Name: Nicole Wilson
Community/State: Vivonne Bay, South Australia
School: Kangaroo Island Community Education
Age/Grade: 16 Years, Year 11
“Life is a roadtrip with twists and turns. How can we support one another to navigate the road to gender equality?”
What does gender equality mean? Equal rights, pay, opportunities regardless of gender? In Australia there are 98.5 males per 100 females. In the past, Australian women have had to fight for decades for suffrage, and by 1902 all states of Australia allowed women the right to vote and have a say in our country’s future. Yet after 116 years of being able to vote and having “equal” rights, women are still not being given the same opportunities as men. Australia must realise, that we still haven’t achieved the dream of gender equality for every individual.
In Australia, women make up over 50% of the population, shouldn’t this be then theoretically equally represented in Parliament? Wouldn’t it be expected that at least half of all Parliamentarians be female? But in reality, less than a third of Australian Parliamentarians are women. Why are women so underrepresented in Parliament? A fair representation in Parliament would help speed up the process of recognising these and other very important issues which directly affect women. In Canada since 2015, half of all Parliamentarians are female, so it’s time for Australia to make this happen also.
Wage discrepancy is a big problem for women in Australia. On average if a man and a woman have the exact same job; the man will be paid a higher wage than the woman. In addition to this, in Australia women’s sanitary items are taxed and therefore not seen as a necessity . It is really baffling that tampons and other sanitary items are still considered a luxury rather than a necessity. Why are women’s struggles in Australia still being so overlooked? Women make up the majority of the population, but they are constantly being treated as the minority.
In Canada to encourage gender equality in office, a campaign was started called, “Ask Her To Run” which was aimed towards encouraging successful women to run for public office. This campaign resulted in women being equally represented in the Canadian Parliament. Only women will ever be able to have firsthand experiences on how Australian society impacts their everyday lives. If Australia was to run a campaign similar to Canada, this would have a positive effect on resolving issues that affect women, that are often regarded of lesser importance. To support one another on the way to achieving gender equality we must have equal representation in Parliament.
References
1 https://www.abs.gov.au/asstats/abs@nsf/mf/3235.0
2 https://www.google.com.au/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/04/canada-cabinet-gender-diversity-justin-trudeau
3 https://www.wgea.gov.au/addressing-pay-equity/what-gender-pay-gap
4 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-34013354