Changing The Rules
The passing last week of Susan Ryan – former age discrimination commissioner, Hawke government minister and the woman who introduced the Sex Discrimination Act in 1984 – got the Tonic team talking about how this landmark legislation shaped our lives.
So many of the rights we take for granted – from protection for pregnant employees to protection against sexual harassment – were regarded as revolutionary when introduced just 40 years ago.
In an era of online petitions and Twitter frenzies, law-making can feel like a slow and tortuous process. However, legislation has an unparalleled power to shape our lives. In recognition of that fact, we asked two prominent women’s advocates, businesswoman and activist, Wendy McCarthy and writer and commentator, Jane Caro, to reflect on the impact of the Sex Discrimination Act and look ahead to further legislation that could improve our lives even more.
What was the impact of the Sex Discrimination Act?
Wendy McCarthy The totality of the Sex Discrimination Act was important to me personally. I read many drafts both at an individual level and on behalf of organisations I was engaged with. I was primarily concerned with the passage of the bill as a legal instrument to protect women. It offered a pathway of appeal to fairness and justice. No longer could you be excluded on the basis of an individual judgement. There was now a right of appeal.
Jane Caro We underestimate the symbolic power passing laws such as the Sex Discrimination Act in 1984 has. Susan Ryan put the power of parliament behind us and aimed its might against those who would use our gender to hobble us. Women in paid work felt vindicated and better able to stand up to sexist bullying, unfair dismissal, sexual harassment and differential treatment. It was a huge and important milestone on the journey towards full and equal participation by women in all aspects of society including paid work.
What other piece of landmark legislation should be more celebrated?
WM Within the first month of the Whitlam government assuming office [in 1972], Gough Whitlam introduced a bill to remove the cosmetic tax [set at 27 per cent] from the oral contraceptive pill. This was a powerful breakthrough for women’s reproductive rights and access to contraception. It made the expansion of family planning services much easier and more acceptable.
JC So much legislation has been vitally important to women, starting in 1902 with the right to vote – shamefully, Indigenous women had to wait until 1962 – but I cannot go past the recent legislation to decriminalise abortion in many states in Australia, including NSW last year. Now every state in Australia except South Australia, which is lagging behind, regards abortion as a matter between a woman and her doctor. This is important because the foundation of all liberty is bodily autonomy. I argue that to force a woman to gestate and birth against her will is to literally colonise her body. Now, every child can be a wanted child. Legal, safe abortion also saves lives.
Which piece of important legislation should be introduced next?
WM It’s time to create an Australian Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms. A charter is about ensuring that the values we all share –fairness, respect, dignity and compassion – are at the heart of all government decisions, laws and policies. It’s about clearly listing and articulating all of our human rights and freedoms so that everyone from school kids to new Australians can know their rights and understand what we value and prioritise as a community. Importantly, a charter also provides a powerful tool to challenge injustice and means if someone has their rights violated, they can take action and seek justice.
JC I believe we need legislated quotas for all boards and senior roles. I do not believe we will see real change without them. Merit clearly does not work. Australian women are the best educated women in the world – and, as women and girls outperform men and boys in education across the world, that makes us the best-educated people – but in terms of workplace participation and achievement, we’re down around the mid-40s. I have three arguments to support my case for mandated quotas:
We won’t get change without them. It is relatively easy to change attitudes and, led by women like Ryan, we have largely done that over the last half-century. But, and this is a big but, changing attitudes does not necessarily change behaviour. Various organisations campaigned for years about the dangers of drinking and driving. They succeeded in changing attitudes. In research groups, participants were asked “Should you drink and drive?” “No,” everyone replied. “Do you drink and drive?” “Yes.” What changed behaviour? Consequences. Random breath testing made the difference. Quotas for women and other marginalised groups are the random breath testing of equality.
We are already full of quotas. Barnaby Joyce, and now Michael McCormack, gained the position of Deputy PM because of a quota. The leader of the National Party is always Deputy PM in a Coalition government, regardless of merit. Cabinet is full of quotas, in fact, no matter who is in power. There must be X number of ministers from various states and factions, for example. Boards in general have quotas – they seek interstate directors and some have staff representatives. In fact, it seems the only people not permitted to benefit from quotas are women.
Further to that point, we seem to have suffered universal amnesia about the pesky 100 per cent quota that operated in favour of men for, oh, about 2000 years. Every gain women have made – be it the right to vote, to their own income, their own children, to own property, get an education, enter the professions, get paid equally for equal work, preach the gospel, take out a bank loan, their right to say no to sex in marriage and yes to sex outside of marriage, the list is endless – symbolises a chipping-away of that 100 per cent male control of absolutely every legal, financial, political, religious, medical, industrial, military, economic and educational institution that ever existed. And if you don’t think that 100 per cent male quota gave men a bit of a leg up, you are simply refusing to look. And what are women like me asking for? A mere 30 to 40 per cent representation on every board and senior management group until it is no longer needed. Frankly, if we were actually going for even-steven, we’d be asking for 100 per cent for the next 2000 years.
Interviews_ Ute Junker
Artwork_ Portrait of Susan Ryan by artist Jackson Rae, sourced from the Museum of Australian Democracy
Photo_ UnSplash