2024 in review: Women and Equity
Safety and wellbeing are not negotiable
The IEU maintained the campaign against gender-based violence this year, seeking a greater focus on educator wellbeing from employers and members.
The Term 2 edition of The Point addressed a ‘disturbing pattern of sustained sexual harassment, sexism and misogyny perpetrated by boys, signalling a worrying shift in gender dynamics within school environments’.
With too many schools and even staff members still accepting violence, mental and physical, as ‘part of the job’, the union took the lead in calling out dangerous conduct which puts individuals at risk and further exacerbates the teacher shortage.
Anti-discrimination law setback
The IEU expressed its disappointment that the federal government will not legislate before the next election to protect LGBTIQA+ people from discrimination by religious schools. The IEU has fought alongside Equality Australia to win significant anti-discrimination provisions in Victoria. We share EA’s distress at the postponement of these important reforms, and we will continue to campaign for their introduction.
The role of the positive duty under the Sex Discrimination Act
Mid-year, we pointed out to members that amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act require schools to take proactive measures to prevent sexual harassment, discrimination, and related victimisation.
The union told members, ‘If you believe that your employer is not sufficiently complying with the ‘positive duty’ or if the consultation and preventive measures are inadequate, you are encouraged to contact your Organiser’.
NO to NDAs
There was welcome progress on the long campaign against the overuse of non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases in Victoria. In mid-August, Premier Jacinta Allan released a discussion paper targeting the potential misuse of the legal instrument to silence victims.
Victorian Trades Hall Council, with the support of unions like the IEU, has campaigned vigorously to ban the misuse of NDAs. The proposed legislation will be ‘the first of its kind in Australia and among the first in the world’. NDAs were originally designed to protect trade secrets, but these days are too often used to silence victims of sexual harassment.
Anna Stewart Memorial Program (ASMP)
Every year, the ASMP offers two weeks of priceless immersive training for women looking to learn and grow in the union movement. In May, a special dinner was held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the ASMP with IEU luminaries such as former IEU General Secretary Deb James front and centre. In Tasmania, the ASMP program energised the campaign for a deal in Tasmanian Catholic schools, members who took part taking new ideas back to their sub-branches after a day of actions in Hobart.
Bargaining
The union bargained in independent schools for Enterprise Agreements with clauses that help close the gender pay gap, including:
superannuation payments on unpaid parental leave
increased paid parental leave entitlements for primary and secondary carers
limits on fixed term contracts
better part time arrangements including limits on spread of hours/days
clauses which commit to working to eliminate gendered violence and sexual harassment in the workplace.
International Women’s Day Rally, 7 March
IEU supporters again marched with regional Trades and Labour Councils and the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC) to show employers, governments, and the media that we all need justice, safety, respect and equality for all women, alongside events including a Women’s Rights at Work (WRAW) feminist tour of Victorian Trades Hall.
WRAW Chats
This year, WRAW chats were emphasised anew as a tool in the fight against gendered violence. They are a structured conversation of about 50 minutes that helps women develop an agenda for safety and accountability in their workplace.
WRAW Conference 2024: The Power to Win
The IEU again supported this important event which celebrates the impact of women in the union movement. The Conference focused on leveraging new laws to achieve equal pay, prioritise women’s health, end pay secrecy, and create safe, respectful workplaces for all women and non-binary workers.
Workshops and panels profiled union campaigns and winning for women, which provided members and Reps with ‘the tools, skills, confidence and power to organise and win at work’.
The IEU facilitated a panel with visiting Pacific unionists Tepa and Naama where they shared their union story and their experiences as women unionists. We gave the audience some background on COPE and Education International, the peak global body for education unions.
It was a day of union sisterhood and solidarity, which ended with a choir comprised of attendees singing the inspiring Bread and Roses, a song symbolising the call for fair wages and dignified working conditions
Flexible Work
An amendment to the Secure Jobs Better Pay Act broadens the categories of employees who have the right to request a change to their working arrangements to include carers, people with disability, people 55 or over, people who are pregnant and those experiencing or assisting those experiencing family and domestic violence. Members who need to change their days or hours of work to accommodate what is happening in their life are urged to contact their organiser.
Superannuation on Paid Parental Leave
The Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Adding Superannuation for a More Secure Retirement) Bill is now law, meaning parents receiving the support will also get an additional 12% of their payment as a contribution to their super fund. The changes apply from 1 July 2025. The IEU and the union movement support the changes, aimed to reduce the superannuation gap between men and women, which partly occurs because women on average take significantly more time than men away from work to care for children.
Developing International Women Networks: The Alisi Fusi Wightman Scholarship
This year, the IEU welcomed Tepa Tosolia from the Samoa National Teacher’s Association (SNTA) and Naama Areru from the Kiribati Union of Teachers (KUT) as participants in this Council of Pacific Education (COPE) program, established in honour of Alisi Fusi, former Vice President of the Fijian Teachers’ Association in the 1970s and 1980s. She was the only female union leader in her nation at the time, and a pioneer of COPE. Whilst in Melbourne the women visited schools, attended sub-branch meetings, spent time in the IEU office and participated in the Women’s Rights at Work (WRAW) Conference at Trades Hall.