Action Urged for Global Women’s Support on IWD
On International Women’s Day, Burnet Deputy Director, Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Professor Caroline Homer AO, shares her thoughts on the importance of supporting women’s rights and working towards gender equity.
International Women’s Day recognises the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women worldwide. The day marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity and raising awareness about women’s rights and issues.
International Women’s Day was first proposed in 1910 by Clara Zetkin, the then leader of the Women’s Office for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, who tabled the idea at the second International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. The proposal received unanimous support from more than one hundred women representing 17 countries.
The very first International Women’s Day was held the following year, with meetings and protests held across Europe. The purpose then, as now, was to advocate for women’s rights and raise awareness about gender inequality.
Marking International Women’s Day this year feels particularly poignant, when the world feels more unequal and inequitable than ever. Even the term equity is under threat, with executive orders from the new United States administration halting all diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Multinational organisations in Australia with headquarters in the US are adhering to these orders, despite it being a breach of Australia’s anti-discrimination laws. In Australia, 90% of employers have a policy or strategy to support gender equality in the workplace but if we follow the directions in the US, it will undo years of progress to address gender equity.
Women and girls around the world are already bearing the brunt of these current global shifts. This includes the US administration’s decision to temporarily freeze foreign aid and shutdown USAID. The Australian Council for International Development (ACFID) has said these actions will work against efforts to build peace, safety, and economic stability for the world.
Within days of the freeze, more than 900,000 women and girls had lost their usual supply of contraceptives and by the tenth day, more than 1.3 million had been denied care. The Guttmacher Institute estimates a full 90-day pause will leave 11.7 million people without family planning services, triggering 4.2 million unintended pregnancies and thousands of preventable maternal deaths.
Prior to the US executive orders being enacted, more than 300,000 women were dying each year during pregnancy. These orders are likely to see those numbers increase significantly. Nearly all these deaths can be prevented if women have access to healthcare workers, quality care and medicines, but without these vital healthcare resources we will continue to see the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of women every year.
It is imperative that the Australian Government and the international community provide leadership during this unsettling time, through global health diplomacy and by increasing financial aid. In 2024-25, the Australian Government will provide $4.96 billion in Official Development Assistance, which is just 0.68% of our federal budget. Doubling Australia’s contribution to foreign aid would go a long way to improving health equity.
In many countries, women and girls already have the least power – they cannot be abandoned by Australia and the global community now when they need our support most. International Women’s Day must be a call to action.
https://www.burnet.edu.au/knowledge-and-media/news-plus-updates/calling-for-action-to-support-women-around-the-world-this-international-women-s-day/