Changing attitudes to the question of equality for women
Dr Liz Bishop
By Liz Bishop
Surely the point of International Women’s Day is to promote equality. But equality, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. ‘Equality’ is an elusive concept, not least because people differ from one another, with different aptitudes, abilities and experiences. Whilst it is a term frequently invoked, equality is not a term of which we have a readily defined, well-developed understanding. Equality is neither a simple concept nor an easily achieved target. It is, however, a worthy moral goal - each of us should have the opportunity to fulfill our potential.
The question is, do women in Australia today get such an opportunity?
There is a general perception that we live in a society in which women are treated and respected as equals. How exactly this perception arises is puzzling.
There is an 18 per cent pay gap between women and men in Australia. Women graduates earn $2000 on average less than their male counterparts. Less than 14 per cent of directors of ASX 200 companies are women; a miserly three per cent are CEOs. For over 20 years there have been equal or greater numbers of female law graduates but still only 38 per cent of Victorian judges and magistrates are women.
(Outside the workforce, as well, there are damning inequities. Domestic violence, which in December 2011 a federal Parliamentary Library Report confirmed is overwhelmingly perpetrated by males against their female partners, cuts across age, economic and social boundaries. It is the leading risk factor contributing to death, disability and illness in Victorian women aged 15 to 44.)
Given these figures, it is not surprising that Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, has welcomed the introduction into Parliament last week of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Amendment Bill 2012. In her 2008 listening tour she found that there was:
a clear message from the community that gender inequality is a pervasive and deep-rooted phenomenon that will not be successfully addressed without significant attitudinal change. Attitudes underpin every concrete action we take to make the world a more equal place for women and men.
A bill that seeks to promote pay equality, shared caring responsibilities and which forces companies to report on outcomes and meet setting out gender equality indicators and developing minimum standards and performance indicators over time is a significant step in achieving attitudinal change.
As our Governor-General has said before, we may need to go further to institute quotas to improve the representation of women in leadership roles in our community. Noting with disappointment the relative paucity of women in business on boards and in top decision-making positions, Quentin Bryce has said that in some circumstances, “special measures are a very constructive way to go”.
The right to equality of opportunity forms the basis for equal representation of women and men on corporate boards. Achieving this would appear to require more than the simple expectation that the sheer weight of numbers of quality women candidates for appointment to leadership positions will inevitably create evolutionary change. As reluctant as we are to accept quotas and being told what to do, this ‘revolutionary’ approach is necessary to achieve the simple dictates of equality.
The community is entitled to structures that are representative of it. The legitimacy of public bodies is undermined by the failure to have women adequately represented on them. They should uphold and be seen to uphold the principles of equality.
Where significant social change is required, the response and role of government is paramount. Childcare, parental leave, flexible work practices, discrimination on the basis of family responsibilities, work hours, paid maternity leave, equal pay and many of the other issues impacting on families and women in the workforce are ethical issues. Governments affect the issues and can effect change. Let’s hope this latest attempt to redress conventional attitudes is successful.
Dr Liz Bishop is from the Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights at Monash University.