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Issue No. 134 | 03 May 2002 |
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The Hijacking of May Day
Interview: Youth Group History: Back To The Future Industrial: On the Street Unions: The New Deal Legal: The Police State Road Women: What Women Want Politics: Street Party International: The Costs of War Review: Songs of Solidarity Satire: Bono Satisfies World Hunger for Preachy Rockstars Poetry: Woomera
The Soapbox The Locker Room Bosswatch Week in Review Tool Shed
 Doctors in the BushM1 Open LetterJulian OnlineMay Day DebacleMothers Day MusingsGreetings From Canada
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Women What Women Want
***************** These conferences are unusual in the ALP because , in theory, any woman party member can go (in practice the women who go are those who can afford the time and the money to attend). That makes them quite different to other ALP Conferences that are more formal with elected representatives. The conferences are a great and necessary forum for women to build their political skills and to get issues of particular importance to women properly considered and debated. While decisions taken at the Conference are not binding ( some cynics amongst us reckon this is a problem with other more formal party forums as well!) they do have a great deal of influence in determining ALP policy and practice. So, what do ALP women want? 1. More Women Politicians We want more ALP women elected to our parliaments. To be precise we want fifty percent of all ALP politicians to be women. The ALP currently has a rule requiring thirty five percent of our ALP parliamentarians to be women. In NSW we're not there yet, in fact we have a fair way to go in the Legislative Assembly (with neither faction covering itself in glory). So fifty percent looks very optimistic but as (just over) fifty percent of the population it's a very fair claim that's long overdue. We can now expect a lot of hand wringing and gnashing of teeth by blokes who might miss out on a seat if this target is adopted. As a supporter of more women pollies I do also want to make the point that targets and loadings are not in themselves sufficient. We need training, support and fair and open party processes that don't reward women and men for rorting the system. We also need to replicate the National Labor Women's Conference here in NSW - a forum where any woman member in the state can participate and develop her political skills in a woman friendly environment. We used to have such a forum but it was abolished over a decade ago. Some of us (and a growing number at that) want it back. (As an aside it was pointed out at the dinner to celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the NSW Industrial Relations Commission that seven out of twenty five Commission members were women. That's better than the twelve out of fifty five women ALP pollies in the NSW Legislative Assembly). 2. A Woman for National President of the ALP We want more women politicians and we want more women through out the ALP's structures. Its time for a woman National President. After all, its been a bloke for the last 100 odd years and now its our turn. Even the NSW Branch of the ALP is doing its bit with Ursula Stephens taking up the Branch President's role later this year (am I the only one who finds it ironic that to get a woman Branch President we have to vote for a man first?). Now, if the NSW Branch can do it, surely it can't be too hard at the National level. 3. Women to have a say on Conscience Votes The ALP National Executive has set up a sub-committee to investigate appropriate processes and circumstances for ALP politicians to have conscience votes. This sub-committee is all men. They sometimes just don't get it! (I must say it is hard to have to go to women's conferences and time and again call for representation of women at all levels of the party structure). Given that women's reproductive capacities have in the past often been the subject of conscience votes it does seem fair to have women added to the sub-committee and that's what we want. (I won't even attempt to answer the question of how we can deal with the apparent conflict between having a party platform and individual choice by those representing the party in parliament on how they vote - that's definitely for another day). 4. A universal system of Paid Maternity Leave This is an idea whose time is well and truly here. Its not a question of whether it should happen but rather one of when it will happen and how. The Conference was clear that this is an issue of equality for women in the paid workforce and that we want the ILO Convention minimum standard of 14 weeks. The ALP federal parliamentary leadership support it so that's a good start. Even Alan Jones thinks it's a good idea. Now all we have to do is convince the Federal Government....... 5. Quality Affordable Childcare (and better pay for childcare workers) Paid Maternity Leave is only one part of securing fair and equitable work and family practices. Childcare is another element. Increasing numbers of women with young children work whether by choice or necessity and this number increases as their children grow. Working parents need and deserve quality, affordable childcare. Childcare workers need proper recognition for their vitally important skills and expertise through fair pay rates - not something they have now. This means that governments must recognise the importance of this work for Australian society and fund childcare properly. 6. Pay Equity Women in Australia earn on average 11% less than men and this gap, which was narrowing, has stalled. The NSW Industrial Relations Commission has adopted a pay equity principle to address this issue. The Queensland and Tasmanian tribunals have similar principles. These are great initiatives and need to be expanded to other jurisdictions. We must do more however, to deal with issues such as over award payments which are outside the tribunals' jurisdiction and a major cause of difference between men's and women's pay. There also needs to be strategies to reverse the trends to individual contracts and increased casualisation as these also affect the pay outcomes for women. 7. Recognition of the importance of trade unions The Conference had no hesitation in recognising the significance of trade unions for working women and reaffirmed the importance of the link between unions and the ALP. This followed a stirring speech by Sharan Burrow at the conference dinner who pointed out that if the ALP wanted to know what people were thinking they should talk to union organisers and officials who were working day and night in workplaces and in communities talking to workers and their families about their concerns and their hopes for the future. 8. An end to mandatory detention There was strong support for better and more humane treatment of asylum seekers. This recognised the need for health and identity checks and for such checks to take the minimum time possible. Asylum seekers should then be released into the community while their claims are assessed. This is an issue that will not go away while people throughout the world face war and persecution. Australia must show it is part of the international community and respect basic human rights for all. These are only some of the issues dealt with over a very busy two days and there are certainly many other things that women want (a fair few of us wanted dessert at the conference dinner for example). This is not a bad list to be working on as a start - the challenge now is for women to organise to ensure we get what we want and what we deserve!.
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