Women Empowerment: Historical Events, Current Values and Legislation in Australia

This report explores the historical events, current values and legislation related to women empowerment in Australia. It covers the Sex Discrimination Act 1984, Workplace Gender Equality Act and Agency, and Gender Indicators, Australia. The report highlights how Australia is leading the way in gender equality.

Running Head: Women Empowerment 1
Introduction to community service
Women Empowerment

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Definition.........................................................................................................................................3
Summarise historical events............................................................................................................3
Current values and principles..........................................................................................................5
Identify current ethical or legislation...............................................................................................5
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
References........................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction
The report is based on women empowerment and shows the historical events that have taken
place relating to the topic. The current values and principles of women empowerment will be
elaborated through research in order to gain a clear understanding about women empowerment
inAustralia.
Definition
Empowering women requires countries to involve women in economic decisions. This will also
lead to a creation of stronger economies, attain internationally accepted goals for development
and sustainability as well as develop life for women, families and communities (Moswete &
Lacey, 2015).
Summary of historical events
Historically, Australia had witnessed abundant cases of deliberately discriminating legislations
favoring men over women. For instance, until 1969 legislation permitted employers to pay 25%
less payment or salary to women in comparison to men even after doing the same or highly
similar work. However, parliament took a number of steps to equalize the playing field, but it
was not done until 1984 when the endorsement of Sex Discrimination Act made it illegal to
discriminate as per the sex or gender in Australia (Cotter, 2016).
The Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902 has been passed by the newly established Australian
Parliament which set a standardized law helping women in order to vote at federal elections
(Australian Government, 2018). This initiative helped to remove the inequality between men and
women in terms of voting rights for federal elections in Australia. After this act, women got

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empowered and the country became astonishingly progressive and after a while a Federation the
government passed an act in which women are allowed to vote and stand in the federal election
in 1903 (Australian Govenrment, 2018).
Australia was the first country that allowed women to involve in parliament elections which had
a positive impact on other countries. It has been found that this law was not applicable for native
women, who were not allowed to vote until late 1962 (Global Citizen, 2016). However, women
had to face a number of difficulties to fight for their rights and they struggled the most. The
Country Women’s Association (CWA) was founded by Australia which gave women an
opportunity to raise funds for a number of reasons, support local communities and socialize. It
has been found that today there are more than 25,000 women included in the CWA and the
membership of CWA is expanding day by day which is a strong evidence for national women
empowerment (Global Citizen, 2016).
In 2016, first aboriginal Australian woman was elected to the UN management forum on
Indigenous issues. Megan Davis was nominated by the Federal Government (Mwanri, Hiruy &
Masika, 2012). After much controversy and deliberation, a Women AFL league was founded in
2017 at Melbourne.
Current values and principles
The current values of women empowerment in Australian Communities are mentioned below
which establish high level corporate leadership for gender equality.
 It is necessary for the companies and other workplaces to treat all women equally and
fairly. Human rights of each member of the company must be protected by law.
 The health and safety criteria should be equal for all women and men worker.

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 Promotion of training, education and professional development for women.
 Execute enterprise development, marketing practices and supply chain that empower
women.
 Promote equality by community advocacy and initiatives.
 Determine and widely report on progress depicted by women to attain gender equality
(BPW, 2018).
Identify current ethical or legislation
Gender equality is central to human and economic development of any economy and is a
fundamental right. It facilitates to address the root cause of instability as well as inequality,
drives economic development and decrease resilience. Equal and inclusive societies are more
stable and peaceful. It has been analyzed that 2/3rd of the 774 million people all over the world
who lack basic literacy skills are female and this ratio has remained the same for the last 200
years and extents to most regions. It has been analyzed that every day, around 800 women die
due to preventable reasons regarding childbirth and pregnancy and around 99% of all maternal
deaths occur in developing countries (Global Citizen, 2016). Globally, one in three women has to
face sexual and physical violence. Several aid programs running in Australia aim to endorse
equality and empower women in partner countries (Chin, Lott, Rice& Sanchez-Hucles, 2008).
The country has encouraged investing in the education of women and men. Efforts have also
been put to encourage a healthier lifestyle among women which has led to decreased rates of
maternal mortality, effective education and healthier children. The current legislations are
mentioned below.

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Sex Discrimination Act 1984
The Sex Discrimination Amendment regarding gender identity and sexual orientation bill 2010
was passed in June 2013. This amendment provides latest protections against discrimination as
per the sexual orientation of a person, intersex status and gender identity. This act ensures that
the protections from sex discrimination apply equally to men and women (MacKinnon, 2018).
Gender Indicators, Australia
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), has featured 52 key indicators that extend across six key
areas of social uneasiness for gender equality which include Work and family, democracy,
education, governance and citizenship, Balance, Economic security, Health, Safety and justice. It
is a major initiative by the government of Australia for the purpose of bringing change in the
country regarding women empowerment (McHenry, 2011).
Workplace Gender Equality Act and Agency
It is the act that ensures equality at the workplace and promotes equal opportunity for women at
the workplace. It has been found that this act has a positive impact over the performance of
women and they start to perform in an efficient manner.
Conclusion
It has been concluded that women empowerment is a necessary aspect for the growth of the
country. Australia has effective legislations that make the country strong in comparison to other
countries.

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References
Australian Govenrment, (2018). Australia's assistance for gender equality. Retrieved on:
http://dfat.gov.au/aid/topics/investment-priorities/gender-equality-empowering-women-
girls/gender-equality/Pages/australias-assistance-for-gender-equality.aspx.
BPW, (2018). Women’s Empowerment Principles. Retrieved on: https://bpw.com.au/womens-
empowerment-principles.
Chin, J. L., Lott, B., Rice, J., & Sanchez-Hucles, J. (2008). Women and leadership:
Transforming visions and diverse voices. John Wiley & Sons.
Cotter, A. M. M. (2016). Ask no questions: an international legal analysis on sexual orientation
discrimination. Routledge.
Global Citizen, 2016. Empowering women – is Australia leading the pack or trailing behind?
Retrieved on: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/empowering-women-is-australia-
leading-the-pack-or/.
MacKinnon, C. A. (2018). Difference and Dominance: On Sex Discrimination [1984].
In Feminist legal theory (pp. 81-94). Routledge.
McHenry, J. A. (2011). Rural empowerment through the arts: The role of the arts in civic and
social participation in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Journal of Rural
Studies, 27(3), 245-253.
Moswete, N., & Lacey, G. (2015). “Women cannot lead”: empowering women through cultural
tourism in Botswana. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 23(4), 600-617.
Mwanri, L., Hiruy, K., & Masika, J. (2012). Empowerment as a tool for a healthy resettlement: a
case of new African settlers in South Australia. International Journal of Migration,
Health and Social Care, 8(2), 86-97.

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