Women’s Electoral Lobby

17 July, 2010

Kernot’s back

Cheryl Kernot has announced her return to politics, running for the Senate for NSW.

Importantly, she’s running on a platform to “change politics”. That’s something we’d all like to see.

WEL wants to see change that puts fairness back into the system. Polls show that most people aren’t uncaring and aren’t racist. Generally, the community is not as opposed to immigration and helping refugees as politicans of all persuasions would have us believe. We also don’t like seeing people hit when they’re down – single mothers, unemployed, people with disabilities.

We want to see everybody given a fair go. And we want to know what both parties and both leaders really stand for.

Fortunately both parties have started announcing some policies with substance, and WEL has started scoring them against our Feminist Policy Framework.

25 June, 2010

Kathleen Swinbourne from the Women’s Electoral Lobby speaks about the nation’s first female Prime Minister

Listen to the interview on ABC online.

“It was only 100 years ago when women were awarded the right to vote in Australia.

Fast-forward to 2010 and we have just seen our nation’s first female Prime Minister taking the stand.

Just after 10:00pm AEST last night, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced he had been challenged to a ballot for the leadership between him and Julia Gillard…”

11 March, 2010

Landmark Case for Equal Pay

The trade union movement has been preparing a landmark case to try to win pay rises for 200,000 women doing some of the nation’s most demanding jobs. The case will be launched today. If successful, it will mean sugnificant pay rises for women who work in women’s refuges, aged care facilities, community centres and counselling services.

The Government has expressed strong in principle support for the case, although it will have to bear much of the cost.

4 December, 2009

House of Representatives reports on Pay Equity

To address the pay equity gap in Australia for women a new report by the House of Representatives Employment and Workplace Relations Committee has recommended a raft of amendments to the Fair Work Act and Sex Discrimination Act.

The 465 page report Making it Fair makes 63 recommendations to federal government following an extensive parliamentary inquiry into pay equity and associated issues related to increasing female participation in the workforce.

“Australia needs to take a pro-active approach to address the gender pay gap,” Committee Chair Sharryn Jackson (Member for Hasluck, WA) said.

Call for submissions–Review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) Act

The Federal Minister for the Status of Women has announced a Review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace and Agency (EOWA) and its underlying legislation (EOWW Act).

The EOWA Review will examine the effectiveness and efficiency of EOWA and the EOWWA in promoting equal opportunity for women in the workplace. The Act covers workplaces employing 100 or more people, and requires employers to develop and report annually on an equal opprotunity plan for women in their workpaces.