Women in rural and remote areas
12.1 Most of Australia's population is concentrated in two widely separated coastal regions-the southeast and east, and the southwest. Of the two regions, the southeast and east is the largest in area and population. The population within these regions is concentrated in urban centres, particularly the state and territory capital cities.
12.2 Australia is committed to improving services and infrastructure available to rural and remote areas. Some women living in these areas face greater challenges than urban women, including barriers to employment. Indigenous women living in rural and remote areas also have a disproportionate level of disadvantage on a wide range of indicators. For more information about Indigenous women, see the 'Indigenous' entries in Articles throughout this report.
12.3 Under the 2008-09 Budget, the Australian Government allocated $176 million to the Better Regions program which aims to provide important community infrastructure and services in regional Australia. The Government will also spend $271 million over four years to fund the Australian Broadband Guarantee to ensure all Australians, particularly those in regional and rural areas, have equitable access to broadband services.
12.4 Significant parts of Australia are drought affected, leading to great hardship for many rural and remote farming communities. Recognising this, the Australian Government is conducting a national review of drought policy with the aim of supporting farmers to better prepare for a changing climate and to increase profitability, sustainability and self-reliance, including an assessment of the drought's social impacts, to help prepare farmers and local communities for climate change. The review should lead to an improved drought policy by July 2009.
12.5 In 2006, the Victorian Government announced the Rural Women, Drought and Climate Change initiative, which acknowledges the significant role rural women play in communities affected by drought and climate change. In 2007, the Victorian Rural Women's Reference Groups on drought and climate change were established in five rural regions and facilitated opportunities for rural women to share information and develop supportive networks to deal with the issues. A statewide conference of national importance on women managing drought and climate change will be delivered in 2009 as part of the initiative.
12.6 In South Australia, as part of an overall drought response, the state's Office for Women provided women-specific drought initiatives, which included organising 20 women's gatherings in rural towns enabling women to network and get information; establishing information hubs in rural areas, and providing funds to support ongoing rural women's networks.
Age and sex distribution in rural and remote areas
12.7 Rural and remote Australia differs from urban Australia in its age and sex distribution. The urban population has proportionally fewer people in two age groups-those aged 2 to 17 years and those aged 42 years and over. In contrast, rural and remote Australia has proportionally fewer people aged 18 to 41 years. The largest differences exist for young adults aged 21 to 25 years. This is because many young people are moving to Australian cities to continue their education, for employment opportunities, to achieve independence, or change their lifestyle. In urban areas, there are more women than men, but in rural and remote Australia, on average, men outnumber women. However, the state and territory sex ratios vary.117
Rural women's initiatives
National Rural Women's Summit and National Rural Women's Network
12.8 In Labor's Plan for Primary Industries, the Australian Government committed to strengthening the capacity of rural women to participate in policy debate affecting their communities. More than 80 women from rural and remote Australia attended the National Rural Women's Summit hosted by the Australian Government in Canberra on 27-28 June 2008. The summit identified and discussed the scope of issues affecting rural women and their communities and developed a series of recommendations to respond to these issues. The Australian Government will establish a national rural women's network in the context of existing representative structures, taking into account the summit's recommendations on the role and scope of the network.
National Rural Women's Coalition
12.9 The National Rural Women's Coalition is a collaborative national voice for women living in regional, rural and remote Australia and is one of the National Women's Secretariats. For more information on the National Women's Secretariats, see paragraph 5.32.
Regional Women's Advisory Council
12.10 Since Australia's last report on CEDAW in 2003, the independent Regional Women's Advisory Council has continued to draw to the Australian Government's attention the issues affecting rural women and their communities. The council encourages informed debate and influences decision-making in seven key areas-encouraging life-long learning, ensuring appropriate and accessible health care, reducing family violence, promoting diversity and inclusion, expanding women's representation, encouraging community engagement in the water debate, and promoting economic development.
Rural women and employment
12.11 In rural and remote areas, employment opportunities may not be as frequent or varied because of smaller and less diverse economies. As a result, the employment profile of rural women is very different from women in urban areas.
