Prominent Australian women call for #safetyequityrespect

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to highlight issues of importance, but in 2022, a group of prominent Australians has used the 8 March event to promote a campaign aimed at creating specific legal and policy changes.

The #SafetyRespectEquity campaign was launched on the eve of IWD 2022 by a dozen female leaders including Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins with the release of an open letter and video to the nation.

“Every woman in Australia deserves access to a safe place to work, a safe place to live, fair and equal pay, quality free early learning and care, and a justice system that works for survivors,” the letter read.

“This means:

·      Preventing sexual harassment and bullying. (Implement all 55 recommendations in the Respect@Work report including a positive duty on employers.)

·      10 days paid family and domestic violence leave.

·      Acting on the National Plan for First Nations Women and Girls. (Support & fund the 7 recommendations in the 2020 Wiyi Yani U Thangani Report)

·      Ensuring effective employment programs for women with disability.

·      Stronger, consistent child sexual assault laws.

·      Eliminating the gender pay gap including necessary legal reform.

·      Free, accessible, and quality early childhood education and care.

·      Expanding paid parental leave.

·      Embedding respectful relationships and consent education everywhere including schools, universities, workplaces, and homes.”

Ms Tame, the former Australian of the Year is joined in the campaign by abuse campaigner Ms Higgins, businesswomen Lucy Turnbull, Christine Holgate and Wendy McCarthy, Paralympian Madison de Rozario, youth activists Yasmin Poole and Chanel Contos, former MP Julia Banks, union leader Michele O’Neil, academic and Indigenous advocate Larissa Behrendt, and early childhood advocate Georgie Dent.

Why International Women’s Day matters

International Women's Day (IWD) is celebrated annually on March 8th, celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women everywhere. 

It is celebrated all over the globe and is not country, group, or organisation specific.

The importance of International Women's Day 

As well as celebrating the contributions of women globally to all areas of society, IWD is a chance to reflect on what still needs to be done to achieve equality.

Women and girls are effective and powerful leaders and change-makers for climate adaptation and mitigation. They are involved in sustainability initiatives around the world, and their participation and leadership results in more effective climate action. It is essential for sustainable development and greater gender equality that opportunities and constraints that empower women and girls to be equal players in decision making, are identified, and examined. Without gender equality today, a sustainable future, and an equal future, remains beyond our reach.

The theme of IWD 2022 is “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” 

This recognises the contribution of women and girls around the world who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation, and response, to build a more sustainable future for all.

Women are increasingly being seen as more vulnerable than men to the impacts of climate change, mainly because they represent the majority of the world's poor and are proportionally more dependent on threatened natural resources. The difference between men and women can also be seen in their differential roles, responsibilities, decision making, access to land and natural resources, opportunities and needs, which are held by both sexes. 

Worldwide, women have less access than men to resources such as land, credit, agricultural inputs, decision-making structures, technology, training, and extension services that would enhance their capacity to adapt to climate change

Improving women's adaptation to climate change.

Despite their vulnerability, women are not only seen as victims of climate change, but they can also be seen as active and effective agents and promoters of adaptation and mitigation. For a long time, women have historically developed knowledge and skills that have passed from one generation to another, resulting in them contributing effectively, enhancing local adaptive capacity, and sustaining a community's livelihood.

To improve the adaptive capacity of women locally and worldwide the IEU calls upon the Government and employers to:

·      Adopt initiatives that identify and address gender-specific impacts of climate change, particularly those such as inequalities in access to resources, including credit, extension and training services, information, and technology.

·      Actively address women's priorities and needs in development planning and funding. Women should be part of the decision making at national and local levels regarding allocation of resources for climate change initiatives. It is also important to ensure gender-sensitive investments in programmes for adaptation, mitigation, technology transfer and capacity building.

·      Zealously involve women in the development of new technologies to ensure that they are adaptive, appropriate, and sustainable. At national levels, efforts should be made to mainstream gender perspective into national policies and strategies, as well as related sustainable development and climate change plans and interventions.

How did International Women's Day begin? 

After years of debate and unrest surrounding equal rights, and the introduction of National Women's Day in America in 1909, Clara Zetkin (Leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany) proposed the idea of an international day for women at a conference in Copenhagen. Over 100 women from 17 countries unanimously agreed with the suggestion, and the first International Working Working Women's Day was observed on the 19th of March 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.