Women weren’t just angry on International Women’s Day. We’ve been raging under this Liberal Government for the past nine years.
ACTU Secretary Sally McManus gave the women of Australia a challenge on International Women’s Day this year.
“Get out your phones. Video yourself saying what is the number one thing for you. The number one thing in terms of our Federal Government letting us down.”
Transcript
Happy International Women’s Day everyone. I know many of us feel let down, disappointed, maybe even angry with the ways our Federal Government has let down the women of Australia on the issues of respect, safety, and equality.
Now for many of you, I’m sure it’s a big list. But what I want you to do today is this.
Get out your phones. Video yourself saying what is the number one thing for you. The number one thing in terms of our Federal Government letting us down.
For me, it’s the failure to implement the Respect@Work report. It’s just not good enough Scott.
With a never-ending list of ways Morrison has managed to betray women in the past twelve months alone, the callout was a tough one.
But some of our fiercest fighters stepped up and we’ve rounded up the best videos from the day.
For Community and Public Sector Union National Secretary Melissa Donnelly, the number one issue was the Morrison Government’s inaction on workplace sexual harassment.
“As an Australian woman whether you work in parliament house, an office, a factory, a shop or a farm, you deserve to be safe at work,” she said.
Transcript
This International Women’s Day, I’m angry that the Morrison Government has failed women on addressing workplace sexual harassment.
As an Australian woman whether you work in parliament house, an office, a factory, a shop or a farm, you deserve to be safe at work.
The Morrison Government sat on the Respect@Work report for over a year and then failed to properly implement its recommendations.
Women deserve better. It’s just not good enough Scott.
Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said she, “couldn’t believe we’re still talking about the gender pay gap”.
She emphasised how pay secrecy is a major contributor to the pay gap and Morrison’s refusal to outlaw pay secrecy clauses was “just not good enough Scott.”
Transcript
This International Women’s Day, I can’t believe we’re still talking about the gender pay gap. And the gap is made worse where pay secrecy is allowed to thrive.
When you’re gagged from talking about your pay with your work colleagues, there’s a problem.
And when you’re intimidated, harassed, and even threatened with losing your job for talking about your pay, we’ve got an even bigger problem on our hands.
But the Morrison Government knows about the problem. They just refuse to do anything about it.
They’ve refused to outlaw pay secrecy clauses. It’s just not good enough Scott.
Australian Education Union Federal President Correna Haythorpe found Morrison missing when it came to the gender pay gap in education.
In such a heavily feminised industry, the differences in pay stand out even sharper. The people who we trust to look after our children are being left behind by the Federal Government.
Transcript
On International Women’s Day, let’s talk about the gender pay gap in education.
The latest states released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency show that the gender pay gap for women in education is a staggering 7.7 per cent in preschool, primary and secondary schools.
But it’s worse for preschool teachers where women make up 93 percent of the workforce and yet are paid 14.9 per cent less than their male counterparts.
And we don’t know how bad this is for First Nations women, women with disabilities or women from multicultural communities as data is not collected. The issues are just ignored.
This is a failure of political leadership and Scott Morrison has been missing in action on this critical issue. It’s not good enough Scott.
ACTU director of education and capacity building Emma Kindgon said she was angry at Morrison for not upholding uphold his responsibilities as prime minister by abandoning the aged care sector during the pandemic.
She also thanked the previous generations of “giants” who had “made a better life for women like myself”.
Transcript
This International Women’s Day I just want to say a big thank you to all the previous generations of giants on which we stand on their shoulders on International Women’s Day.
For the wins that they’ve made to make it a better life for women like myself and the generations coming through.
But we’ve still got so much to fight for.
And I am so angry at Scott Morrison. He has had so many opportunities to advance the safety and the rights of women, and he’s failed time and time again.
It’s hard to nail down one. But during a pandemic, when we had aged care workers looking after our most vulnerable, he turned a blind eye. He looked away. He didn’t uphold his responsibilities as prime minister to fix the broken system; to support those aged care workers. And that’s disgusting.
They need a pay rise. And they need the dignity and respect that they deserve and that they give to residents every single day.
These women have a clear message for Scott Morrison: you can’t walk away from women.
Morrison could amend the Sex Discrimination Act and legislated paid family domestic violence leave for workers right now.
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The Liberal Government has let down women in so many ways – the challenge is to choose just one