12.12 At the time of the 2006 Census, the labour force participation rate of women aged 15 to 64 years in rural Australia was 68.4 per cent, compared to 79.8 per cent for men in rural areas. The rate was 69.7 per cent for women in major urban areas. In 2006, similar to urban women, women employed in rural Australia were concentrated in the retail trade, health care and social assistance, and the education and training industries. However, in rural areas, 13.9 per cent of employed women worked in agriculture, forestry and fishing compared to only 0.3 per cent of employed women in major urban areas.118
12.13 Self-employed women comprised 21.5 per cent of total female employment in rural areas in 2006. This was more than double the proportion for women in urban areas (9.9 per cent). At least in part, this may reflect the fact that women in rural areas tend to be concentrated in the agriculture, forestry, and fishing industries-that is, many may be self-employed on family farms. Almost half of the self-employed women work in the agriculture industry.119 The income derived by rural business women across Australia is around $1.2 billion per annum. Most women running these businesses are multi-skilled, often managing a challenging mix of responsibilities including family life, caring for children, assisting on the farm, providing traditional support to community activities, participating in networks, as well as running a growing business.120
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Increasing opportunities for regional, rural and remote women
12.14 The Australian Government Women in Export program aims to ensure women in business are aware of, and have access to, the full range of services from Austrade (the Government's trade agency). This can help women become successful and sustainable exporters, by encouraging them to export, identifying women exporters as role models for other women, and working with existing women's networks. Activities include holding Women in Export seminars around Australia, encouraging existing women's networks to focus more on export opportunities, and leading the inaugural Women's Business Mission to India.
12.15 The former Agriculture Advancing Australia initiative supported rural and remote women by offering opportunities through several programs such as the Advancing Agricultural Industries program and FarmBis. These programs included training in leadership, business and natural resource management; between 2005 and 2008, 6,872 women completed 11,874 FarmBis training courses.
12.16 From 2004 to 2008, the Tasmanian Government facilitated the Regional Women in Business Week and published the Spirit of Business, both of which provide guidance for rural women in their business enterprise. In 2008, the Tasmanian Women in Rural Industries program helped establish an interactive website and Internet training for rural women. The program has also set up a public database so that rural women can network with industry and share knowledge, skills, achievements and business practices.
12.17 In 2008, the Australian Government's Women's Leadership and Development program once again funded a number of projects targeting rural and remote women. This included a project providing leadership training and mentoring for up to 45 women from rural areas, and another project, which provided support for medical women in rural and remote areas to attend the Medical Women's International Association Western Pacific Congress in October 2008.
12.18 The New South Wales Department of Primary Industries' Rural Women's Network promotes rural women's leadership through a two-day leadership program and annual Rural Women's Awards. The Rural Women's Network supports the annual Rural Women's Gathering and provides information for rural women through a quarterly newsletter, a monthly email update, and a website.
12.19 Queensland's 10-year Blueprint for the Bush strategy aims to create a liveable, prosperous and sustainable rural community. From 2008, as part of the strategy, the Queensland Government will be coordinating a rural women's symposium each year for three years to enhance rural service, programs and policy.
12.20 In partnership with the Victorian Office of Women's Policy, the Victorian Government's Rural Women's Network Coordination Unit provided rural and regional grants for the Women's Community Leadership Grants program, which ran between 2002 and 2006 and provided 129 women's leadership grants. The Victorian Government continues to support the Rural Women's Network to promote networking among women and provide opportunities for the exchange of information and ideas. Key communication links are provided across rural Victoria through a free quarterly newsletter, the Rural Women's Network website, and the telephone and mail.
12.21 The South Australian Government supports the Women's Agricultural Bureau, the annual Rural Women's Gatherings, and elements of the Rural Women's Award.
12.22 The Western Australian Government continues to sponsor the Rural, Remote and Regional Women's Network, which has over 5,800 individual members across the state. The network's role is to bring women together from rural, remote and regional Western Australia to recognise, promote and expand the contribution they make to their communities.
Indigenous women, education, employment and health
12.23 For information about Indigenous women and education, see Article 10, about Indigenous women and employment, see paragraphs 9.42 to 9.50, and about Indigenous women's health, see paragraphs 10.13 to 10.22.
Rural women, education and health
12.24 For information about rural women's education, see paragraph 8.33, and about rural women's health, see paragraphs 10.23 to 10.33.