The bravery and advocacy of Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins has not only changed the way society thinks about sexual assault but also renewed momentum to solve decades-old problems of economic disparity, according to the head of an expert women’s panel to advise on the New South Wales state budget.
Chief Executive Women president, Sam Mostyn, said the combination of pandemic-related upheaval and the emergence of “courageous young women” such as Tame and Higgins had created a fresh appetite to deal with systemic issues holding women back.
On Monday it was announced Mostyn would lead a panel looking at ways to close the gender pay gap, make childcare more affordable and accessible, and get more women into the workforce in New South Wales. They have three months to come up with a “bold and brave” suite of ideas for the NSW treasurer, Matt Kean, to introduce in the budget and develop in future economic plans.
Mostyn said the work of Higgins and Tame in raising awareness of gender power dynamics – on display again in Canberra on Wednesday – had created a widespread appetite for change.
“2021 was a year where we were given acute evidence of the lack of respect for women,” Mostyn said.
“We learned much from the most courageous young women who put the issues of disrespect, safety and discrimination before us as a community.
“Whether it’s Brittany Higgins or Grace Tame or Chanel Contos, they made us pay attention to the things that women have known, felt and experienced for decades.
“Suddenly, we were having a conversation around the country about an urgent agenda for change.”
Mostyn said the pre-budget panel, which includes a range of experts and leaders including the Muslim Women Association chief executive, Maha Abdo, and Council on Early Childhood Development co-chair Leslie Loble, planned to make the most of the “momentum coming out of Covid, not to settle for a return to the systems and structures in place before”.
Mostyn said Australia had seen it was possible to quickly implement wide-scale policies “when the the issue was clear and they had a mandate to act” and now the public and the government understood the same could be done to fix other issues.
“For women’s economic participation, those structural barriers can be fixed by bold, fast action that involves investment, just as we saw governments do in Covid,” she said.
Mostyn also wants the government to look inwards, implementing schemes that make it a best-practice employer and an exemplar to others, and to consider benchmarks for companies tendering for state contracts.
Abdo said she was eager for the group to turn the “pain of women who’ve walked this path before us” into real change, and felt there was genuine support from the government and community to do so.
Critical to that was lifting up and empowering women with diverse backgrounds.
“My wish list would be to see more ethnically diverse women being in more senior positions, whether it’s in business or government,” she said.
“Having women with a multicultural background participate without having to feel that ‘I’m so thankful because I’ve got a job’, but instead, ‘The company that is employing me is so blessed that they have me’.”
Abdo vowed to keep the pressure on the government to act on the panel’s recommendations at the other end of the process.
“We’re not going to sit silently and say ‘all right they tried but it didn’t work’. No, then we can challenge and actively push for it to be implemented,” Abdo said.
Loble agreed the pandemic had created an opportunity for real change, with increased attention being paid to caring roles within the community that were often unstable or underpaid, and predominantly done by women.
“There’s been really important conversations about women’s roles and respect and treatment,” she said.
“Covid has demonstrated that even though childcare is such an essential part of many families’ lives, it is a fragile sector and needs to be seen as a core piece of economic and social infrastructure.
“What makes this such a great time for tackling this is the urgency that Covid has introduced.
“This panel has an important opportunity to connect those urgent and shorter-term steps with longer-term and more sustainable opportunities for women.”
