IWD 2011 – Celebrating 100 years of women's achievements This year has begun with natural disasters close to home and international political upheaval; a topsy-turvy world with many fighting hopelessly against change. Yet change is a constant in the wilderness. Anything purporting or struggling to stay the same as it was before quickly becomes outdated. Many changes have occurred in relation to the status of Queensland women over the past 100 years. Not always via the natural flow of things, but through the vision and persistence of generations of change-makers. This month we recognise a centenary celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD); milestones reflecting the passion and progress of women all over the world. In 1911, across Europe, more than one million women and men attended the first International Womens’ Day rallies, campaigning for women's rights to work, vote, be trained, hold public office and end discrimination. The first Australian International Women’s Day rally was held in 1928, and celebrated the year after in Brisbane. It had only been the end of the century before when women around the world were beginning to claim the right to vote in government elections. First New Zealand. A year later, South Australia followed suit as the first Australian State. Place by place, not without noise and hard work, more women arrived to the party. Australian women were able to vote in federal elections by 1902 (excluding Aborigines, Torres Strait Islanders, Asian and South Pacific Islanders). In 1905, Queensland women won the right to vote in State elections. Much of the fight for women’s suffrage in Queensland was led by the Woman's Equal Franchise Association, headed by Unionist Emma Miller. Miller was a strong advocate for workers and women’s rights during the last century. The Queensland Council of Unions hosts the Emma Miller Awards in her honour each year, celebrating the achievements of contemporary union women. “Suppose she thinks for herself. Over the dinner table wife is to quarrel with husband and sister with brother. Political faction is to divide the home and drive man's helpmeet from his side. We reiterate our conviction that the great body of Queensland women do not want it: we are perfectly sure that in the end it will be for evil.” - The Brisbane Courier, 1 September 1900
Indigenous Australians gained the right to vote in federal elections in 1962, and in 1965, Indigenous Queenslanders gained the right to vote in State elections. It was still a few years later that the Federal referendum was held to grant citizenship to Indigenous Australians. Back in 1915, Queensland was the second State to allow the right for women to sit in parliament. In 1929, Irene Longman was elected to Queensland Parliament, endorsed by the Country-National Party and the Queensland Women's Electoral League. It took until 1966 for a second woman, Vi Jordan, to enter parliament. In 2001, Queensland Parliament attained the highest proportion of women representatives of any Australian parliament, and one of the highest proportions in the world.
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In the same year, Carol Martin became the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to any Australian Federal, State or Territory Parliament as the member for Kimberley in Western Australia. Women are increasingly taking positions of political leadership: Anna, Julia, Quentin. They shoulder the blame and still occasionally receive criticism for such superficialities as the “cut of their slacks” (Thanks, John Laws).1 However, these women are not to be overlooked. Anna Bligh has shown an emphatic display of leadership over the past month as the State has found itself in crisis. In 2007–08, the UN Human Development Report ranked Australia second in the world on the gender related development index and eighth in the world on the gender empowerment measure. 2nd and 8th? One can only imagine the conditions in which many other women in the world survive. However, we are currently ranked 50th internationally for women’s participation in the workforce. Many women joined the workforce during war time, filling jobs vacated by men fighting overseas. Women either chose to go or were directed back into the home when their men returned. It was not until the 1960s that the proportion of women in the workforce rose above 40 percent. In 2009, women’s participation in the workforce was recorded at almost 60 percent. Gaining entry into public bars in Queensland was also a big deal in terms of men accepting women as equals. A famous protest at the Regatta Hotel took place in 1965, when two women, Merle Thornton and Rosalie Bognor, chained themselves to the bar. The ban was officially lifted five years later. While legislation was passed nearly forty years ago for women to receive equal pay, Australian women still earn almost 17 percent less than men. A wonder, as women now make up half of all tertiary graduates and half the workforce. The average Australian woman will earn almost $1 million less over her lifetime. Women often end up with less than half the superannuation savings of men when they retire, and women are two and a half times more likely to live in poverty in their old age than men. There are still reasons to celebrate. In 2009, Australian Services Union’s successful pay equity case delivered major pay increases for Queensland Social & Community Services workers. Also, after years of agitating, the Federal Labour Government finally introduced our first national paid parental leave scheme. The 18-week scheme began at the start of 2011 - eligible primary carers will receive payments via their employer at the Federal Minimum Wage (currently $569.90). The ability for women to continue with their career, and commit to a role as carer for their new little ones, is an important and long-overdue change to the Australian working environment. Unions, in particular strong union women, have been instrumental in obtaining paid parental leave, as they have in the plight for suffrage, equal pay, and many other rights for women. In 2000, Grace Grace was elected as the General Secretary of the Queensland council of Unions – the first woman to hold this 1
Sydney Morning Herald, Page 20, 1 February 2011
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position in the 115 year history of the Labour Council. She is the current Member for Central Brisbane in the Queensland parliament. Unions continue to campaign for pay equity, quality jobs with family-friendly work arrangements, improved superannuation for women, accessible and affordable child and out of school hours care and effective equal opportunity and anti-discrimination legislation. We have come a long way, yet there’s a way to go. Clearly, change occurs, both naturally and under the will and efforts of human beings, including women. Often women. Women are brave, hard working, and their achievements should continue to be recognized and celebrated, as a reminder for the generations of young women who follow in our footsteps.
Do you have a story of an incredible Queensland woman? Someone from your Union or someone you’ve come across in your work, deserving of recognition? Insert that story here, and a photo if you have one!
Bibliography Australian Council of Trade Unions, 2011. http://www.actu.org.au/Campaigns/PaidParentalLeave/default.aspx Centenary of Queensland Women’s Suffrage, University of Queensland, 2005. http://www.emsah.uq.edu.au/awsr/Act_Centenary/sitting.htm Martin, L. ‘Toowoomba mourns lost mother and son.’ The Courier Mail. January 19, 2011. http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/toowoomba-mourns-lost-motherand-son-20110119-19vm5.html Office of Women, Queensland Government, 2005. 3
http://www.women.qld.gov.au/leadership-and-community/centenary-ofsuffrage/history/documents/womens-suffrage-fact-sheet.pdf WomenWatch, Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE), 2010. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/feature/iwd/history.html http://www.nfaw.org/women-and-work/ http://www.internationalwomensday.com/iwd_factsheet.pdf
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