Women's Economic Equality Taskforce chair Sam Mostyn has addressed the National Press Club following International Women's Day.
Catch up on her insights in our live blog.
Key events
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Live updates
Thanks for joining us
By Felicity Ripper
Thanks for tuning in as Sam Mostyn provided insight into the work the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce is doing.
If you want to catch up on her full speech, it was streamed here:
'We have an incredible opportunity'
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn wrapped up her speech by asking those at the National Press Club what they were personally prepared to do, to help achieve gender equality.
She said gender equality benefited us all.
'Not an equation whereby if women gain, men somehow lose'
By Felicity Ripper
Towards the end of her speech, Ms Mostyn addressed the anger some men are holding about changes being made.
She says the aim for equality should be viewed as an equation where "all ships get lifted by that same tide".
"Now, we all know there are some men who are angry, and very angry," Ms Mostyn says.
"They are angry at social and economic forces shifting under their feet and who can blame them? Really.
"Some of them are angry at women because they feel displaced or marginalised or scared.
"Many of them are scared, and because they feel they have borne the weight of the world on their backs for far too long and they can't take it anymore.
"Their whole sense of themselves is as providers, as heads of their families, and that's under threat.
"So they lash out, whether at home or online, and they listen to other angry men who reinforce their views that women have achieved too much agency in their personal lives or too many gains in their professional lives, and that this agency and these gainsshould be rolled back."
Making real change for equality will 'take decades of work'
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn said it was important to the taskforce that their work didn't become a "dusty report on the shelf", and so they looked to create time horizons and time frames for reform that could be shared across government and businesses.
She said they believe they are contributing to sound public policy.
"Smart policy that will unlock multiple contributions of women to Australian society, including as people, partners, parents, employees, entrepreneurs, employers and change-makers, and provide them with the visibility, confidence and skills and opportunity they need to maximise their economic contribution," she said.
"Most of the things that we have identified will require decades of work and we're not shy about that because delivering on enduring outcomes will require building on these outcomes year after year, in a staged, transparent and measurable way.
"This should be a guiding principle of achieving gender equality generally and underpin the work of the national gender equality strategy."
Ms Mostyn outlined recommendations from the taskforce including abolishing the childcare activity test, providing further support to single parents and introducing super on paid parental leave.
The taskforce aims to engage with women from a broad spectrum of life in Australia
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn said the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce wanted to start by listening and understanding women's stories and lives.
"From the outset, we also agreed that we would put early focus on those women experiencing the greatest disadvantage and vulnerability in our country and to look at urgent reforms and immediate budget priorities," she said.
She said the taskforce has also listened to experiences of women with a disability.
Addressing gender inequality among First Nations communities
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn went on to say that in establishing the taskforce, the board of diverse women knew it couldn't make broad assumptions about the frameworks in which First Nations women would consider progress on gender equality.
"Working with the Office for Women, Professor Nareen Young from the Business School convened two expert panels, a community business panel chaired by Kate George and an academic panel, chaired by Professor Robinson.
"To provide avenues to address gender inequality among First Nations communities, it is imperative for that work to be designed for and by First Nations communities.
"And we agree.
"So in order to do that, within the gender equality strategy, there is now time and space to consult and develop that work in a culturally appropriate manner, and we will build on the important work already undertaken by so many First Nation women leaders."
Report released yesterday holds 'revealing data'
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn says the report has "significant and revealing data" and she is pulling out a few insights.
Here are some of the points she highlighted:
- 80 per cent of one-person families in this country are single mothers
- Single women are the majority of rent assistance recipients
- A gender pay gap emerges for women in this country immediately after graduation
- Young women are more likely to report experiencing sexual violence in their lifetime — and the figures in their 20s are staggering
- Over 51 per cent of Australian women will experience sexual violence in their 20s. It lessens as women get older, but it is no less staggering the numbers that that are in the data sheet
She said there was also gender segregation and segmentation in how we work, and highlighted the below:
- 96.6 per cent of hours worked by child carers is done by women
- 86.9 per cent of hours worked by registered nurses are done by women
- 79.9 per cent of hours worked by primary school teachers are done by women
She says the full-time gender pay gap may now be at a record low, but women still learn less on average on every indicator:
- There is an almost 12 per cent gap on the hourly earnings pay gap
- There is an almost 14 per cent gap on the full-time weekly pay, and a 30 per cent gap on the total annual taxable income between men and women.
