Page 394 - Week 02 - Thursday, 8 March 2007
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
More Australian women now work part time than at any other point in our history and more than in any other country in the industrialised world. Further, there are now more women totally dependent on welfare and working poor women. This is due largely to the increases of female headed sole parent families with children and the number of divorced women aged over 60 who have limited means of support due to a lack of superannuation and not yet being eligible for the age pension. Clearly, the brunt of Howard government policy in the last 10 years has reversed the position of women in society by making it more difficult for them to access full-time employment, and have a better work-life balance.
Making up just over half of the ACT’s population, women in this territory are fortunate enough to enjoy better lifestyles than women across Australia. Women in the ACT have higher average incomes than women nationally and the health status of women is generally better than their counterparts elsewhere in Australia. However, despite the positive position for the ACT, women in the ACT still earn less than men, are more likely to live in poverty in old age, are more likely to experience violence and are more likely to rely on social security benefits.
The government has put in place a range of programs and services that addresses this inequality through the public service and business, education and health sectors. From the outset, this government has been serious about improving the status and wellbeing of women in the ACT. After the Stanhope government was elected in 2001, it immediately formed the Select Committee on the Status of Women to undertake a comprehensive inquiry into issues affecting ACT women. The outcome of this inquiry informed the development of the ACT women’s plan, which was launched in 2004.
The women’s plan is a five-year policy framework that provides a whole-of-government approach to the development of strategies that address issues and advance the status of women and girls in the ACT. The government also established the first ACT Office for Women to provide advice directly to the Minister for Women and the Ministerial Advisory Council on Women as an avenue for the community to raise women’s issues.
The government also recognises that seemingly gender neutral budget or cabinet decisions may have an inherent gender bias, and for this reason the ACT Office for Women continues to assess all cabinet submissions to determine the impact that particular proposals may have on women. The women’s budget statement provides a report card in relation to women in the ACT and an account of the measures the government has in place to address and support women’s issues.
This government has introduced tangible and practical initiatives to strengthen opportunity, increase safety and provide extra support for those women who need it most. The ACT women’s grant program was launched in 2004 to support projects which improve the status of women and build organisational capacity in the community. In 2006, the Stanhope government convened the first ACT Women’s Summit. This biennial event was established to provide the government with key advice on areas where further work is needed to enable it to target policies and strategies to support women in the community.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .