Women to be honoured in Leichhardt
As part of its 2012 International Women’s Day celebrations, Leichhardt Council will unscroll its Honour Roll of inspiring women and feature keynote speakers who will discuss challenges to women today.
The event at Leichhardt Town Hall on Thursday, March 8 will recognise volunteers, community leaders, achievers from different fields and those who promote women’s empowerment.
Mayor of Leichhardt Cr Rochelle Porteous said it was important to recognise women still confront significant barriers to equality.
“While many women from younger generations may feel that ‘all the battles have been won’, there is still a long way to go,” Cr Porteous said. “It’s true there are more women in the boardroom, more equal legislation and more role models for our younger women to aspire towards, but unfortunately women are still not paid equally or represented equally in business or politics.”
One of the evening’s keynote speakers is Sydney University professor of employment relations, Marian Baird, who is also the director of the Women and Work Research Group. “I’m planning to give a fairly brief but comprehensive overview of the policy environment we’re now in in Australia, the major changes that have occurred and what I see as perhaps the challenges for working women in the next decade,” she said. “And they go to the issues of education, reproduction and income security over the life course.” She said income security tops the list.
“That really touches on women’s lives from the time they leave educational institutions, whether that’s high school or university, and it’s affected by time out they have to have children or care for others, return to work and re-establish their careers, which increasingly is the experience for women,” she said. “For women in their professions, [many leave] between 30 and 32.”
“We know the pay gap persists and it’s very hard to budge,” she said. “If we take the average weekly earnings the pay gap is somewhere between 17 and 18 per cent. It’s been like that for some time. If we take hourly earnings, it’s around 11 per cent. If we take the life course, we know women will earn $1 million less than their male peers.”
“It’s not just what they get to earn at work but also what they get to invest in with superannuation.”
The Council established the Honour Roll for the International Women’s Day celebrations in 2010 with afocuson social justice and its role in ending world poverty. This year’s nominations will be reviewed by a panel of community representatives, councillors and council officers.
Previous heroines include Dawn Atkinson, who raised funds for Afghani women and children through the Support Association for the Women of Afghanistan, and Ashley Douglas, a mentor for young people at the Leichhardt Youth Council and Conservation Australia.
By Kira Spucys-Tahar and Deborah Erwin
