Sign our petition

calling for change for Australian women and children

Over the years the majority of Australian women have made some strides towards equal participation in society and the economy. But the pace of change has slowed and is uneven. In 2022 we can, and should, expect better.

Add your voice

Demand more for our mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, aunties, friends – and our country by signing our petition.

It has been more than a century since the majority of women were given the right to vote and over half a century since an equal minimum wage was granted for men and women.

Yet today, women remain underrepresented in politics and the gender pay gap is widening. Our care industries such as aged care, disability care, mental health and early childhood education and care – which predominantly employ women – are undervalued, underpaid and experience insecure employment.

Early learning and childcare is too expensive and inaccessible, making it impossible for women to participate fully in the workforce.

The fastest growing demographic of homeless people are women over 55 and tragically, more than one woman a week is killed at the hands of her former or current partner.

For Indigenous women, those with a disability, and culturally and linguistically diverse women, the pace of change is even slower and the path to equality more uncertain.

Australia continues to fall behind other countries in creating and providing opportunities for women and children.

In 2022, we can, and we should expect the federal government to close the gender pay gap, prevent poverty and assist women experiencing family and domestic violence. As a nation we must pick up the pace.

Women for Progress is therefore calling for:

New measures to increase female workforce participation, to enable parents to bond with their children and to ensure our next generation are supported during their critical early years:

  • A national commitment to develop an evidence-based early learning system that is universal, accessible and high quality, delivered by securely employed and properly paid educators and coordinated from infancy through to primary school.
  • Government funded paid parental leave at the minimum wage for 26 weeks, shared between partners and phased up to 52 weeks by 2030.

New measures to increase women’s safety and financial security, including:

  • Changing the National Employment Standards to include a minimum 10 days per year of paid family and domestic violence leave for all employees.
  • Investment in crisis housing for older women and people experiencing family and domestic violence (including those on temporary visas).
  • Implementing in full all of the 55 recommendations from the Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner’s Respect@Work report.

New measures to eliminate the pay gap for all Australians, particularly women employed in the female dominated care sectors:

  • Changing the Fair Work Act to include gender equality as an express object, remove the need for a ‘male comparator’ and establish a new Fair Work Commission gender equality panel.

Better assistance for women in poverty, including:

  • Changes to income supports that disproportionally impact women, single parents and children, based on the principle of ‘do no further harm’.

New measures to address inequality in leadership, including:

  • Changing the Workplace Gender Equality Act to require public reporting by all organisations with more than 20 employees, on all indicators including gender pay gap, cultural background and progress towards women in leadership targets.
  • Committing to targets and public reporting on women in leadership in the political and public service sector from 2023.
  • Supporting and funding all seven recommendations of the Wiyi Yani U Thangani report.

Resources

To help you take action and call for change, we have developed a range of resources, all here on this page.

Sign the petition

Demand more for our mothers, sisters, daughters, nieces, aunties, friends – and our country by signing our petition.