“As we celebrate International Women’s Day, the Rudd Government is committed to improving the lives of Australian Women, and it has hit the ground running to deliver on our election commitments,” said Senator Trish Crossin.
Date: 07 March 2008
“As we celebrate International Women’s Day, the Rudd Government is committed to improving the lives of Australian Women, and it has hit the ground running to deliver on our election commitments,” said Senator Trish Crossin.
“International Women's Day provides an opportunity for us to celebrate the achievements of Australian women.
“It is also a time to look ahead to a future in which the contribution of women to our nation is fully recognised.
“With a rapidly ageing population, it is important that we work to improve women’s economic security and independence. According to data collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, women still earn just 84 per cent of male Full Time adult ordinary earnings.
“Equality in the workplace begins by abolishing the Howard Government’s Work Choices and the AWAs which were so harmful for the lowest paid and most vulnerable workers – many of them women,” said Senator Crossin.
The Government will help ease the pressures on working mothers and their families by delivering a comprehensive work and family plan which will include:
- better quality and more affordable and accessible child care;
- more family friendly workplaces including the right to request extra parental leave and flexible working conditions;
- the establishment of an Office for Work and Family.
In area of Women’s Safety, the Rudd Government is introducing a National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and Children which will be led by an expert Council. We’re already delivering on:
- Respectful relationship resources for all Australian high schools.
- $1 million to boost White Ribbon Day education activities in rural and regional communities.
- $500,000 to boost the Australian Institute of Criminology’s National Homicide Monitoring Program to investigate domestic violence-related homicides.
- $200,000 for research into international best practice models for working with perpetrators of violence – to make them confront their violence and its impact on their partners and children.
It has been a century since clothing and textile workers in New York led 15,000 women to march through the streets of New York City in the first of many marches demanding shorter hours, better pay and voting rights. This was a key event in the establishment of International Women’s Day.
From this small beginning, International Women’s Day has grown to be a global event. Each year on this day, hundreds of events occur around the world, celebrating the economic, social and political achievements of women.