Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Indi can roll her eyes all she likes, but International Women’s Day was created as part of the International Socialist Women’s Movement and we should be proud of those achievements. We should actually hail them.

Tragically, as the member opposite pointed out, we are still in a space 100 years on where there is still inequality for women in this day and age. International Women’s Day has striven for a long time to ensure that there is equality. But we still see differential pay rates, we still see differences between males and females and we still see female oppression across our globe. Even in our own homes, it is still women who do the majority of housework. Until the day comes when there is an equal share of housework in the home, women will have no equality.

The FSU’s first women joined in 1939. In 1956 the FSU’s women’s committee was formed. In 1963 there was the first woman on the FSU federal executive, in 1969 there was the equal pay for equal work case and in 1972 the equal pay for work of equal value case. In 1975 male and female bank worker rates were abandoned—it took until 1975 to do that.

In 1976 the first woman was elected secretary of an FSU division and in 1985 FSU set affirmative action goals. In 1997 the first woman was elected FSU national president—I worked with her extensively and she was a terrific woman. On and on it goes, but there is still more to do, so everyone should proudly celebrate 100 years next week. (Time expired)

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