Media Alert 8 March 2022
SA Unions celebrate International Working Women’s Day - 2022
Union members, workers, supporters and people of all genders will come together to celebrate International (Working) Women’s Day with a march through Adelaide, honouring over 100 years of struggle.
From 5:30pm Tuesday 8 March the event will commence at Mukata/Hindmarsh Sq (North West/bones side) where the rally will be hearing from a range of inspiring speakers followed by a march through the city to Tarntanyangga/Victoria Square.
SA Unions Vice President Natasha Brown said that while the march honoured the sacrifices of the working women who went before and achieved so much, many challenges lay ahead.
“In 2022, over 100 years after the first marches for women’s rights took place, women still earn an average $483.30 less per week than men and retire with about half the amount of superannuation.
“Women are more likely to be in low wage and insecure work, and therefore more likely to have lost work or hours during the pandemic.
“At work, women have had a 2 in 3 chance of experiencing sexual harassment in a current or former workplace.
“Despite strong community support and consistent advocacy by the labour movement, women still have no guaranteed right to paid family and domestic violence leave, despite a spike in family and domestic violence during the pandemic.
“In regard to raising children, Australian women rely on the second worst paid parental leave scheme in the developed world, according to the OECD.
“Additionally, women pay for some of the most expensive early childhood education and care in the world – with early childhood educators also being extremely low paid.”
Ms Brown said that International Women’s Day 2022 was a time to recommit to achieving several long-overdue changes to make workplaces and society safer for women, close the gender pay gap and ensure all working women have a secure retirement.
“We call on the next Australian Government to support our nation’s women through the immediate introduction of the following measures.
“Women must be supported through the introduction of stronger equal pay laws in the Fair Work Act.
“They must be paid superannuation on parental leave and all 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work report, including a positive duty on employers to prevent sexual harassment must be implemented.
“We must protect women through the legislation of 10 days paid Family and Domestic Violence Leave into the National Employment Standards
“Women must be supported through the introduction of free, universal, accessible and high-quality childhood education and care.”