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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 09 Hansard (Wednesday, 18 August 2004) . . Page.. 3842 ..

a greater knowledge of women’s realities and experiences; and the difference argument that women bring particular skills and perspectives to politics including a more constructive and less adversarial style

In an IPU survey of 187 women parliamentarians from 65 countries (Marilyn Waring et al, Politics: Women’s Insight, Inter-Parliamentary Union, 2000)—

Which is this document.

—86 per cent indicated that their participation in politics had brought about positive changes in form, political behaviour, traditional attitudes, substance, processes and outcomes.

There was a working party set up in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association looking at the question of gender-sensitising Commonwealth parliaments. It is a very good document. I recommend it to anyone who is even a little bit interested in questions of gender and democracy, but it relates particularly to this debate today. I will read out one section of that document on gender-sensitising parliaments. It says:

During its discussions on cultural barriers, the Study Group found that, generally, the timing of parliamentary sessions does not take into consideration the many domestic duties faced by women. It was noted that, in many cases, the female Parliamentarian faces the burden of expectations from her own family and is assumed to be a super-human being: She must carry out her parliamentary responsibilities with breadth, depth and vigour; she is expected to be a better representative than her male counterpart; she must take care of her family, seeing to the care, protection and education of her children; she must ensure that the home is appropriate for her status in the society and certainly for that of her spouse; she must see to the well-being of her spouse, and she must, in the eyes of many, at all times be perfectly groomed. These are very high, if not impossible standards to be met at all times, and they are often standards not expected of their male colleagues.

Although concerns related to family responsibilities also relate to men, in most societies, despite widely changing attitudes, it is still considered that the mother is primarily responsible for the care of the family. Therefore lack of maternity benefits, day care facilities for children and separate rest rooms for women in Parliament restrict the participation of women in the political arena. Some countries have made physical accommodation with appropriate rest rooms, changing rooms and day care facilities.

It was the accepted view that across the Commonwealth, many women with young children have traditionally been deterred from entering politics for a number of reasons, including the lack of childcare facilities. In South Australia, for example, comparatively few women Members of Parliament have children of school age or less. Of the 16 women Members in mid-1995, 12 had no children or their children had grown up and had left school. However, of the 55 men, 26 of them had children of school age.

In contrast to this the study group noted as follows:

The Study Group noted that the average age of women Parliamentarians in Finland is 42, which means that many of them are of child-bearing age or have young families. In common with all other mothers in that country, a female

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