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WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Jane Stephens is ready to celebrate International Women’s Day, and she reminds us all why we should take notice too.

It is confession time: International Women’s Day used to be a mystery to me. I couldn’t see the point because my life has not been marked by inequity. My parents raised my brother and me to each know our capabilities and believe in our possibilities and I went to schools where learning choices were not tempered by gender.

As an adult, I have had choices in life and career. I have worked in professions where parity of pay and conditions exist.

But now I have been made aware not all are so privileged even in Australia, and that is why marking the day is important.

Women in Australia might make up just over half the population, but full-time workers with ordinary earnings take home more than $250 less each week than men do. Part of this is because the so-called female-dominated industries such as aged and childcare, health and community services are historically undervalued and are not very well paid.

Women also have far less in their super, making them more likely to spend their older years in poverty.

We should remember we have only had a federal Sex Discrimination Act since 1984, which has played an important role in changing attitudes about equality.

I was also wrong in presuming the day itself was some creation of noisy newbies, learning that International Women’s Day has been marked every year since 1911.

Its purpose is to celebrate women’s achievements and continue to push for parity. That ticks a lot of boxes for me.

There is so much to celebrate. There is now no ASX200 company without a woman on its board and last year they comprised 41 per cent of appointments. Nine in 10 women and men believe men should be as involved in parenting as women and just need more employers to get on board and give dads greater flexibility at work.

It is an international day, and precisely because we are in the Lucky Country, we must think of others who live elsewhere.

Consider the women in Qatar who recently won the right to get a driver’s licence without a man’s permission. Or the women of Nigeria, where men are legally allowed to beat their wives ‘for the purpose of correcting’. Or those in Kyrgyzstan, where kidnapping a woman to make her your bride is said to be socially acceptable.

Jane Stephens is a USC journalism lecturer, media commentator and writer.

A BRUSH WITH COVID

Ashley Robinson has wondered whether drinking Coopers beer was protecting him against catching COVID – but no such luck.

Firstly, I want to start with a disclaimer: I am about to make light of a serious situation and mean no disrespect to people who have suffered pain and loss.

I am talking about COVID, which I have written about many times. In my last column about it, I wondered whether Coopers Sparkling Ale may have stopped me from catching it. But alas, I was wrong.

A couple of Tuesdays ago, I started with a persistent cough, then sneezing then runny nose, then Dr Google to check symptoms. I was urged by workmates to do a RAT test, which came up negative. That night, aching limbs and coughing. Another RAT test, also negative.

The next morning, feeling like I had a bad hangover, I did another RAT test, which was also negative. By this time I was positive the RAT couldn’t find its way up my nose, so I went and got a PCR.

The next morning I got the text that I was positive and would be enrolled in the virtual ward and phoned on a daily basis. To be honest, I got sick for about two days in total and on the the third day, which I slept for nearly half of, I woke up feeling okay. No cough, no runny nose and no aching body, but still sleepy. Two weeks later, I still feel like having a lie down around lunchtime. The virtual ward and nurse were awesome and I have no complaints, but for the next four days I did get a look in the window of what my retirement might look like. I have to say, I really didn’t like what I saw.

The fact that old mate has been in retirement for over a decade means one thing: get out of her way. Get out of the kitchen, laundry and anywhere else that may impede her daily routine.

I did learn how to dust and clean shutters, kill cobwebs, clean skirting boards and clean ‘my’ shower. I had to manage all this as well as a death stare from George on why he wasn’t getting walked and why I spent most of my time hiding in the garage.

So COVID one, Ashley nil. But as I looked into that retirement window, I knew I was adapting a saying from a mate of mined who is retired: “All I know is I am going somewhere on a daily basis and sometimes I don’t even know until I get to the corner. I just know I have somewhere to be?”

Ashley Robinson is the manager of Alex Surf Club and the chairman of the Sunshine Coast Falcons.

The opinions expressed are those of the authors. These are not the views of My Weekly Preview publishers.

