Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to celebrate the incredible contributions women have made to our country and our parliament. We're fortunate to follow in the footsteps of courageous, determined women like Dame Enid Lyons, Doris Blackburn and Cathy McGowan. I'm so proud that women now comprise 38 per cent of this chamber and 44 per cent across the parliament—more than that number has ever been. It's a tremendous improvement from the year when I was born, when zero women stood in the House of Representatives. However, we have a long way to go. This progress will only continue if we continue to support and empower the next generation of women in public life. We must work together to overcome the barriers that women face and ensure every woman has the opportunity to succeed.

I want to highlight some of those groups in my electorate that do make a huge difference to women, including the B Miles Women's Foundation, Bondi Cottage, the National Council of Australian Jewish Women as well as the surf lifesaving clubs, who are promoting women, and groups like Chief Executive Women, who also encourage women to be their best.

On this International Women's Day, I'm committing to empowering women in my community who can make a real difference in public life, tapping them on the shoulder and telling them they can do it because they're capable, qualified and ready, and because we all need people to believe in us and to get behind us. This is how I will honour the legacy of my predecessors. I hope many others here will join me and do the same in their own communities.

Sam Lim (Tangney, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is International Women's Day. Happy International Women's Day to everyone! Today we celebrate the incredible achievement of women all over the world. I'm so lucky to represent a seat that is named after a woman, Dame Dorothy Tangney. She was the first woman to serve as a Labor senator, and she served for almost 25 years.

Today, I was proud to be present for the unveiling of the Dame Dorothy Tangney and Dame Enid Lyons statues. They are now immortalised, never to be forgotten and always a reminder to women in politics that you can do it too. Without their presence and perseverance in what was a male-dominated race at that time, our government would not be who we are today.

We acknowledge that we still have a long way to go in achieving true gender equality. Women continue to face significant challenges in our society. I say this not because I have a wife, daughters or granddaughter whom I love, admire and learn from; I'm saying this because women are equal to men. So let us work together to create a world where every woman and girl has the opportunity to try to succeed equal to that of men, because we as men may be the bones, but women are the mind, the body and the soul of our system.

Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

International Women's Day is about celebrating the gains while recognising there's still a lot of work before women have true equality. One of many glaring gaps is superannuation. Across Australia, women generally retire with one-third less super than their male counterparts, meaning more of them face the prospect of poverty in retirement. On average, women in Goldstein have $54,000 less super than men when they retire. So, on a day when the spotlight is firmly fixed on how to improve the economic equality and wellbeing of women, I urge the government to add superannuation to paid parental leave. Around 170,000 women receiving Commonwealth PPL this year will miss out on super while on leave.

Australia is ranked equal first in the world for women's education, but the report card sours after that. We rank 38th when it comes to economic participation and opportunity, and that's because of discrimination, caring responsibilities, gender segregation in the workforce, high levels of part-time work, the gender pay gap and a lack of women in leadership. Enough. Women want secure work and respect, and that's exactly what I will continue to fight for as the member for Goldstein, in the name of the trailblazing Vida Goldstein on 8 March and every other day of the year.