There have been reports of the new alliance of 12 very prominent Australian women including Grace Tame and Brittany Higgins which was launched on Sunday afternoon ahead of International Women’s Day – so just a little over 48 hours ago. The alliance is called Safety.Respect.Equity and what this group is about is to call for real action and policies to protect and support women and children from violence, harassment, and discrimination.

The group has launched a video and crafted a letter to all Australians calling for reforms that would have a tangible effect on addressing the inequality that persists for Australian women.

These 12 women have been meeting for the last few months with the plan to launch their alliance on International Women’s Day (IWD) 2022.

Each IWD and for the last almost 100 years in this country, we’ve been coming together to review how far we’ve come and what we need to do.

But this year and on the back of a momentous year for Australian women, the calls are stronger. Less talk more action is the catchcry. Women are sick of countless reviews, inquiries, promises, conferences, and bodies established to report but no meaningful change we hear. We are tired of empty promises.

Safety. Respect. Equity has as its focus the safety and protection of women from violence, harassment, and discrimination.

They have a list of 9 key demands

1. Implementing all 55 recommendations in the Respect@Work report including a positive duty on employers
2. 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave
3. Acting on the National Plan for First Nations Women and Girls
4. Ensuring effective employment programs for women with disability
5. Stronger, consistent child sexual assault laws
6. Eliminating the gender pay gap
7. Free, accessible, and quality early childhood education and care
8. Expanded paid parental leave
9. Embedding respectful relationships and consent education everywhere – schools, universities, workplaces, homes.

Another alliance – although much more established and in existence for 50 years – has also just released its list of demands. In this year of a Federal election, the Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) has released an election campaign policy platform – a platform informed by a survey of its supporters over the course of the last 12 months. The survey findings confirmed that stronger action is needed to support women – so again more action, less talking.

The top three issues identified by the survey were:

• Women’s safety
• Housing security
• and climate change.

And the key findings included:

• Ending violence against women
• Demanding adequate and sustainable funding for the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children
• Improved job security and pay parity
• Welfare payments need to be indexed more fairly
• Addressing women’s housing security and homelessness especially for women escaping domestic violence and for older women
• Breaking down health access barriers for women, especially for First Nations Women, regional and rural women, migrant women and trans women
• Equity of representation of women in politics, boards, and workplaces

So certainly, some common ground.

During the election campaign, WEL will be releasing a scorecard to rate parties on their commitment to achieving these objectives.

• 50 per cent female representation in parliament
• Implementing the 28 recommendations of the Jenkins Report on workplace culture in parliament
• New funding for the next National Plan to end Violence Against Women and Children 2022-2032
• Funding for 300,000 new social housing properties and 200,000 affordable homes over the next decade
• A national transition to free early childhood education and care
• Remedies for gender-related undervaluation in pay.

The latest government gender equity statistics show women make up half of the Australian workforce but only 20% are CEOs, 28.1% are board members, and a mere 14.6% are board chairs. Disturbingly, 30.2% of boards and governing bodies have no female director.

Similar trends exist in the legal profession. While 51% of female graduates are female, women in senior positions, and therefore higher paying roles such as partners in firms, barristers, judges – is around 10%. Only 12% of barristers in this state are women.

Recently we had two new judges – both women – appointed to the Family Court in Newcastle. Justice Julie Ward – a Novocastrian – is now the President of the Court of Appeal in NSW. And Susan Kiefel is the current and first woman to hold the position of Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia. These are all cause for celebration.

IWD should be a celebration of women and those who have struggled to progress recent achievements. Yet I think we would all agree that progress has been too slow and efforts to advance women’s issues remain token, especially at the political level. We have come a long way in many respects, but off a low base! I can list female premiers, a female governor general and prime minister (singular) but the point is we haven’t come far enough, fast enough.

We need more women in senior legal positions (and in other government and business positions) now for several reasons. Women with the same skills and abilities as men deserve the same opportunity to work in those positions. A more diverse representative legal system (and business and government leadership system for that matter) will better serve and represent citizens and the community.  This is especially so as the bar and the judiciary are often a recruitment ground for politicians and other senior government appointments.

There are not enough women in politics – in some parties more than others. And this lack of diversity is damaging for all citizens. The issues affecting women will be better served if there are more women in parliament.

We have spoken before about the issue of equality as it affects women in the legal profession. Women lawyers are in the vast minority of principals in law firms, particularly medium or large sized firms.

Catherine Henry Lawyers is not your typical firm. All but 3 of the firm’s 30 staff are women. All but one of our senior lawyers are women and 2/3 of our senior management team are women. My point here is that change is possible if we take action.

Our firm has signed up to the Law Council’s Equitable Briefing Policy which encourages firms to brief women barristers in at least 30% of all matters and pay 30% of the value of all brief fees.

We would argue affirmative action measures, including targets and quotas, are needed to play a part in achieving equality for women.

There are a few key legal issues facing women. There are laws that hinder women but also laws that protect us. It is important for women to know the basics of the law so they can use it to serve their individual and collective interests.

