Dr Elroy Dearn
Women are more reliant on the social safety net than men, but what is their experience of it? In today’s analysis, researchers across multiple components of the safety net explain how deliberate design decisions have created a system that places women in crisis. This long read is based on a presentation at the Australian Social Policy Conference in October 2021.
Read MoreThe most recent unemployment figures show an astounding downturn, to the lowest rates since 2008. Unemployment is but one measure of a healthy economy, however. In today’s analysis, Policy Whisperer Leonora Risse (@Leonora_Risse) examines the incredible strain that has been put upon the health care sector - an industry that is female-dominated and at the heart of the government’s COVID-19 response. Despite this, there has been surprisingly little policy interest in addressing eroding employment conditions.
Read MoreAs we close out another year, we celebrate 10 years of sharing the latest thinking and analysis on Australian policy! In 2021 the site hosted nearly 100 blogs, written by academics, policy specialists, and people with lived experience. We had nearly 65,000 visits representing 82,000 page views.
Read MoreOlder women are the fastest-growing cohort at risk of homelessness in Australia, reflecting their increased financial insecurity, which is created by a cocktail of gendered social norms, differential career trajectories for women compared to their male peers, and the tax and transfer system. A key policy lever that is reducing older women’s financial independence is the increase in the qualifying age for the Age Pension. Originally legislated in 1994, this reform has not been fully examined for its impacts on older women, until now. Today’s analysis from Todd Morris (@ToddMorrisecon) shares research he conducted while with the University of Melbourne School of Business and Economics (@BusEcoNews) on how this policy reform has contributed to the financial insecurity of older women in Australia. This analysis first appeared on the Austaxpolicy blog; you can read it in its original form here: LINK The Unequal Burden on Women of Australian Pension Reform. You can read the full article here: : The Unequal Burden of Retirement Reform: Evidence from Australia
Read MoreCentrelink plays a central role in supporting women and children to leave family violence. But how effective is this safety net? Previous research by Economic Justice Australia (formerly the National Social Security Rights Network) found that Centrelink policies and processes often increased women’s risk. Today’s analysis provides an overview Economic Justice Australia’s latest report, authored by Sally Cameron of Welfare Rights Centre (@welfare rights) and Linda Forbes of Economic Justice Australia (@ej_australia), which examines how Centrelink debts intersect with family violence. You can access the full report here: Debt, duress and dob-ins: Centrelink compliance processes and domestic violence
Read MoreAnti-Poverty Week is an event held every October to raise awareness and understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty in Australia, and to encourage action to end it. In today’s analysis, researchers at the Life Course Centre (@lifecourseAust) are highlighting the links between women, violence and poverty, and the structural inequalities that must be addressed to stop it. A summary of this analysis is presented here by Dr Alice Campbell (@ColtonCambo) and Professor Janeen Baxter (@JaneenBaxter7); you can read their full report here.
Anti-Poverty Week runs from 17-23 October this year.
Read MoreThe Women’s Safety Summit has sparked multiple conversations about best practice and effective policy for the next National Plan to End Violence Against Women and their Children. In today’s analysis, Emma O’Neill of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) makes the argument that wider policy decisions during the term of the first National Plan reduced women’s economic security and ran counter to women’s safety, and that these need to be reversed under the next National Plan.
Read MoreAs pandemic impacts continue to be felt across much of Australia, changes in personal debt, particularly for women and lower-income households, is increasingly concerning. In today’s analysis, Dr Lucinda O’Brien (Melbourne Law School), Dr Vivien Chen (Monash Business School), Professor Ian Ramsay (Melbourne Law School) and Associate Professor Paul Ali (Melbourne Law School) report on research recently published on how under -regulated debt collection practices are contributing to women’s lack of safety.
Read MoreThe Federal Government’s Women’s Safety Summit indicates a keen interest in doing more to keep women safe; however, social security settings were not a focus of the agenda, despite the central role that financial security plays in securing women’s safety and agency. In today’s analysis, Lily Gardener and Policy Whisperer Susan Maury of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy), and Frances Davies of the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) argue that the JobSeeker Payment, originally designed for younger unemployed men, is disproportionately exacerbating poverty for women. This analysis is part of the NFAW (@NFAWomen) Gender Lens on the Budget series, drawing on the income support analysis.
Read MoreGender inequality takes many shapes, embedding into systems and structures in ways that may be hidden. In today’s analysis, Policy Whisperer Susan Maury (@SusanMaury) and Lily Gardener of Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand (@GoodAdvocacy) and Frances Davies of the National Foundation for Australia Women (NFAW) provides a thorough analysis of how Australia’s social security settings, by maintaining the sole use of the CPI in most income support payments is disproportionately exacerbating poverty for women. This analysis is part of the NFAW (@NFAWomen) Gender Lens on the Budget series, drawing on the Indexing analysis, as well as on Good Shepherd’s submission on the adequacy of the Newstart Allowance.
