Australia has made good progress towards achieving gender equality in recent times. However, women still experience inequality and discrimination in many important parts of their lives.
“At work, women continue to face a gender ‘pay gap’ and barriers to leadership roles. Many encounter reduced employment opportunities because of the time they give to family and caring responsibilities,” said Elaine Atkinson, Secretary of Growing Winchelsea and a member of the organising committee for the local International Women’s Day celebration to be held on Tuesday 18 March 2025.
Starting work for the Commonwealth Government in 1968 Elaine remembers many fellow female workers getting married as the government lifted the marriage bar in 1966 – prior to this, women were required to leave work on marrying.
“It was an interesting time as many of these women were in senior positions and had made the decision to continue in their career, forgo marriage and children. Some had been in defacto relationships, frowned on by the general population. Just imagine what social impact that had on women,” says Elaine.
Working alongside men sharing the same role but only earning 75% of the male pay was another discriminatory practice of the government and it was not until 1972 that equal pay was introduced.
Education was another discriminatory factor and it was only in 1984 when the Sex Discrimination Act was passed that career advancement across divisions in the public service opened up not only for women but for men as well.
“At the time I was on maternity leave, followed by extended leave without pay due to the necessity to prepare my disabled daughter for mainstream education. On my return to work I was able to advance to manager level within six months,” continues Elaine.
Being told that certain jobs only a man could do was common, which lessened the job opportunities for women. Against these obstacles women succeeded and while significant barriers to gender equality remain, with the right action and support, positive progress can be made for women everywhere.
We need to continue the fight together and continually address the barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.
“Following the successful International Women’s Day celebration held Tuesday 18 March 2025 we are encouraging as many women as possible to complete an online Training Needs Survey by 31 March 2025,” continues Elaine.
This information will be collated and provide the impetus for the development of a targeted training program for implementation by the Winchelsea Women’s Business Network Steering Committee, a joint initiative of Growing Winchelsea and Winchelsea House with support from the Surf Coast Shire through their Health and Wellbeing Grants program.
I would love to hear from any woman interested in being part of this exciting network, contact me on my mobile 0458009616, email secretary@growingwinchelsea.com or complete the Training Needs Survey. We must support one another, be inspired and prepare for the predicted population growth – we all want to be part of building economic prosperity for Winchelsea while retaining our unique character and heritage,” concludes Elaine.