkinson.
Grafton Community & Function Centre, 59 Duke Street, Grafton.
7.30 am – 9 am $15 per person or $8 for pensioners/students
RSVP by Tuesday 3 March to Vicki on 0409 035 433 or cvw16@bigpond.com

Saturday 7 March
Breakfast organized by Lower Clarence Women’s Group.
Sassafras Restaurant, 16 Coldstream Street, Yamba.
Guest speaker Pauline Plant - Clarence Valley Citizen of the Year.
Contact: susan.howland@clarence.nsw.gov.au
8 am – 9.30 am - $15 per person or $8 for pensioners/students
Purchase tickets by Friday 6 March at Sassafras on 6646 1011

Sunday 8 March
Iluka women are gathering at the Picnic Area at Iluka Beach with guests Pat Jenkins – ‘Magic of Carbon in our Soils’ & Rivka Forest - ‘The Art of Healing’
10 am -12 noon. Bring your own drinks, folding chair, sun protection. Morning munchies provided.
Contact: Kerrie Howland 0432 665 305 for information.

Sunday 8 March
Lower Clarence Aboriginal Women’s Group invite women to join them for morning tea at the CWA rooms, River Street, Maclean. Contact: Susan on 0427 975 131 or susan.howland@clarence.nsw.gov.au

Friday 13 March
Yamba Evening View Club - Morning tea, two guest speakers, a fashion parade by Clovelly’s of Maclean & Yamba, a light lunch, raffle, lucky door prizes and entertainment.
Treelands Drive Community Centre, Treelands Drive, Yamba
9.30 am – 2 pm. $10 p/person payable at the door
RSVP Anne Dinham on 66462644 or better still email to dinhams@aapt.net.au by Tuesday, 10th March

Tuesday 24 February 2009

Pauline Plant of Yamba - finalist for NSW Woman of the Year


Pauline Plant, the creator of the Yamba Breast Cancer Support Group and Breast awareness program, is one of 10 finalists for the NSW Woman of the Year Award.

Earlier this year Mrs Plant was announced as the 2009 Clarence Valley Citizen of the Year.

The finalists for the Woman of the Year Award were chosen from 87 nominations with the winner to be announced on
International Women's Day on March 5.

The other nominees are:


Layne Beachley - former world champion surfer

Cheryl Koenig - author

Patricia Johnson - State Emergency Service volunteer

Rozita Leoni - Eastern Sydney community worker

Wendy McCarthy - former University of Canberra chancellor

Jan Savage - Cancer Care Western NSW fundraising coordinator

Sue Ismiel - philanthropist

Rhonda French - a Wiradjuri woman, who voluntarily promotes positive health, education and cultural programs

Ana Tiwary - Vice-president of Women in Film and Television


Pic from The Daily Examiner