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Gender Equality

 

UNAA Gender Equality Position Statement

 

The UNAA promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, so all peoples may exercise their human rights and have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.

The UNAA notes:

  • Australia is ranked 39th in the world for gender equality.[1] This is despite Australia’s ranking of 3rd on the Human Development Index, which measures overall standards of living.[2]
  • Both the UNAA and Australia have committed to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, of which Goal 5 is Gender Equality.
  • Australian women are significantly underrepresented in leadership positions and overrepresented in lower paying roles and carer responsibilities:
    • Only 5% or 10 of the CEOs in the ASX200 are women, down from 6% in 2019, and many ASX200 companies have no women in their executive leadership team.[3]
    • Women perform almost double the amount of unpaid work as men.[4]
  • Domestic violence and sexual harassment against women are growing issues in need of immediate attention:
    • 85% of Australian women have been sexually harassed.[5]
    • Approximately one in four women experienced violence by an intimate partner, compared to one in thirteen men.

The UNAA urges all political parties to:

  • Fund initiatives and programs to increase the participation of men and women in non-traditional roles, particularly women in leadership positions and reducing stigmas surrounding men taking paternity leave and working part-time.
  • Increase collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated data.
  • Support the participation and leadership of men as part of the solution by:
    • Funding programs which support teaching respectful attitudes towards women from a young age in schools and workplaces.
    • Investing in gender education for members of the legal and justice systems, and support women in reporting violence and seeking redress through the legal system.

  

[1] The Global Gender Gap Report 2018.
[2] United Nations Development Program, Human Development Reports 2018.
[3] Chief Executive Women ASX200 Senior Executive Census 2020.
[4] The Global Gender Gap Report 2018.
[5] Everyone’s business: Fourth national survey on sexual harassment in Australian workplaces, 2018.

 

UNAA Reports

UNAA Economic Empowerment of Women and Girls Forum Report 2016