Australia’s largest alliance of women’s organisations, the Equality Rights Alliance (ERA), said the implementation of the Women’s Economic Equality Taskforce Report will lead to good outcomes for everyone. 

“ERA congratulates the WEET and the Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher, on the release of the report. The seven recommendations are a surprise to no one – we have been advocating for these measures for years,” said ERA Convenor Helen Dalley-Fisher.  

“It’s clear that everyone who cares about women’s economic security is singing from the same song sheet,” said Dalley-Fisher. 

According to the ERA Convenor, making the economic systems fairer for women benefits everyone with an increased productivity and greater business resilience are just some of the benefits businesses see when the barriers to women’s employment are removed.  

“The recommendations in the WEET report are a good starting point for addressing the unfairness which sits at the heart of our employment systems and we strongly urge the Minister for Women to implement these recommendations as a priority.” 

ERA’s submissions to the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care and the Senate Community Affairs References Committee’s Inquiry into Poverty and its intervention at the Jobs and Skills Summit in September 2022 all called for a greater recognition of the invisible unpaid caring work done by women and identified the need for deep structural changes to our economy. 

“Our economy is constructed around sexist assumptions about who provides unpaid care and how much women’s work is worth. The infrastructure for supporting women’s work is under massive pressure. Childcare centres can’t get the staff they need to operate safely.” 

“Women are taking time off work to navigate their way through complex systems of care for their aging parents. Our economy needs to wean itself off the idea that women’s paid work is somehow a nice-to-have optional extra once their caring work is done, added Dalley-Fisher.  

Dalley-Fisher also highlighted how most women need to work to make ends meet.  

“We need to work to keep our families above water as cost-of-living pressures rise. And we need to work for our own dignity, satisfaction and economic independence,” said Dalley-Fisher. 

The release of the WEET report comes at a time when ERA is urging the Government to be bold in its upcoming National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality. 

“We’re hoping the National Strategy will lead to real change to our economic structures, but we also need to see an intersectional approach taken to gender equality.” 

“To make any reforms really effective, we need to recognise that women are not a homogenous group. Effective reforms are those which reflect the reality of women’s diverse lives. We’re hoping to see that approach reflected in the National Strategy,” added Dalley-Fisher. 

Related: Equality Rights Alliance: Religious Discrimination Bill is bad for women