Read MoreThe Women’s Safety Summit was noticeably silent on the social safety net. As an area over which the Federal Government has complete control, it represents an accessible lever for policy change. In today’s analysis, the paper that was tabled jointly by the National Council for Single Mothers and their Children (NCSMC) and ACOSS (@ACOSS) is presented, detailing eleven ways that social security works to harm women. Terese Edwards (@Terese_NCSMC) of NCSMC provides a preface.
Read MoreOne woman a week is murdered in Australia, but there has been little to no progress on reducing this grim statistic. In the wake of the Women’s Safety Summit, it is clear a multi-pronged approach is needed. In today’s analysis, Brenda Gonzales of the Data Feminism Network (@DataFemNetwork) provides an example of how a private citizen in Mexico initiated policy change to make women safer through contextualised data collection of feminicides.
Read More‘Closing the gap’ is a major, and highly visible, government policy goal, with the intention of reducing disparities between Australia’s First Nations peoples and White communities. Despite many years, however, there has been little demonstrable progress. Today’s analysis utilises critical race theory, with important lessons for intersectional feminism. Penny Skye Taylor (@PennySkyeTaylor) and Daphne Habibis (@dhabibis), both of the University of Tasmania (@UTAS_), identify white ignorance as an overlooked key factor. This analysis is drawn from their research into Aboriginal views of White Australians and the dominant culture.
Read MoreEarlier this year, Australians were shocked to hear Brittany Higgins’ story – not only of her alleged sexual assault in Parliament House, but also the lack of a process to report and address her allegations. More recently, Annabel Crabb’s series Ms Represented showcased the historic and continuing barriers to inclusion and respect that women face in Australian politics. In today’s analysis, Josefina Erikson (@Josefinaerikson) of Uppsala University (@UU_PoliSci), shares a summary of her recently-published paper, co-authored with Cecilia Josefsson (@CeciliaJsfssn). It provides a framework encompassing five dimensions, explaining how parliaments fail to operate as gender-sensitive workplaces despite increasing numbers of women working there.
Read MoreLast week we learned that the gender pay gap widened in the first half of the year, with men earning on average $260 per week more than women. In today’s analysis, economist Leonora Risse (@LeonoraRisse) of RMIT, the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard (@wapppHKS), and the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (@WLIAus), parses the numbers to provide a more nuanced understanding of where the pain points are most acute, and provides policy remedies for this seemingly intractable issue.
Read MoreDespite being most notable for its ungenerous policies, Australia’s Paid Parental Leave has increasingly incorporated changes to encourage fathers or secondary carers to take leave. But is it working? In today’s analysis, Deborah Widiss (@DeborahWidiss) of Indiana University (@IUMaurerLaw) compares Australia’s policies to the US, where uptake by fathers or secondary carers is much greater. This analysis is drawn from a recently-published article that can be found here.
Read MoreWith the recent release of the Intergenerational Report, questions over how a dropping fertility rate will effect an ageing population have come to the fore. In today’s analysis, Miranda Stewart (@AusTaxProf) of University of Melbourne (@MelbLawSchool) and ANU (@ANUCrawford), explains how the lack of an economic accounting of care work, particularly of children, is creating myopia in government planning systems, and could be remedied if care work was properly valued as a national asset. This analysis is a summary of a policy brief put out by the Melbourne School of Government entitled Tax & the Fertility Freefall: Children, Care & the Intergenerational Report.
Read MoreThe workplace culture at Parliament House is under intense scrutiny after the revelations prompted by Brittany Higgins’ experiences as a staff member bringing forth an allegation of rape in the workplace, while the wider experiences of women in Australian politics is being highlighted in Annabel Crabb’s Ms Represented which aired its first episode yesterday. In today’s analysis, Leonora Risse (@Leonora_Risse) of RMIT, the Women and Public Policy Program at Harvard (@wapppHKS), and the Women’s Leadership Institute Australia (@WLIAus) discusses toxic workplaces as sites for contests of masculinity, and how that negatively impacts on women and others who do not conform to these norms, with a particular focus on Australia’s political spheres.
Read MoreAs lockdowns become ‘the new normal’ in Australia, working from home, at least for some workers, is also becoming normalised. While working from home provides many women with the much-needed flexibility they need, there is also potential for a further eroding of gender equality, both in the workplace and the home. In today’s analysis, Sally Moyle (@SallyMoyle) and Helen Innes, both with the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen) Gender Lens on the Budget team, explain how the government should be responding to the rapid changes in work-from-home practices. This analysis is drawn from their Federal Budget 2021/22 analysis on work from home policies. You can read a summary of NFAW’s infrastructure analysis here, and an overview of how the budget is analysed here.
Read MoreThis year’s Federal budget, announced on May 11th, included a Women’s Budget Statement. Perhaps this was added after last year’s budget left many women feeling their needs were not considered. But will this budget deliver for women? Today’s analysis from Kathy MacDermott and Louise McSorley, on behalf of the National Foundation for Australian Women (@NFAWomen), examines the government’s infrastructure plans using a gender lens. This piece is synthesized from the NFAW’s infrastructure analysis.
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