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

I also rise to speak on the motion on International Women's Day and I congratulate all those who have spoken, especially the member for McMillan as the token bloke in this debate because, for women to progress in this world, it is not a female issue; it is a gender-equality issue and all people need to embrace the change. One of the deterrents to full equality, for women and men to participate equally in our developed world, is that the unfortunate burden of housework still falls disproportionately to women. I have spoken at many functions for International Women's Day, and at a couple of women's luncheons recently, and my message is that, until the blokes do their fair share around the house, we are never going to progress on this issue. That might be a flippant comment but it is actually one of the defining factors in how we determine the roles of men and women in our society.

On 8 March 2001, Australia joined with the rest of the world to celebrate 100 years of progress towards gender equality. International Women's Day gives women global recognition for their achievements. One of the things we forget is that this is regardless of nationality, ethnicity and linguistic, cultural and political background. It is an internationally recognised day. It is one of the few that most countries around the world actually observe.

In 1911, when the first International Women's Day was recognised, more than one million women and men attended International Women's Day rallies, campaigning for the right of women to work, vote, be trained and hold public office and to end discrimination. Tragically, as we celebrate 100 years down the track, we are still fighting for the same things. Much progress has been made, but it is not universal and it is not in every country across the globe. Whilst this is an occasion to look back on past struggles and accomplishments, it is, more importantly, an occasion to look forward to the yet to be realised potential and opportunities that await further generations of women, and also to the opportunities that gender equality presents for men.

In Australia, we have had some significant milestones. Our progress includes the first women's vote, in South Australia in 1895: it was the first place in the world where women were given the right to vote at a state level. In 1902, Australia was one of the first to give women the right both to vote and to stand for public office at the federal level. Sadly, though, the numbers are not great in that instance. Women make up over 51 per cent of the populace in Australia but, since Federation, there has been a grand total of 1,578 members of both the Senate and the House of Representatives in Australia, of whom only 143 have been women. These are statistics from the last parliament and I apologise because I have not updated them. Over our years of federation and consistent democracy in Australia, only 9.1 per cent of the total participants in the federal parliament have been female.

We need to be doing more on this, but we also need to be doing more at a local level. I attended many women's luncheons and someone said to me, 'What have you done in your own electorate to progress women's equality?' I was stumped by that and I thought, 'What have I done at a personal level in my electorate, more than just being a figurehead and representative of someone who can achieve this?' I have been in parliament for 13 years and I have an 11-year-old and a nine-year-old, so I have juggled quite a lot of what many women grapple with in being in the workforce. I owe a lot of that to my partner. As I say, let us not take away from the equality and the mix of that. In my electorate I have seen and supported some great things. At a sporting level, which is analogous of other things, the Box Hill soccer club—a great soccer club—for many years only had a seniors women's team. Recently, a senior men's team asked to join because the women's team was doing so well and they wanted to learn from their example. The rugby union club—in Melbourne that is a bit odd—was the first to have a female team. It was the first to get a rugby women's team up and running and those women have been participating actively in rugby union. So, if we can engender women to participate in all things, particularly in sports where you do not usually see them, that is a way of showing that we need to do more. We need particularly to do more in developed countries; we need to be leading by example; we need to ensure that in Third World countries their issues are not about getting into parliament but about health care, education and domestic violence. Tragically, domestic violence is still on the rise in Australia. More needs to be done, but we have a lot to be proud of.

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