International Women's Day 2013: Gender inequality 'still rife'

This Friday, March 8, will see rallies and events held around the world to mark International Women's Day.

(Transcript from World News Australia Radio)

Organisations representing women's rights in Australia say it's an occasion to highlight the fact that much more needs to be done to achieve full equality for women.

In 1910, an International Conference of Working Women was held in Copenhagen to discuss how to achieve social equality, equal rights and better working conditions for women around the world.

It was on that occasion that the idea of holding an international day to press governments and stakeholders on women's rights was put forward for the first time.

On the eve of the First World War, Russian women who had been campaigning for peace, decided to observe International Women's Day.

It was the 8th of March, 1913 and rallies to support women's rights spread across Europe.

At that time, some Australian women had been voting for ten years, though there were many other areas of gender inequality.

A hundred years later, Australia counts a female Prime Minister, a female Governor General and two female leaders at State and Territory level.

So have Australian women come a long way?

Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, thinks so.

In a message to mark this year's International Women's Day, Ms Gillard recalls her personal experience as a young woman in Australia.

"As a girl growing up in Adelaide, I have never had anyone tell me there were things I could not achieve. I have never had anyone shut down or shout down my aspirations. I have never felt lucky, just equal."

Australian women make up just over half of the total Australian population.

In some areas, equality has been achieved, but in others there is clearly a long way to go.

The boards of both private and public organisations are still dominated by men.

For instance, only about 10 per cent of the executives of companies listed in the Australian Stock Exchange Market are female.

And according to federal government figures, average weekly earnings for women are $250 less than men.

United Nations Women director for Australia, Julie McKay, thinks a combination of socio-economic factors contribute to this situation.

"I think there's a huge issue about unconscious bias, that we sometimes don't even realise that we have, about the roles that women should play and the sort of characteristics that make different people leaders. But I think we also got other issues around accessibility and affordability of child care, which prevent many women being able to access work and particularly full time work."

Many migrant and refugee women in Australia can be prevented from working in the field in which they're experienced, due to lack of English skills or problems with qualification recognition.

But Chin Wong, from the Australian Migrant and Refugee Women's Alliance, says that doesn't mean they don't get into the workforce.

She argues that female newcomers can be preferred by employers because they are more likely to ignore their rights, and tend to argue less than men about working conditions.

"Sometimes the women can find jobs easier than men and therefore a lot of times the man become the homemaker, and the woman has to go to work. But that doesn't mean that when they come home they don't still have to make sure that the houses are maintained, because that's culture. Some of the cultures mean that the women have to do most of the work."

Rights groups point out that another problem faced by numerous Australian women is domestic violence.

UN Women director Julie McKay says it needs to be addressed as a gender equality issue.

"I think there's also some really systemic challenges around things like violence against women. If we had achieved equality, we wouldn't be seeing one third of our mothers and sisters and daughters experiencing violence at the hands of their partners. I think it's important as a community to kind of reflect on we have come a long way, but it's actually not enough. If we sort of rest on our laurels, now, today in 2013, and say "we've pretty much achieved gender equality" we would risk a significant backslide."

Melba Marginson is the Chief Executive Officer of the Victorian Immigrant and Refugee Women's Coalition.

She agrees that more needs to be done to reduce domestic violence, in part by fighting social isolation.

"It's still very much an issue, it's about the women understanding what domestic violence is and what services are available for them, and if they know that there's a women's support group that will support them on their journey to freedom from that situation."

Chin Wong from the Women Migrant and Refugee Alliance says International Women's Day should be a day of celebration and recognition of women's achievements.

But she says it should also be an occasion for women to demand more safety and better opportunities.

"International Women's Day actually I think is to be seen as a day that we can all stand up and we can all say with one voice that we want something done."