Jenni's blog
Talkback feminism
I hope to prod, poke and probe current thinking about what it is like to be an Australian woman. I also believe that by sharing our experiences and our thoughts, we can enhance our lives as women, and empower each other.
Tony Abbott wants paid maternity leave
Who'd believe it - but hallelujah, hallelujah! At last, an Australian political party is listening to what women have been saying they want for a long, long time. Just take a look at some of my blogs from 2008...and 2009...
Abbott has obviously had an epiphany - today, on International Women's Day, Mr Abbott has had a change of heart from his previous position of saying "no" to paid maternity leave, and has proposed a paid maternity leave scheme that is almost identical to the schemes recommended by many women’s organisations in their submissions to the Productivity Commission.
Take a look - the National Foundation for Australian Women’s web site states that their submission recommended:
And this is pretty much what Abbott is offering – in stark contrast to the miserly scheme that the Labor government came up with, offering no better than welfare payments for 18 weeks - a much shorter period - no superannuation payments and no baby bonus!
I must say, I found it pretty difficult to believe that Labor could be so out of touch with women when this proposal was agreed, but perhaps they were just being a little too complacent.
I almost hesitate to say it, but I think that this could be a significant vote swinger for the Liberals.
Maybe Abbott is a lot smarter than I thought! No time now to be complacent, Mr Rudd.
A vow of silence
Since writing yesterday’s post, it also occurs to me that perhaps Julia Gillard has it good. After all, she does get to speak on issues about this government’s agenda, while the women in the Liberal party appear to have taken a vow of silence.
Is this anything to do with the fact that there is an Abbott and two Bishops in the party cloisters and males only are permitted in the scriptorium?
How very mediaeval Mr Abbott.
At least Julia gets the chance to speak occasionally.
Sour looks tell a story
I am tired of seeing the sour look on Kevin Rudd’s face whenever he stands next Julia Gillard and the cameras are trained on her, not him.
I keep thinking that it wouldn’t be too hard for him to look interested and maybe even supportive of what she is saying …?
But then, maybe I’ve got it wrong. After all, if he isn’t interested, it could be extremely difficult to look as if he is.
So I guess all he can do is to wait patiently for the camera to roll back to him, the only person of any consequence, so that the truly significant messages can be relayed to his adoring public.
Sharing can be tough.
A sorry story
Tony Abbott may be disappointed to learn that Pauline Hanson is moving to the UK, but on reading the findings of the Review into the Equal Opportunities in the Workplace Legislation I am almost tempted to go with her.
Hanson says in her defence that “the land of opportunity is no more applicable” and maybe she is right. No - I haven’t quite gone to Planet Pauline – there are just too many differences - but I also feel disappointed with the way Australia has changed, specifically in regard to the treatment of women.
Deeply disappointed.
I find it difficult to understand why half the population continues to experience discrimination, and why our political masters think it is OK to continue to ignore the evidence.
And the depressing evidence is there under their noses.
The description of the current trends and characteristics of women in the labour force provided in the government’s Consultation Report on the Review of the Equal Opportunity Legislation has really brought me down.
The report states that the following sorry story (be warned, it is a long list):
- The Australian paid workforce is highly gender segregated, and female dominated industries have been historically undervalued;
- Occupational segregation between men and women continues to exist, and male-dominated occupations continue to attract higher remuneration than female-dominated occupations;
- Women are less likely to be in leadership positions within organisations;
- Only 10.7 percent of executive managers in the ASX200 are women;
- At the board director level, there are more than 10 men to every one woman;
- At CEO level, there are 49 male CEOs for every female CEOs in the ASX200;
- Australia has a lower participation rate for mothers with young children than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries of Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States;
- Women are much less likely to work full-time than men (54.9 percent compared to 84.1 percent), and comprise over 70 percent of the part-time workforce;
- Despite gains in participation rates over time, women's earnings remain persistently lower than men's…Over a lifetime, pay inequity places women at a considerable disadvantage compared with men;
- Studies suggest that about 50 percent of the pay gap cannot be fully explained by differences in these factors and can be attributed to discrimination in the workplace;
- Long and inflexible working hours may preclude many workers with family responsibilities from pursuing particular career paths or job opportunities;
- When the combined impact of paid and unpaid work is considered, overall, women work longer hours than men;
- Maintaining a connection to the paid workforce following the birth of a child is a determinant of future employment patterns and earnings;
- Experiences of sex discrimination and sexual harassment, fuelled by discriminatory stereotypes about gender roles, continue to pervade women's experiences of paid work… The Australian Human Rights Commission conducted a national telephone survey in 2008 and found that 22 percent of women aged 18 to 64 years have experienced some form of sexual harassment in the workplace during their lifetime;
- Nearly one in every five pregnant women experiences at least one difficulty in their workplace in relation to being pregnant;
- Australia lags behind many other developed countries in terms of women's workforce participation rates;
- When compared to other OECD countries with similar tertiary education levels, Australia has the fifth largest pay gap;
- Australia's ranking in the Global Gender Index of the World Economic Forum (a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress) has slipped from 15th place in 2006 to 20th place in 2009…On these measures, Australia is significantly behind New Zealand (5th place), South Africa (6th place) and United Kingdom (15th place)
The report also tells you why it is important to change all this:
- Australian women's increased workforce participation has been a major factor in leading to better economic security for women. Paid work gives women the opportunity to ensure their own financial security, contribute to the family budget and secure their economic future into retirement.
- While paid work improves women's choices and independence, it is also fundamental to workplace productivity and economic growth.
Paid work is also widely recognised as key to addressing disadvantage and to contributing to social inclusion.