- There is a 55 per cent drop in earnings for a mother in the five years following child birth, while the man's income remains unchanged
You can still listen to Sam Mostyn
By Felicity Ripper
Talk interrupted to listen to PM talk about trade. disappointed, as Ms Mostyn was talking about the very important issue of disaffected men and their anger and how it needs to be addressed to stop the wave of misogyny which is gaining ground. The address was not available on iview as advised on the banner.
- Sally Collins
Hi Sally,
The full speech was streamed and Ms Mostyn has been answering questions.
You can go back and listen here:
A new report says progress could be stalling
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn says the taskforce was asked to give the federal government recommendations for providing economic equality in Australia, to advise on the government's national strategy to achieve gender equality, and to provide feedback on gender responsive budgeting and policy making.
She says only yesterday, on International Women's Day, the Minister for Women released the Status of Women report card — the first for her and one she hopes to release every year.
The report invited all Australians to take part in a national consultation on how we could achieve gender equality.
"There is comprehensive evidence that in a number of areas, progress is slowing or has stalled," Ms Mostyn says.
"It is clear that gender inequality is not only holding women back, as I have said, but it is now a brake on our economy and our progress as a country, should we care about that.
"As we enter much more difficult economic conditions, the full utilisation of the one of the most educated, energetic and capable cohorts — women— has never been more important, and we know women want that opportunity.
"I do encourage you to look at the report card."
Coming back to budgets...
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn is back on the topic of budgets, highlighting the Budget Statement that was released by the government on the night of the October 2022 budget.
She said Minister for Women Katy Gallagher, together with the Prime Minister and Treasurer, cosigned the budget and made the following remarks in their opening introduction.
"Gender inequality is holding Australia back," Ms Mostyn quoted from the Budget Statement.
" Australia was ranked 43rd of 146 countries in the world Economic Forum global gender gap index.
"Our national level indicators highlight persistent gaps between women and men, including a pay gender gap of 14.1 per cent.
"That has dropped slightly since this was published.
"Women in Australia continue to shoulder the majority of unpaid work and caring responsibilities and are more likely to be in part-time, casual, or low-paid work as they try to balance work and family.
"Until there is true gender equality, we cannot reach our full potential and be the Australia we want to be."
Ms Mostyn says that was a call to action for the future of the economy of Australia.
"If we don't care about the rights of women, we should certainly care about the future economy, particularly when we are being told by the Prime Minister and the Treasurer and the Minister for Women... that we cannot reach our potential as a nation unless we deal with gender equality," Ms Mostyn says.
Violence against women is 'one of the most distressing problems' in our country
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn says while she is talking a lot about economics and employment policies, she also wants to highlight policy focus investments that are being made to support a national plan to reduce violence against women.
She says it's a serious commitment to make — to solve "one of the most distressing, intractable problems in thiscountry".
"I'm really delighted that the Chief Executive Officer of the Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety, Professor Rahman, joins us today because she is playing a pivotal role," Ms Mostyn says.
"We know far too much about those high levels of domestic and family violence."
Three new Fair Work members 'indicative of progress'
By Felicity Ripper
"Professor Marian Baird AO and Professor Reece will be taking their experience to bolster considerations given by the commission when making decisions about our future," Ms Mostyn says.
"They will take into account the drivers of the gender pay gap which has not been a feature of the Fair Work Commission before.
"Just this week, I'm really proud to say we saw the passing in the Senate of the reform paid parental leave arrangements.
"I'm pleased that our taskforce was consulted on the design of the new plan, supported by rigorous analysis by the experts in the field — again Professor MarianBaird AO and Professor ElizabethHill from Sydney University."
We're making progress in federal parliament
By Felicity Ripper
"Since coming to office, I believe the Albanese Government has been true to its word in promoting gender equity and building confidence for women to be equal partners in the economic success of the country and for our own lives to be better," Ms Mostyn says.
"We've been watching in real time the legislation that was promised making its way through the Parliament, including on paid parental leave, child care reform, industrial relations reform, the reporting enhancements, comprehensive Respect at Work legislation, industrial relations reform in the care sectors and beyond, Fair Work Commission referrals and the aged care wage case..."
Investing in gender equality would play a critical role in 'Australia's properity and future'
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn has quoted a line from Grattan CEO Danielle Wood.
"I can't help but reflect that if untapped women's workforce participation was a massive ore deposit, we would have governments lining up to give tax concessions to get it out of the ground," Ms Wood said during a speech at Parliament House.
Ms Mostyn says she agrees with that sentiment.
She says by examining the underlying state of our economy, Ms Wood demonstrated that we needed to address the critical roles that investments in gender equality could make, not only for Australia's prosperity and our future, but purely for our resilience.
