It has been a rough, heartbreaking few weeks. Gender‑based violence is once again in the headlines. On good days, I feel hopeful that all the efforts of a society that prides itself on instilling values centred around equity and compassion will win out in the end. But then there are the darker days when we all feel despair and we wonder, "Where are we going wrong?" I know that there is no simple answer to that question. There is so much to unpack. It is exhausting, confronting and overwhelming but we must do it because the violence we see against women cannot continue. We all have a part to play in ending gendered violence. That is a difficult pill to swallow for many of us because if we are not one of the perpetrators then we probably tell ourselves that we are therefore not contributing to the societal horror.
If we dig down though and acknowledge that gender inequality provides the platform upon which violence against women seeds then we must take a long, hard look at the places in our own lives where we, be it unknowingly or otherwise, assist in perpetuating the narrative and commit—all of us—to changing the paradigm. Gender inequality exists in many forms and can be broken down into myriad examples ranging from the pay gaps that can exist between men and women to the gendered roles and expectations in family dynamics. Some of those practices and beliefs may seem insignificant or harmless enough on the surface, but they feed into a narrative where women are perceived as being less than—less worthy, less capable, less relevant or as having the right to less agency over the way we live our lives.
At a later date I will talk more in this place about the significant and long overdue reforms being introduced by the Minns Labor Government that will support our transition to a society where gender equality is the norm and where violence against women no longer exists. Today, however, I will focus on the things that we can all be doing every day to support our communities in making the shift. We are right to expect action from the powers that be, but we all have a responsibility to call out gender inequality and violence against women every single time we see it. At those times in between, when it might not be happening right before our eyes, let us keep the conversation going. Let us keep educating our kids so we break the generational patterns where they exist, and let us be driven by the belief that violence against women is preventable.
The second annual Commonwealth Status of Women Report Card was released this year. One thing the report card highlighted was that, believe it or not, in 2024 Australian women still earn less than men. They do more hours of unpaid care and they are less likely to hold leadership positions, with only 9 per cent of CEOs in the ASX 300 being women. Why is that still the case? It is not that we bring less to the table, that we are not as capable or that we are less educated, but yet here we are still fighting to prove our worth and convince others that we deserve to be remunerated equally for our contributions.
We are still shaking off tired, outdated perspectives that value the male over the female, and I am so perplexed by that. When we drill down into the core issues propping up gender inequality, it is important that we do not adopt a blame culture directed at all men. I have raised two sons who see the world through a lens of gender equality, and every day I encounter good men who are in no way affronted when women demand to be treated as their equals. Those balanced beliefs are key, but naming the times when we see women portrayed as having diminished social value is equally crucial. We can no longer ignore the link between gender inequality and violence against women; if we are serious about ending that violence then we cannot pretend that that connection does not exist.
Women in this country have been calling out for equal rights for over a century, with many men standing alongside us. But still too many fly the flag of the patriarchy and strive to disempower women, when, in essence, those behaviours speak to a deeply embedded fear of the true strength and potential of women in our society. I thank every woman and every man who defies the destruction of the feminine. As Pakistani activist and 2014 Nobel Prize winner Malala Yousafzai said, "We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back." I look forward to living in a world where that is the mainstream philosophy that we live by—where gender equality is the norm and violence against women is filed away as a tragic chapter in our past.
I finish by acknowledging some of the incredible work undertaken by organisations in the Blue Mountains that are, in the main, made up of women and are challenging gender inequality every day via their work with families: the Blue Mountains Women's Health and Resource Centre and its EViE project, Thrive Services, Gateway Family Services, Central Tablelands and Blue Mountains Community Legal Centre, our neighbourhood centres, Mountains Youth Services Team, our teachers and schools, and the Blue Mountains City Council through its gender equity strategy.
