A voice I am listening to on International Women's Day 2018.....
Showing posts with label inequality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inequality. Show all posts
Thursday 8 March 2018
International Women's Day, 8 March 2018
A voice I am listening to on International Women's Day 2018.....
IndigenousX, 7 March 2018:
“Racism is one that all women in the women’s movement
must start to come to terms with. There is no doubt in my mind that racism is
expressed by women in the movement. Its roots are many and they go deep.”
– Pat O’Shane
Those words were written
by former magistrate, First Nations woman Pat O’Shane more than two decades ago
and yet still represent an uncomfortable truth for mainstream feminism. Similar
criticisms have also been made by First Nations women like Jackie Huggins, Judy
Atkinson and Aileen Morton-Robinson and are revived and re-spoken by younger
feminists like Larissa Behrendt, Celeste Liddle, Nayuka Gorrie and many more
who continue the fight to hold mainstream feminism to account.
The roots of racism
within mainstream feminism are still there, under the soil. But that’s not to
say there haven’t been changes in the mainstream feminist movement. Rather than
outright denial on racism and how race impacts gender, an even more damaging
phenomenon has taken hold: co-option.
Intersectionality,
grounded in critical race theory, is now used by many white feminists but has
been watered down to a buzzword: a superficial display of “inclusiveness”
whereby it is used to deflect rather than interrogate the way race impacts the
lived experience of gender, class, gender identity, sexual orientation and
disability. An example of this, is the way Aboriginal women are consigned
to a footnote with no context in articles about domestic violence, aligning the
staggering statistics with the continuing colonial portrayal of the Aboriginal
‘other’ as inherently violent.
Much like International
Women’s Day, which has become a day for corporates and fancy breakfasts that
few women outside of the upper and middle classes can attend – the term has
been re-purposed to fit into a limited type of white feminist thought.
Over the years, I’ve
spent a lot of time being angry at the failings of white liberal feminism,
largely because it is the type of feminism that finds the loudest voice in
mainstream media. Because it has this voice it has become synonymous with
‘feminism’, despite the movement itself being a broad church. I even questioned
whether to continue calling myself a feminist.
I have realised that as
an Aboriginal feminist, I don’t have to continue reacting to these failures.
There is already a foundation built by brilliant black women which allows us to
continue developing an Aboriginal feminism. And the reason this is so important
is because the unique experiences of Aboriginal people, the way racism impacts
our lived experiences as women, brotherboys, sistergirls and non-binary
peoples, is a matter of life and death.
While the national
conversation around domestic violence and sexual assault is undoubtedly
important, often Aboriginal voices are bypassed altogether. An example of this
was the recent Our Watch media awards, where a white male journalist was given
an accolade for reporting on “the violence no one talks about”. Aboriginal
women have been talking about violence for decades – the ‘silence’ is not the
issue. It is that no one listens unless it is spoken in a way that bypasses the
role of white Australia, and places blame right back onto Aboriginal people
themselves.
That is why arguments
about Aboriginal culture being inherently violent are so appealing. There may
have been instances of violence in pre-colonial Aboriginal society –
but from my perspective, if Aboriginal people were participating in
the level of violence we see now in many communities, we would not have
survived for tens of thousands of years, and we would not have developed a
sophisticated system of land management, astronomy and science that intertwined
with our spirituality.
But the cultural
arguments around Aboriginal violence find an audience in a white Australia that
denies its continuing role in the current circumstances affecting our people.
And white feminists can often be complicit in the perpetuation of the myth,
particularly when it comes to ‘saving black women and children’ from the hands
of Aboriginal men. The fact is, Aboriginal communities are not inhuman – we
care deeply about violence and the impact on our people, particularly our
children. But the conversation has become dangerous due to the centring of
white outrage and the appetite for black pathology which borders on
pornographic.
Meanwhile, Aboriginal
women are painted as depraved for this perceived silence. Like the colonial
images that rendered Aboriginal women as uncaring ‘infanticidal cannibals’ who
did not love their children, we are again caricatured as powerless and
unconcerned about our children. This is the real silence: the silencing of the
strong Aboriginal women all across the country who have worked day in and day
out on this problem in the face of continual slander. …..
Full article can be read here.
