WOMENS RIGHTS WATCH

IN THIS CAMPAIGN Join Wonder Women Our Work Links Backchat Women’s Rights Action Plan > Paid Maternity leave > Flexible work practices > Child care > Poverty > Equal pay > Representation > Preventing violence > Freedom from discrimination > Abortion JOIN WOMEN'S RIGHTS WATCH Be alerted when action is needed to protect women's human rights in Australia. JOIN NOW! RELATED CAMPAIGNS Women's Rights Watch Wonder Women Abortion Reproductive Rights Pregnancy Counselling Separation of Church and State

Women's Rights Watch 2006 and 2007 were big years for women's rights.  The veto over RU486 - the safe alternative to surgical abortion - was wrested from the Health Minister. There had been threats to make so-called late term abortion illegal and to remove Medicare funding for terminations but women in the parliament got together and stood up to the male bullies making these threats. Senator Lyn Allison led the way on these initiatives.  She provided the catalyst for the RU486 bill, eventually sponsored by her and three other women across parties. This was history in the making. For one thing it was rare for a private bill to properly debated, let alone passed, and, for another, there has never been a vote so clearly about women's issues and carried so decisively by the women's vote.  90% of female senators voted 'yes' but only 46% of male voters did so. Senator Lyn Allison with her fellow Senators Judith Troeth, Fiona Nash and Claire Moore  There was never so clear a demonstration of the need for more women in the parliament!  RU486 is not broadly available in Australia yet but we expect it here towards the end of the year.  Senator Allison shocked many conservative male senators by talking about contraception, gynaecological cancer and the need for better sex education.  She raised the terrible problem for hundreds of thousands of women of obstetric fistulas caused by prolonged unattended labor, particularly in African countries and the hypocrisy and unfairness of Australia's ban on its overseas aid being used for anything to do with abortion, even in countries where it is legal and where unsafe abortion is the leading cause of maternal death.  Her efforts led to a Senate inquiry into gynaelogical cancer treatment which lags behind the well-funded progress on breast cancer. The result was much greater awareness amongst women and doctors of the need for early detection and specialised surgery and $1 million in seed funding for a new gynaecological cancer centre. However, there is still much to be done to give women choices about their lives and their bodies. For instance, the overseas aid abortion ban is still in place, $60 million is to be spent on pregnancy counselling which is designed to talk women out of terminating unwanted pregnancies, and there has been no new contraceptive put on the PBS in 11 years. The Australian Democrats are committed to action to assist women. We will take action on nine fronts: > Paid Maternity leave > Flexible work practices > Child care > Poverty > Equal pay > Representation > Preventing violence > Freedom from discrimination > Abortion Download our postcard [30kb pdf] Join Women's Rights Watch Be alerted when action is needed to protect women's human rights in Australia.  Subscribe to email-alerts by sending an email to Jo at womensrightswatch@democrats.org.au You can unsubscribe at any time. All welcome, including men. Email-alerts archive: > 2006 July 27 > 2006 March 6 > 2006 Feb 15  > 2005 July 27 We also produce several other eBulletins on important issues, from climate change to human rights and industrial relations to peace. Please see our full list of eBulletins. Wonder Women Stories from women contributing to gender equality. Eloise Maglizza Family Violence & Ethnic Affairs Nominated August 2006 Dr Susie Allanson Women's reproductive rights Nominated July 2006 Caroline de Costa Women's health issues Nominated July 2006 Marina Castellanos Latin American Community Nominated July 2005 Rebecca Bartel Childcare advocate, managing director and mum Nominated March 2005 Nicky Jones Member of various women’s and issue-based rights organisations Nominated March 2005 Dr Nouria Salehi Afghan Australian Volunteers Association Nominated March 2005 Nominate a wonder woman. Email Jo womensrightswatch@democrats.org.au Our Work Read all our latest Media Releases on the Status of Women Read all our latest Speeches on the Status of Women Links Directories Women’s Resources compiled by the Parliamentary Library Australian Women's Intra Network Lobby Groups Women’s Rights Action Network Australia (WRANA) Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) WEL Victoria UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women Centre for Leadership for Women Business and Professional Women National Council of Single Mothers & Their Children Young Women’s Christian Association  Australian Reproductive Health Alliance Government Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency Australian Institute of Family Studies HREOC Sex Discrimination page & Human Rights page Politics Vida Network of women supporting Democratic women in Politics Women in Politics Democrat Women Backchat Please let us know if you have: Comments to add; Questions you want the Government to answer; Stories to share; Requests for our equality postcards; Advice to give; or Other feedback to offer. Email womensrightswatch@democrats.org.au Women’s Rights Action Plan We will take action on nine fronts: > Paid Maternity leave > Flexible work practices > Child care > Poverty > Equal pay > Representation > Preventing violence > Freedom from discrimination > Abortion Government funded Paid Maternity leave Australia's working women should be able to choose to have a child and not feel pressured to give up their income or indeed, their employment Paid Maternity leave is the first step to balance and support women's work and family lives and is recognised by the International Labor organisation (ILO) as a fundamental employment right. Government Funded Paid Maternity Leave addresses disadvantage and inequality in the workforce, by providing structural and financial support as a result of the biological imperative to take a break from the workforce. It is likely to encourage workforce attachment as much by the legitimacy it gives working mothers, as by the financial incentive it offers Australia is only 1 of two OECD Countries that does not have government funded paid maternity leave, the United Kingdom offers 26 weeks. Democrats Senator Stott Despoja’s Private Member’s Bill which has long been before the Parliament offers women 14 weeks at minimum wage. Flexible work practices Australia has one of the lowest workforce participation rates of women in the OECD.   