In 1984, the Australian federal government introduced the world's first women's budget statement, recognising that budget measures impact men and women differently, but ceased the practice in 2014. Since 1984, almost half of OECD countries have introduced gender responsive budgeting or are in the process of doing so. The ALP is promising to reinstate the women's budget statement if elected.  Here, Professors Marian Sawer and Miranda Stewart outline the conceptual and policy innovation represented by gender budgeting, its Australian origins and the global impact of the practice. BPW recognises we need to lobby for women's budget statements at state and federal levels.

Early childhood is a key developmental period when children begin to learn about gender. A group of researchers from RMIT suggest practical ways that parents can raise their children to respect gender equality.

KPMG has produced an analysis of the impact of returning to work or increasing hours  can have on professionally qualified working mums. They can lose almost $30 a day in tax, lost payments and out-of-pocket childcare expenses if they increase from 3 to 4 working days  per week, and almost $80 a day if they move from 4 to 5 days of work per week. These are just some of the punishing disincentives confronting working mothers up and down the pay scale. KPMG’s study finds Workforce Disincentive Rates of between 75% and 120% are commonplace for mothers seeking to increase their days of work beyond 3 per week.

In their review of the KPMG report, the ABC asks: would you increase your working days from three to four to earn just $2.50 an hour.

BPW Clubs looking to make a difference in the lives of women by advocating directly to parliamentarians will find this gender advocacy tool kit helpful. The advice and information you’ll find here is drawn from the wisdom and experiences of parliamentarians and advocates. This collection of practical tips and policy building advice compiled by University of Canberra PhD student Joanna Richards will help you shape policy for the better. http://apo.org.au/node/193521

In March 2018, the Federal Minister for Health, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, announced a process to establish a National Women's Health Strategy for 2020-2030. Building on the vision and objectives of the National Women's Health Policy 2010, the Strategy will set the strategic direction for substantial improvements in the health of women and girls in Australia over the next ten years. The consultation will close on 5 November 2018. The draft Strategy is now available online for public consultation at:
https://consultations.health.gov.au/population-health-and-sport-division-1/establishing-a-national-womens-health-strategy

Speaking at a Women’s Weekly forum in September, Julie Bishop directly linked Australia’s low world ranking in female political representation to her party. She said: It’s not acceptable for our party to contribute to the fall in Australia’s ratings from 15th in the world in terms of female parliamentary representation in 1999 to 50th today.  The Conversation compares the Labor and Liberal strategies and the value of quotas.

Broad Agenda takes a different approach and advises that it is time to review our system of representation with single member electorates and introduced Mixed Member Proportional Representation to address the lack of women in Parliament.  What do you think?

The Melbourne Press Club  has entered Patience Thoms into their Hall of Fame.  She has been listed on the Australian Women's Register for many years.

A highly competent journalist, Patience Thoms served as President of BPW Australia (1960-1964) and International President (1968-1971). She travelled widely in these roles, and wrote a history The First 25 Years of BPW Australia, in which she identified the diversity of challenges for women in post-war Australian society from securing equal education to the injustices of superannuation schemes. Her entry in the Hall of Fame recognises that Patience Thoms redefined coverage of women’s issues in Queensland’s leading newspaper and gave women a voice in the newsroom.

Libertarian thinktank CIS has produced a snapshot report that concludes childcare continues to become less affordable for working families.  Women's Agenda concurs, claiming that the regulation of childcare has focused on promoting early childhood education and highly contestable measures of quality in childcare, at the expense of affordability and accessibility. More of us are using formal childcare in order to participate in the workforce, yet Government policies on childcare are working at cross-purposes, on one hand reducing childcare costs through price subsidies while on the other hand driving up costs through a complex National Quality Framework that has cemented childcare as a high-cost and inflexible service.   Governments at all levels must decide if the primary policy objective of supporting childcare is female workforce participation or the early education of children.

Alys Gagnon, Executive Director of The Parenthood argues policy that makes for worse early childhood education is reprehensible at best, asserting that we must always push for policy settings that place the needs of children at the heart of early learning and care.

The 50/50 by 2030 Foundation’s latest report presents the findings derived from a national survey of 2,122 Australians about their attitudes to sexism and gender inequality. The survey, conducted online in March 2018, explored: 1) the attitudes of boys, girls, men and women to gender equality and empowerment; 2) attitudinal differences by generation; and, 3) the relationship between online activity and attitudes to gender equality.

The findings: An overwhelming 88% of Australians agreed that inequality between women and men is still a problem in Australia today, no different to surveys since 2009. 53% of men and 63% of women agreed sexism is widespread across politics, and a majority of Australians identified sexism in media and workplaces. Nearly half of male respondents “agreed or strongly agreed” with the statement that “gender equality strategies in the workplace do not take men into account”. We need to understand what men fear from gender equality, what they think they might lose and what policy interventions could incite their support. 

On 5 September, across the nation, educators who work in long day care centres walked off the job for the fourth time in 18 months. In February this year, an attempt to bring a pay equity case through the Fair Work Commission was dismissed. Early childhood educators are seeking improved wages and recognition of the value of their work in early childhood education and care. Without a liveable wage many of these educators will be compelled to walk out the door of these centres – not just today, but forever. This comes at a high cost to Australia’s aspiration for world-class, high quality education for its youngest children.  They need our support.