Labels:
access & equity,
feminism,
Indigenous Australia,
inequality,
IWD,
racism,
women
Australian workplaces still hostile territory for women
“When asked
about a range of job attributes, women placed most value on having a job where
they would be treated with respect (80%), where their job was secure (80%),
where the job paid well (65%), was interesting (64%) and offered the
flexibility they might need (62%). The majority of women viewed their job as
being useful to society (69%) and felt that their job allowed them to ‘help
others’ (73%). Two in five working women (43%) said they felt stressed at work,
with it more likely being an issue for younger women, those still in education,
and those in lower paid or casual roles. One in five women (20%) said they felt
isolated at work, particularly those self-employed and working at home.
Two-thirds of women said they received paid sick (67%) and annual leave (65%).
Fewer received paid parental leave (42%) and paid carers leave (43%), and one
in five women were unaware whether or not they received these entitlements at
work.”
[Marian Baird et al, 2018, Women and the Future of Work: Report1of The Australian Women’s Working
Futures Project, p.4]
University of
Sydney, News and Opinion, Significant
gaps between working women's career goals and reality, 6 March 2018:
First study to examine
women and future of work
Australian workplaces
are not ready to meet young women's career aspirations or support their future
success, according to a new national report by University of Sydney
researchers.
“We are talking more
about robots than we are about women in the future of work debate – this must
change,” said co-author of the report, Professor
Rae Cooper.
Launched today,
the Women and the Future of Work report reveals the gaps
and traps between young working women’s aspirations and their current working
realities.
“There are significant
gaps in job security, respect, access to flexibility and training,” said Dr Elizabeth Hill, co-author of the report.
“Government, businesses
and industry need to step up and take action so that our highly educated and
highly skilled young women are central to the future of work.”
The team of researchers
from the University of Sydney’s Women, Work &
Leadership Research Group, surveyed more than 2000 working women aged 16 to
40, who were representative of the workforce nationally.
The report is the first
of its kind and found that young women were generally not concerned about job
loss as a result of automation and economic change.
“Almost two-thirds of
the women we surveyed said they didn’t fear robots coming for their jobs in the
future,” Professor Cooper said.
“Our national debate
about the future of work is too often a hyper-masculinised, metallic version of
work.
“For young women, their
picture of the future workforce is quite different: they see themselves
balancing family and work commitments, and having long, meaningful careers. For
this to be a reality, we need mutually beneficial flexibility in all
workplaces.”
Respect and access to
flexibility critical for women
The survey found being
treated with respect and having job security were critical to ensuring young
women’s future careers.
Despite 90 percent of
women identifying access to flexibility as important, only 16 percent strongly
agreed that they have access to the flexibility they need.
“Young women workers are
generally optimistic about work and ready to contribute,” Dr Hill said. “But
they find themselves caught in gaps between what they need and what the
workforce offers.”
The majority of working
women report that developing the right skills and qualifications is important
for success at work (92 percent). However, only 40 percent said they can access
affordable training to equip them for better jobs.
“Public policy settings,
while improving, remain inadequate,” Dr Hill said. “Projected growth in
feminised, low-paid jobs in health care and social assistance suggests an
urgent need for government action to ensure these jobs meet the criteria of
decent work.
“Current trends toward
fragmentation and the contracting out of employment are undermining many of the
criteria of decent work, making this a pressing policy issue for gender
equality in the future of work,” Dr Hill said.
More women than robots
in future workplaces
The survey also
indicated young women often feel ‘disrespected’ by senior colleagues and
supervisors because of their gender. This was the case both for highly paid
professionals and low‐paid
workers.
Ten percent of
respondents said they were experiencing sexual harassment in their current
workplace. Some groups of women reported higher rates of harassment including:
*
women currently studying (14 percent compared to 8 percent who are not
studying)
*
women living with a disability (18 percent compared to 9 percent not living
with a disability)
*
women born in Asia or culturally and linguistically diverse women (16 percent
compared to 8 percent who are not culturally or linguistically diverse).
“Employers need to
commit and act to create workplaces where women are respected and valued for
their expertise,” Professor Cooper said.
“There will be more
women than robots in the future of work. It’s time that households, government,
businesses and employers listen to them.”
Dr Hill said: “We are
urgently calling on the government to facilitate and implement a public policy
framework that supports young women’s career aspirations.
“We need to work towards
a future where women are valued in the workplace and for their work.”