Research suggests that there has been no significant change in the workplace to make balancing work and care easier and is, instead, getting harder. The Democrats call for legislation to enable the primary caregiver access to part-time work; the right to request flexible working hours; increase in family-related leave provision; explicitly prevent employers from discriminating against carers; and to allow long term casuals to either convert to permanent work, or if they remain casual, have access to paid leave. Child care Women need choices about how they care for children. They should not be forced into work, or kept out of it by high fees or a lack of options.   ABS data shows that 57% of women return to work by the time their child is in their second year and 68% by the time their child is in their third year. In Denmark where more than 70% of childcare costs are funded by the Government, 92% of mothers and 96% of fathers were in the labour force. ABS data also found that approximately 160,000 women want to work but are not looking because of issues relating to childcare. Shortage of childcare places, long waiting lists (especially for under 3 year olds) and increasing costs are making it harder for women to return to work. In some areas - particularly inner city where land values have made residential development more lucrative - there are long waiting lists and little hope of many families getting childcare at all.  All levels of government need to be involved in planning for child care accessibility and consideration given to subsidising capital works where centres would otherwise not be viable. Women need access to flexible, affordable, quality child care. Poverty, Health, Education and Care Women know that the costs of poverty, inadequate allowances and payments, deteriorating health and education systems are too high. Women remain our communities’ primary carers. Many women live in poverty as they care for children and sick, aged and disabled relatives. Their incomes are too low. There are over 100 000 single mothers are living in poverty. There are considerably more poor women in sole parent families than there are men (104,000 compared with 34,000). Equal pay Why does a childcare worker earn less than a caretaker in Australia? Women’s wages trail men’s, reflecting direct discrimination and lower earnings for many female dominated occupations. The average weekly earnings for men is currently $891.20 total earnings and for women $588.50 total earnings.  This equates to men’s wages being approximately 51 per cent higher than women’s. We propose a national review of pay equity in Australia by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. Increasing participation of women in all levels of Government Currently, women make up only 26.1 per cent of the Australian Commonwealth Parliament with men holding over 70 per cent of the seats. Although Australia's participation rate for women is double the international average we still have a long way to go before equal representation. The Democrats believe that certain areas such as women's representation in positions of executive power must be addressed, and have led the way in promoting women in politics. Preventing violence  We are committed to programs that assist community and women’s services, as well as collaborative efforts, to prevent, educate, intervene and assist with recovery from violence. At least one million Australian women have experienced some form of domestic violence. Half of these cases, according to statistics, were witnessed by children. Domestic violence is also a significant factor leading to lethal violence. We are also concerned that federal funding for The Partnerships against Domestic Violence (PADV) comes to an end in June 2005. If there is no follow-up to this program it is not clear what the government’s commitment is to domestic violence prevention programs. Freedom from Discrimination All Australian women should be free from discrimination in any form. We strongly oppose efforts to weaken the Sex Discrimination Act; discriminatory laws that prevent single and lesbian women’s access to IVF and same-sex adoption; and all areas of law that fail to treat same-sex couples on par with heterosexual relationships.  The Federal Government must work harder to recognise women’s contribution and remove direct and indirect discrimination. This includes signing the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, and enacting federal legislation to remove discrimination on the grounds of sexuality and gender identity. Abortion The Democrats support a woman’s fundamental right to safe, affordable and legal abortion.  To this end all levels of government should work together to: > remove abortion laws from the Criminal Code in all States and Territories and remove the risk of prosecution against women and their doctors > introduce buffer zones around clinics that provide abortion services so that women can access these services without fear of harassment and intimidation > fastrack and subsidise importation of RU-486, so that women can access an alternative to surgical abortion Read more about our position on abortion.