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LIVING IN THE SEVENTIES AFTER THE FLOODS COMES UNDERINSURANCE

It’s not just the Queen who had a 70-year celebration this year, writes Sami Muirhead.

We need to plan now for future disasters. WORDS: Antonia Settle, McKenzie Postdoctoral Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne.

Birthdays that end in a zero are a little more special than others. It is a big year for the Queen, with new plans released to celebrate her historic reign. A few weeks ago, she became the first British monarch to celebrate a Platinum Jubilee, marking 70 years of service on the throne.

But an Aussie icon has quietly turned 70 without a royal fan-fare. The Chiko Roll was invented by an Australian named Frank McEncroe way back in 1951 and was inspired by the Chinese spring roll.

The hilarious thing is the Chicken Roll, as it was first formerly called, never contained a trace of actual chicken, but instead was stuffed with cabbage and barley and celery and onion.

It was a plant-based snack designed to be easily eaten on the move without cutlery.

Some may say Frank was ahead of his time with his deep-fried delicious delight. At the peak of its popularity in the 1960s and ’70s, 40 million Chiko Rolls were sold annually in Australia.

How was everyone so skinny? Don’t get me started on the fact we were encouraged to smother ourselves in coconut oil when we were sunbaking!

The company that now produces Chiko Rolls also makes Corn Jacks, supreme pizza subs and onion rings. This makes me happy because they are staying in their lane of making food that is unhealthy for your body but seemingly good for the soul.

The company knows its wheelhouse is fatty and fried foods.

And you know who else is 70? Paul Stanley, from the band KISS! Sting is also the same age. How did Gordon Sumner get to be that age?

Wonder Woman is also 70. Yep. Lynda Carter. Bob Geldolf, Michael Keaton, Mark Hamill, Mark Harmon, Kurt Russell and Jane Seymour are also in the seventies club.

And as if that is not mind blowing enough, I am adding to the list John Mellencamp and Tony Danza. Tony from Who’s The Boss somehow grew older when we were pigging out on Chiko Rolls. Happy birthday to all the legends.

Sami Muirhead is a radio announcer, blogger and commentator. For more from Sami tune into Mix FM.

The floods affecting Australia’s eastern seaboard are a “one in 1000-year event”, according to New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet. But that’s not what science, or the insurance industry, suggests.

Throughout Australia in areas prone to fires, cyclones and floods, homeowners and businesses are facing escalating insurance costs as the frequency and severity of extreme weather events increase with the warming climate.

Premiums have risen sharply over the past decade as insurers count the cost of insurance claims and factor in future risks. The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, published this week, predicts global warming of 1.5°C will lead to a fourfold increase in natural disasters.

Rising insurance premiums are creating a crisis of underinsurance in Australia.

In 2017 the federal government tasked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate insurance affordability in northern Australia, where destructive storms and floods are most common. The commission delivered its final report in 2020. It found the average cost of home and contents insurance in northern Australia was almost double the rest of Australia – $2500 compared with $1400. The rate of non-insurance was almost double – 20 per cent compared with 11 per cent.

While the areas now experiencing their worst flooding in recorded history aren’t part of the riskiest areas identified by the insurance inquiry, the dynamics are the same.

Those not insured or underinsured will be financially devastated. Insurance premiums will rise. As a result, more people will underinsure or drop their insurance completely, compounding the social disaster that will come with the next natural disaster.

So, what to do about it? There are two main ways to reduce insurance premiums. One is to reduce global warming. This is not something Australia can achieve on its own, but it can be part of the solution.

The other is to reduce the damage caused by extreme events, by constructing more disaster-resistant buildings, or not rebuilding in high-risk areas.

The federal government, however, has put most of its eggs in a different basket, with a plan to subsidise insurance premiums in northern Australia.

This won’t do much for those affected by the current floods. It won’t even do much to solve the insurance crisis in northern Australia. – Read the full article on The Conversation.

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