Review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 – Submission
International Women’s Federation of Commerce and Industry
21st October 2009
Dear Colleagues,
Re: Review of EOWWA
On behalf of the Board and the members of the International Women’s Federation of Commerce and Industry (IWFCI), I am pleased to provide our commentary towards this review.
IWFCI
IWFCI was established in 1992 and has its headquarters in Melbourne, Victoria. Since that time, it has worked tirelessly to bring to the attention of foreign and local governments and its agencies, industry and the wider community the valuable and often unrecognised contributions by working women.
IWFCI’s members represent women working as employees as well as business owners and entrepreneurs. Irrespective of their working status and their place of employment, these women face a number of barriers to enter, re-enter and advancement in today’s working and business environment. Comments are provided below on each of these stages.
Barriers to Entry
- Lack of networks to uncover the “hidden” job market.
- Lack of networks to identify board appointments. This was recently highlighted in a HREOC report.
- Long waiting lists to enrol in childcare, after-school care and aged care facilities for family members.
- Lack of affordable childcare and after-care school facilities in close proximity to a woman’s workplace.
Barriers to Re-Entry
- Lack of affordable childcare and after-school care facilities in close proximity to a woman’s workplace.
- Lack of flexible care options to support women entrepreneurs and shift workers who do not normally work a standard 9am – 5pm (Monday to Friday) work week.
- Lack of flexible work arrangements so that women can tailor their work and career at different stages – depending on the needs of their families.
- Lack of onsite facilities within the workplace for women to breastfeed or express milk.
- Conservative and discriminatory attitudes by parts of the community on the role of women and their participation in the workforce.
- Lack of a national paid parental leave program for males and females.
Barriers to Advance
- Inflexible work practices that do not accommodate the caring responsibilities of working parents from young children to elderly family members.
- Lack of leave entitlements and flexibility to care for elderly parents. This caring responsibility is largely deferred to women often in the age group of 40-60 years of age – the prime age group for leadership positions.
Statistical Support
In addressing the above barriers to enter, re-enter and advance in the workforce, we ask that Commonwealth Departments and Agencies responsible for data collection and analysis extend such activities to the segmentation of data by gender. This would provider greater assistance to policy makers, employers and community leaders to better plan for gender specific resources.
In addition, it is forecasted that Australia’s population will grow significantly within the next 10 years, largely due to migration. Therefore it is essential that infrastructure needs match population growth rates.
Government Agencies
We recognise the efforts of many Federal and State/Territory Government Departments and Agencies to advance the working conditions of women.
We would encourage greater cooperation between Federal and State/Territory Governments so that there is policy and program equity across the nation.
We would also like to see EOWWA monitoring extend to the work environments of Federal and State/Territory Government Departments and Agencies. The public service is still one of the nation’s largest employers, and women comprise a high percentage of the public service workforce particularly at junior and middle management levels.
We hope that the above comments will assist the secretariat in its work, and thank you again for the opportunity to comment.
Yours sincerely
Diana Abruzzi
Founder & Executive Chairperson
IWFCI
Website: www.iwfci.org
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