Happy International Women’s Day this Friday

THIS Friday, March 8 is International Women’s Day, an opportunity for women at work, women in education, women in the community and women at home to come together… for what?

There doesn’t have to be a specific reason to get together for an event that traces its history back to the early 1900s, when simply winning the right to vote had only just been achieved in Australia a few years earlier, in 1902.

Clearly, we’ve come a long way since then on a number of fronts but, as we saw last week, when the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) published its report on pay gaps at Australian companies, with 100 employees or more, there’s still a way to go.

The report identified that 62 per cent of those companies have gender pay gaps that are above the desirable level of five per cent or less, predictably in favour of men.

It stands to reason, to some extent, that the pay gap reaches its highest differential of 31.8 per cent in the construction sector and closes to just 1.9 per cent in the food services sector, but it certainly puts the spotlight on all employers to assess their own situation, ask questions and consider a response.

Valuing the all-important homecare role, calling out the damaging practice of stereotyping, which is often at the root of family violence, and actively promoting inclusion, which is the theme of International Women’s Day 2024, are all areas for improvement and reasons to talk and act.

But there’s a lot about the differences that men and women, people of all backgrounds and interests regardless of gender for that matter, bring to the table and we should value and encourage that.

You take a look at the Fish Creek ‘Rising from the Ashes’ fundraising night last Saturday night, and you see that in action. While the men largely took the lead role in organising the event, and the women in catering, there was a significant crossover with a number of key organisational roles taken on by the women in the club, and a good number of the club’s men involved in getting the food and drinks out.

While the prevalence of men in the trades, for example, and women in business and as leaders on the home front, will play into the contribution each can make to the success of a community effort like that, it should be enjoyed and celebrated, so long as everyone is included and gets the chance to learn, experience and contribute across the board.

On a side note, however, why do we as a community put up with the discrimination suffered by women in some ethnic and religious groups, here in Australia and around the world, while fighting the good fight on women’s rights generally?