"...That without it, we would be brittle and fragile," Ms Mostyn says.
'Delighted' by the growing number of women in parliament
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn continues to reflect on the achievements since her 2021 address to the Press Club.
She says investments they campaigned for in the 2022 NSW Budget will continue to help women with children rejoin the workforce.
She goes on to talk about changes which have been made in federal government.
"...10 months ago, the new Labor Government under Anthony Albanese was sworn into office with a record 10 women being appointed to the Cabinet, meaning that nearly half the Cabinet are women with many of them holding the most significant economic portfolios and more than half of the Caucus are women," she says.
"Arguably, just as extraordinary was the political earthquake of the so-called teal women Independents in defeating sitting Liberal MPs in what were once Liberal Party strongholds.
"I'm delighted that so many of them are here joining us today because together, they along with so many of the new senators and members of parliament, reflect a rapidly changing composition of the parliament, both in terms of gender and cultural background."
Ms Mostyn reiterates the importance of hearing from diverse voices
By Felicity Ripper
"At the time of [the panel's] formation, I was mindful of a threshold condition raised by one of our members, Maha Abdo, then President of Muslim Women of Australia," Ms Mostyn says.
"She counselled as a member of that panel, that our work would only be successful if the experiences and voices of the full diversity of women across New South Wales were heard — the full diversity, all women.
"And we would have to both listen respectfully, hear what we were listening to, and then act accordingly.
"In making our recommendations to the government prior to their 2022 State Budget— which was centred on a significant investment in universal, accessible, high quality child care — I believe we kept that promise to the women of New South Wales."
'A lot has happened since then'
By Felicity Ripper
"We called for respect at work for all and for women to be at decision-making tables across the country at all levels and to be well represented in our parliaments — federal, state and local," she says.
"Well, you all know a lot has happened since then.
"And immediately after my speech in 2021, the New South Wales Treasurer Matt Kean and his team contacted me and indicated that they wanted to quickly put economic opportunity at the heart of the New South Wales Budget in 2022.
"He very kindly asked me to chair the New South Wales Women's Economic Opportunities panel and to advise on the structural and budget reforms that New South Wales could pursue to lift women's workforce participation and enhance the economy."
There's been some changes since the last time Ms Mostyn was giving an address here
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn says she was last talking in front of the Press Club in November 2021, then representing Chief Executive Women.
She is refelecting on the progress and changes since then.
"Chief Executive Women has a new President, Susan Lloyd Herwitz who has just retired as chief executive of Mirvac, but now she is in New York with the delegation on behalf of the Australian Government again giving data on gender equality opportunities and history to the United Nations," she says.
"But back then, we were reflecting on the profound things we had just learned as we came out of the COVID pandemic and we were calling for care to be at the centre of oureconomy, and for it to be regarded as essential infrastructure, no less important than all other forms of infrastructure we so readily invest in.
"Now, at that time and right here, we called for reform on universal, accessible early education and care, for government leadership on paid parental leave and superannuation, and for secure, well-paid jobs and careers in the care industries, including education."
A special time in Canberra
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn sayd it felt special for her to be in Canberra just a day after statues of Dame Dorothy Margaret Tangney and Dame Enid Muriel Lyons were were unveiled at the Parliamentary Triangle.
"Their enduring legacies as the first women to enter Parliament in 1943 have finally been acknowledged in this appropriate way, some 80 years later," she says.
"After a century ago, Marie Coleman AO was appointed the first woman in Australia to head a Commonwealth government statutory agency.
"I know she is watching this broadcast today and I want to both wish her a very happy 90th birthday and send all our very best wishes for her in delivering the Pamela Denoon Lecture tonight here in Canberra."
The next generation is 'the touchstone for why we strive to reach equality'
By Felicity Ripper
Ms Mostyn says her 23-year-old daughter is watching her address from Melbourne.
"She is down there in Melbourne alongside a generation that now represent for me the touchstone for why we strive to reach quality... for all," Ms Mostyn says.
"They really are quite a remarkable, exceptional generation.
"Having grownup amongst the huge dislocation of COVID, they've experienced the toughest of economic challenges, cost-of-living pressures, mental health stressors and of course they know all about the impacts of climate change.
"And yet they are most often our teachers, they alert us to the concerning impacts ofoutdated gendered norms and on the need for inclusion for gender non-conforming people.
"If we listen fully to them more often, perhaps society, perhaps our Australia would be one that truly places care, compassion and inclusion at its centre."