So there it is. A very sorry story indeed. No wonder I feel like running away sometimes. But not with Pauline.
Small breasted women
You just have to read Marieke Hardy's article about Barnaby Joyce on The Drum. What on earth does he think he is doing and who on earth does he think he is doing it for?
I first read about this issue a week ago in one of the American feminist blogs. From that article, I concluded that the Australian Sex Party had grabbed some media coverage talking about - believe it or not - breasts.
But it looks like their media campaign may have succeeded in grabbing the attention of a few blokes, including .... Barnaby Joyce.
After reading about the issue, Barnaby decided to 'round up' some adult magazines to check whether the portrayal of small breasted women is encouraging paedophilia, as claimed by the Australian Sex Party.
Clearly, Barnaby thought that this was a subject worth researching.
I confess, when I read the Broadsheet article originally, I didn't pay a lot of attention to it.
Mainly because I wasn't sure what they meant.
After all, isn't small-breasted a relative term, particularly when it comes to porn versus real life?
I agree wholeheartedly with what Kids Free 2B Kids is trying to achieve, but it is pretty clear that their organisation doesn't have a lot in common with the Australian Sex Party.
It is also clear that the Australian Sex Party has won the PR war on this subject.
And that is all it is, as far as I can see.
Silly Barnaby Joyce.
Silly, silly, boy.
What dimples? What creases?
Oh look – lots more publicity is being given to the Marie Claire magazine as a result of a nude cover page photo of Miss Universe 2004, Jennifer Hawkins, in the February 2010 issue. Well done guys – moving this sort of stuff from page 3 of the newspapers has to be an advance for women, doesn’t it? And it’s all in a good cause too – even better.
Oh, in case you hadn’t noticed (perhaps your glasses were too steamed up) the cause is all about promoting a healthy body image.
Hold on! I just had a flash! Wasn’t it the women’s mags who created the situation where promoting a healthy body image is now an exception to the rule?
Well, isn't it nice to see them trying to fix the mess they got us into...
But somehow I can’t help thinking that placing an un-photo-shopped nude photograph of Miss Universe on the cover proves only one thing: that nudes on covers sell more magazines.
Celebrate the new year with a quiz
Given that it is holiday time, and hopefully you are all relaxing with your friends or family at the beach or at home, I thought a quiz could be a good way to kick off 2010, so wondered if you know the answers to the following:
1. What do these countries have in common?
Argentina, The Federation of Bosnia, Chile, Finland, Germany, India, Ireland, Liberia, Lithuania, The Philippines
2. What do these countries have in common?
Croatia, Haiti, Mozambique, Iceland, Ukraine, Bangladesh
3. What do these countries have in common?
The Gambia, Kiribati, Macedonia, Malawi, Peru, Spain, Syria, Vietnam, Zimbabwe
4. What do these countries have in common?
Australia, Belgium, Cambodia, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Guinea-Bissau, Ireland, Kyrgyzstan, Madagascar, Montenegro, Namibia, Norway, Senegal, Sweden, Swaziland, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Give up? The answers are:
1. They all have women Presidents
2. They all have women Prime Ministers
3. They all have women Vice Presidents
4. The all have women Deputy Prime Ministers
So how predictable am I?
But who knows, maybe in the next year or two Australia will be included in the answers to question 2 – or even question 1 – could be exciting!
Happy New Year everyone
The true story about Christmas reindeer
This is interesting - according to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, while both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer each year, male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November to mid-December.
Female reindeer retain their antlers till after they give birth in the spring. Therefore, according to every historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, every single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be a girl.
We should have known.....
Only women would be able to drag a fat man in a red velvet suit all around the world in one night and not get lost!
Merry Christmas to you all
A good woman
I am extremely pleased to learn that a good woman has been appointed as the CEO of the public service organisation that most Australians have personal contact with: Centrelink, which will soon be merged with Medicare.
But at the risk of being a bit churlish about the process followed for this appointment I would also like to point out that the last two Centrelink CEOs were men, and they were appointed via a much more common process - that is, they were just appointed to the jobs because someone in power thought they would be the best person - just like that. No advertising, no interviewing, no process, just "have a job!".
There have been three appointments for Centrelink's CEO in nearly as many years, and only once was the job advertised.
Carolyn Hogg, who won the job this time around, has been acting in the role. On and off, for some time.
In fact, she was acting in the CEO role on the previous two occasions when the job was just handed to a bloke.
This time the job was advertised. And a woman got it. OK? Get my point?
Thanks guys.
The Un-United Federation of Australia
I'm a bit slow at times, I know, but now that I've read Annabel Crabb's most enlightening analysis about Australia's current political leaders, I finally understand why none of them really do it for me.
She describes Rudd as The Nerd and Abbott as The Jock and she is dead right! And of course, Australians love a stoush between jocks and nerds, don't they. Well, some Australians do.
The problem is, neither jocks nor nerds have the leadership qualities of empathy, understanding, compassion, caring or nurturing which are absolutely essential to transforming anything, particularly a country. And this country needs a bit of transformation if you ask most women.
Both nerds and jocks are stereotypes, and male stereotypes at that. The jock is your command and control type of leader, and the nerd can't do anything without having commissioned at least 50 research articles arguing the pros and cons and then commissioning another 50 researchers to analyse the first 50 articles. That is, they usually can't do anything.
It is sort of like having an extremist-to-the-very-far-right who gives a stuff James Kirk on one side (Abbott), and an even more emotionally detached and logical Dr Spock (Rudd) on the other - without any respect or love between them.
I guess that would make us the Most Un-United Federation of Australia, with women playing the part of the aliens.
What hope is there? Beam me up Scotty.
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