While there is rightly considerable policy interest in gender inequality, there has been surprisingly little attention given to the high school years as a key environment for this inequality or as a possible intervention point. Today’s analysis by Abigail Lewis (@AbigailLLew) at Per Capita (@PerCapita) provides a comprehensive overview of how a number of key gender inequities take root in high school, turning happy, confident girls into anxious young women who are already accustomed to experiencing violence and are on track to be paid less than the young men they graduate alongside.

This analysis is a summary from a chapter in an upcoming Per Capita report on gender inequity across the life course in Australia, launching in March 2020 and supported by the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (@WLIAus). Sign up to Per Capita’s newsletter to be alerted to its publication.

Holiday reading - 2019 wrap-up

As 2019 draws to a close, the Power to Persuade and the Women’s Policy Action Tank will be taking a break over the holiday season. We will start the blog back up in February.

Over the past year, the blog has had over 100,000 page views from nearly 66,000 unique visitors. We oversaw an upgrade to the site to make our content easier to read and more accessible. We also held a successful symposium in October.

To leave you with some holiday reading, we have compiled our top 5 most-read blogs that were authored in the past year.

Social Policy Whisperer, Womens Policy Action TankPower to Persuade6 December 2019Policy making

Debts and Disappointment: How Single Mothers and their Children Experience the Australian Child Support System

Single mothers are the most impoverished household type in Australia. Receipt of child support can keep single parent households out of poverty, however research indicates those in greatest need are also the most likely to miss out. In today’s analysis, Zoë Goodall (@ZAGoodall) and Policy Whisperer Kay Cook (@KayCookPhd) both of Swinburne University, and Terese Edwards (@Terese_NCSMC) of the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children share highlights from their new report into how women experience the child support system and why it is often difficult to receive payments.

Tracking Intimate Partner Homicide Risk Escalation: The Homicide Timeline

Intimate Partner Homicide (IPH) is a serious social and criminal justice issue and statistics suggest the problem is increasing. This puts serious pressure on those who respond to domestic abuse, coercive control, and intimate partner stalking, to be able to confidently assess the risk, or spot risk escalation. In this blog Dr Jane Monckton Smith discusses her research tracking intimate partner homicide risk escalation.

Nine months of Royal Commission but women and girls’ mental health is still largely invisible

Today the Interim Report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System was handed down, following receipt of 3,267 submissions and testimony from 99 witnesses before the four Commissioners. In the wake of yesterday’s announcement of the formation of the Women’s Mental Health Alliance, Sarah Squire (@SquireSarah) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) analyses how well the report responds to the mental health needs of women and girls.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank28 November 2019mental health, gender

Potential risks and benefits of using a ‘family violence’ frame

For the 16 Days of Activism, today’s analysis considers the importance of word choice in talking about gendered violence. Sophie Yates (@DrSophieYates) of the Public Service Research Group (@PSResearchG) at UNSW Canberra unpacks some of the pros and cons of using a ‘family violence’ rather than a ‘domestic violence’ approach. While there is concern that this phrase makes gendered inequalities invisible, there are also opportunities that this framing provides. This analysis is drawn from a new article which is freely available until January 2020.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank27 November 2019violence against women, family violence

Wage Theft, or “Have a go to… get stuffed”

With recent high-profile incidences of wage theft in the media, it is timely that the Attorney-General is looking at this issue. In today’s analysis, Helen Hodgson of Curtin University (@CurtinUni) and on behalf of the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) explains why wage theft is a gendered issue in Australia, highlights areas of concern from the discussion paper, and puts forward recommendations that would provide the necessary holistic response. The full submission is also available.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank26 November 2019employment, gender pay gap

Backlash, Gender Fatigue and Organisational Change

The World Economic Forum estimates it will take over 200 years to close the gender pay gap globally. In Australia, at current rates it will be 80 years before there is gender parity in senior management roles. Meanwhile, women often trade flexibility for career progression and are also more likely to be discriminated against in the workplace. Why are we not making more progress? In today’s analysis, Sue Williamson (SWilliamsonUNSW) from UNSW (@UNSWCanberra) provides insight into how gender fatigue is slowing down progress for women in the workplace. This analysis is a summary of a longer article which can be found here.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank25 November 2019gender pay gap, employment

What the Productivity Commission has to say about income support and mental health consumers

When the Productivity Commission recently released their draft report into mental health, there was a somewhat surprising focus on structural issues – particularly the role that the social safety net plays in supporting people with mental health conditions, their family members and carers. This is a particularly important issue for women, who have higher rates of diagnosis of mental health conditions and are more likely to be in unpaid caring roles. In today’s analysis, Yvette Maker of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute provides a summary of the draft report’s main concerns and what will be needed for the final report to make a real difference to current government policy trends.

Is she just more organised? Understanding the gendered labour of synchronisation and scheduling

Is there a gendered component to leisure time? Who organises and facilitates it in heterosexual couples? While the reinstatement of the Time use Survey is an important step in understanding how Australians use their time, in today’s analysis Julia Cook (@julia_anne_cook) of University of Newcastle (@Uni_Newcastle) and Dan Woodman (@DrDanWoodman) of University of Melbourne (@unimelbsoc) share the findings from their recently-published paper which utilises an in-depth approach to not only time use but also how time is coordinated and how women and men feel about task-sharing.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank31 October 2019gender, Work-Life Balance, family

What does it mean to criminalise coercive control?