The study was funded by
the University of Sydney’s Sydney
Research Excellence Initiative 2020. It was authored by the Co-Directors of
the University’s Women, Work & Leadership Research Group, Professor
Marian Baird and Professor Rae Cooper, with Dr Elizabeth Hill, Professor Ariadne Vromen and Professor Elspeth Probyn.
The data collection and
analysis for this research focused on working 16-40 year old Australians, and
was undertaken by Ipsos Australia. It was collected in September-November 2017,
and includes: a nationally representative online survey of 2,100 women; a
survey of 500 men; a booster survey of 50 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
women; and five in-person focus groups of working women.
Full report
can be found here.
“At the time
of study, women with the following characteristics were found as being less
likely to be working (noting that the first of these characteristics may be
age-related):
- Those who have only completed secondary school (70%
compared to 86% of those who have completed tertiary education, for example);
- Those living at home with parents (71% compared to
84% of those living in their own home);
- Women with disability (74% compared with 82% of those
without disability);
- Culturally and Linguistically Diverse women (75% in
comparison to 82% of women who are not Culturally and Linguistically Diverse);
and
- Low-income earners (70% of those earning below
$40,000 as opposed to 88% of those earning above $80,000, for example).”
[Marian Baird et al, 2018, Women and the Future of Work: Report1of The Australian Women’s Working
Futures Project, p.18]
Labels:
access & equity,
inequality,
jobs,
women
Wednesday 10 January 2018
A florid symptom of global economic and social inequality
The wealthiest 1 per cent of the world’s population owned 50.1 per cent of all global household wealth in 2017 – that is they collectively held an est. US$140.28 trillion [Credit Suisse Global Wealth Databook 2017].
The world’s richest 500 people had a collective personal worth in excess of US$5.3 trillion at the end of that year – 3.77 percent of the wealth held by the top 1 per cent.
Bloomberg Billionaires Index as of Dec. 28, 2017:
The Bloomberg Billionaires Index is a daily ranking of the world’s richest people. Details about the calculations are provided in the net worth analysis on each billionaire’s profile page. The figures are updated at the close of every trading day in New York.
Billionaires ranked 14 to 500 with personal wealth ranging from $46.8B to $4.9B can be viewed here.
Australians on 2017 Top 500 Billionaires Index
#85 Gina Rinehart est. current worth $14.9B
#213 Harry Triguboff est. current worth $7.52B
#256 Ivan Glasenberg est. current worth $6.42B
#316 Anthony Pratt est. current worth $5.75B
#346 Frank Lowy est. current worth $5.44B
#480 James Packer est. current worth $4.22B
Labels:
Income,
inequality
Friday 1 December 2017
Australians with lower incomes are dying sooner from potentially preventable diseases than their wealthier counterparts
The Conversation, 28 November 2017:
Australians with lower incomes are dying sooner from potentially preventable diseases than their wealthier counterparts, according to our new report.
Australia’s Health Tracker by Socioeconomic Status, released today, tracks health risk factors, disease and premature death by socioeconomic status. It shows that over the past four years, 49,227 more people on lower incomes have died from chronic diseases – such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer – before the age of 75 than those on higher incomes.
A steady job or being engaged in the community is important to good health. Australia’s unemployment rate is low, but this hides low workforce participation, and a serious problem with underemployment. Casual workers are often not getting enough hours, and more and more Australians are employed on short-term contracts.
There’s a vicious feedback loop – if your health is struggling, it’s harder to build your wealth. If you’re unable to work as much as you want, you can’t build your wealth, so it’s much tougher to improve your health.
Our team tracked health risk factors, disease and premature death by socioeconomic status, which measures people’s access to material and social resources as well as their ability to participate in society. We’ve measured in quintiles – with one fifth of the population in each quintile.
We developed health targets and indicators based on the World Health Organisation’s 2025 targets to improve health around the globe.
The good news is that for many of the indicators, the most advantaged in the community have already reached the targets.
The bad news is that poor health is not just an issue affecting the most vulnerable in our community, it significantly affects the second-lowest quintile as well. Almost ten million Australians with low incomes have much greater risks of developing preventable chronic diseases, and of dying from these earlier than other Australians.
Labels:
access & equity,
Australian society,
health,
Income,
inequality,
jobs,
unemployment,
Wealth
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