While there is growing consensus that domestic and family violence is an expression of power that utilises coercive control, Australia’s legal system is designed to respond to incidences of physical aggression. This approach means victims are often mis-identified as perpetrators, and tragically that legal action can sometimes not be taken until it is too late. In today’s analysis, Paul McGorrery (@PaulMcgorrery) of Deakin University (@DeakinLaw) shares a summary of his research, conducted with Marilyn McMahon, on the U.K. experience of criminalising coercive behaviour.

Australia falls behind OECD on paid parental leave

Labor has recently announced it is looking to Nordic countries for inspiration to overhaul Australia’s Paid Parental Leave scheme., which has been called out for being miserly compared to Australia’s OECD peers. Advocates say changes to the scheme could reduce the carer and housework gender gap, increase parent-infant bonding, reduce the gender pay and Superannuation gap, and improve overall health and wellbeing for families. In today’s analysis, Belinda Townsend (@BelTownsend) and Lyndall Strazdins, both of ANU and the NHMRC Centre for Research Excellence on Health Equity (@crehealthequity), provide some history and context for how the Paid Parental Leave Scheme came to be, outline some of its strengths and weaknesses, and provide guidance for how to improve it going forward.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank21 October 2019Gender Inequity, Children, employment

Cooperative ageing: Innovative solutions to older women’s precarious housing

Homelessness for older women has risen by an astounding 30% in just 5 years. This is just the tip of the iceberg for older women’s increasing housing precariousness and poverty. In today’s analysis, Myfan Jordan (@Myfan_Jordan) of Per Capita (@PerCapita) shares findings from her recently-released research report, Mutual Appreciation: a social innovation thinkpiece. This is the third in a series exploring older women’s experiences of poverty to mark Anti-Poverty Week; research participant ‘Lorraine’ told her story earlier in the week, and we started out with an analysis of how older women are suffering on the Newstart Allowance.

Skilled, productive, resilient - what's going wrong for older women? Lorraine's story

For Anti-Poverty Week, we are focussing on older women’s disadvantage, accumulated across a lifetime. An earlier post explored how older women are now the largest demographic reliant on the Newstart Allowance, which is pushing many into crisis. In today’s post, “Lorraine”[1] generously shares her story, in her own words. Lorraine is 70 years old, currently living in private rental accommodation. She receives a full age pension and commonwealth rent assistance while also working part-time. Her story contains many of the barriers and bumps that all women face – relationship breakdown, single parenting, the need to reskill, relocation for jobs, being called upon to help with caring for ageing parents or grandbabies, and that ever-present sexually-transmitted debt. Lorraine was one of several peer researchers on Per Capita’s (@PerCapita) recent report on innovative solutions for housing precarity for older women. We are thankful to her for allowing us to share her story here.

A long and winding road to nowhere: older women’s experiences of Newstart

The largest age demographic on the Newstart Allowance are people aged 55+. For Anti-Poverty Week, and as submissions to the Senate Inquiry into the adequacy of Newstart and related payments roll in, Policy Whisperer Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) and Sarah Squire (@SquireSarah), both of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) unpack what this means for older women. Drawing on case studies and reflections from Good Shepherd’s financial counsellors, they outline key concerns and policy solutions to improve outcomes for women experiencing poverty later in life. This analysis draws from Good Shepherd’s submission to the Newstart Inquiry; you can access the submission here.

The trouble with girls… and what to do about it

Today, on International Day of the Girl Child, freelance writer Catherine Shepherd and Sarah Squire (@SquireSarah) of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) examine the state of play for girls in Australia, drawing on research and parenting experiences. Reflecting on some key challenges for girls’ wellbeing, they outline policy levers and practical tips for raising ‘unscripted and unstoppable’ girls.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank11 October 2019young people, Gender Inequity

How ParentsNext is Harming Survivors of Trauma

Punitive policies presume there is nothing stopping people from changing their behaviour other than recalcitrance. Research indicates, however, that many people who are subject to compliance welfare have multiple and complex barriers to aligning with government-identified outcomes. Today’s analysis by Katherine Curchin (@KatieCurchin) from the Australian National University explains how the ParentsNext program aggravates trauma, causing more damage than good for women who are trying to rebuild their lives.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank3 October 2019Social Welfare, welfare reform, Children

The Inquiry into the Family Law System is a poorly disguised Trojan horse

In response to the inquiry announced this week into Australia’s Family Law System, the team at the Women’s Research, Advocacy and Policy (WRAP) Centre at Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand has pulled together some of the concerns expressed by advocates for women’s and children’s safety.

What behavioural insights can tell us about the inadequacy of Newstart

Behavioural insights teams around the world have demonstrated that understanding the quirks of human psychology can help policymakers more effectively respond to tricky problems in fields as diverse as energy consumption, organ donation, recycling, healthy eating, and tax compliance. But what about using behavioural insights to move people off of income support? In today’s blog, Dr Katherine Curchin (@KatieCurchin) of ANU explores how behavioural science can help us think about the poverty trap created by the inadequate rate of Newstart. This post draws on her chapter on 'Behavioural public policy and poverty' in the Routledge International Handbook of Poverty out in October 2019.

Dr Curchin will be sharing her insights at the upcoming Power to Persuade Symposium, contributing to a panel on “The use of evidence through a gender lens.” Register now for 10 October 2019 at the beautiful Melbourne Museum.

Quality, not just quantity: How government investment into care work could grow the economy

The undervaluing of caring work is a key driver of gender inequality. In today’s analysis, Kathy McDermott of the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) provides a summary of their submission to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. They argue that investing in social infrastructure is economically savvy, providing supports for our biggest-growing industries while also tackling the gender pay gap.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank3 September 2019Aging, economic policy, gender pay gap

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