The list of legal issues is long we will cover themes of:

• Women & work
• Women & family
• Women & health.

Women & work

Legislation provides that men and women must be paid equally for the same work and that wages offered for a role cannot discriminate based on gender. Employers who flout this can be prosecuted by the Fair Work Commission.

BUT in reality, there still exists a significant gender pay gap between men and women in Australia. It starts the moment that women enter the workforce and is perpetuated by women taking time out of the workforce, disproportionately working part-time, and ongoing discrimination and bias in hiring and pay decisions.

It leads to much lower superannuation balances and an overall lower lifetime economic security. We are seeing increasing rates of homelessness for older women, particularly if they leave a relationship – and don’t have a good family law firm managing their divorce proceedings. Superannuation is important. Women still retire with about 58% less super than men.

Family Responsibilities – obligations on employer

The Fair Work Act says that an employer must assist an employee to achieve a better work and family balance. Employees wishing to make a request for flexible work arrangements must do so in in writing.  But the Fair Work Act does not extend some of these entitlements to casual employees and women are overrepresented here.

Women & family

Separation and divorce

In the area of law where women are often in a very vulnerable position – family law – the reforms that were put in place under the Howard government in 2006 were done so as to address a perceived advantage for women.

Shared parenting

The 2006 amendments to family law legislation championed shared care for children in separated families in the belief that children were better off spending equal time with both parents, except where violence or abuse was an issue.

Despite an evaluation that found the reforms favoured fathers over mothers and parents over children, putting mothers “on the back foot”, “shared care” remains the law.

What is important for women to understand is that the law still says that 50/50 shared care is appropriate only when that is in the children’s “best interests” and that there is no automatic right of any parent to demand this. So please do not make the mistake of negotiating arrangements on the assumption that the court will grant 50/50 care in any case.

Compulsory family dispute resolution

There is compulsory family dispute resolution for separating parents in all instances except where family violence is present.

Whilst the legislation mandates mediation before going to court, there is no bar to negotiations also moving on to discussing a financial settlement.

If this mixed negotiation occurs, particularly in an unplanned manner and without legal advice, women are again more likely to be at a disadvantage because they are perhaps more likely to ‘trade away’ financial benefits for themselves for the perceived “best interests” of their children than men are.

It is vital that women have the right support and advice in this process.

Estate planning

Moving on from divorce, let’s talk about death!

Do you have a will?

An alarming number of Australians die without a will and more die without an updated will that reflects their current wishes and family arrangements.

In NSW, if you die without a valid will, your assets will be distributed to your relatives according to a formula set out under legislation. If you have no close relatives, your estate could end up going to the government.

So, there is legislation to distribute assets to your family but, particularly if you have been married more than once or have a blended family, this may not be in the way you had in mind.

Please, get a will or make sure your current one is up to date. You may also wish to consider a living will. Also called an Advance Care Directive, this document helps to ensure that your wishes regarding medical treatment are respected by health professionals and family members if you become unwell but lose the capacity to express your wishes to doctors and health professionals.

Women & health

A few words about women and health. A high proportion of the work done at the firm is in the area of health. And many of our health law clients are women.

The law can be helpful to women (and men) in many ways if they receive poor health care and suffer because of negligence by health professionals or facilities. For many people, it is not just about compensation. People often want answers to their questions about what happened, and an apology, to help them to move forward.

We also find that by making a negligence claim, people are helping to bring systemic change to standards of professional care. Health professionals and facilities change poor systems or improve skills when they are hit in the hip pocket or there is a threat that they will be.

Here are a couple of medico-legal hotspots!

IVF and cosmetic surgery

Some of you may have had experience with the IVF industry – personally or have children or other loved ones using it. It is a booming billion dollar industry which can help bring joy to couples trying to start a family. But we handle many complaints and cases for clients that stem from a lack of regulation and public accountability.

This, along with cosmetic surgery, has limited professional regulation unlike most other areas of medical practice.

IVF clinics are not required to publish their rates of success or failure and clients of clinics often fear repercussions, including denied access to future treatment, if they raise concerns or make a complaint.

Our advice to clients – for any medical procedure – is always to ensure you understand the risks and failure rates of any medical treatment, check the qualifications and the experience of those doing the procedure, seek out those professionals who conduct volume practices and understand the costs.

And the other medico-legal hotspot is cosmetic surgery. You may have watched in horror at what has gone in at the practice of (now deregistered) Dr Daniel Lanzer cosmetic surgeon which was aired on 4 Corners in October last year. Largely as a result of that programme action is being taken to improve the regulation of cosmetic surgeons who can undertake complex surgical procedures as a general practitioner with no surgical training.

My firm has helped and is helping 180 women who have suffered at the hands of a particular disgraced cosmetic surgeon Les Blackstock. We’re helping other women who have suffered from other cosmetic surgeons too.

Unplanned pregnancy

It’s taken far too long but finally, abortion in this state has been decriminalised. No longer can a woman or a doctor be charged with abortion offences under the Crimes Act. This followed laws to also provide safer access to women seeking an abortion at a clinic.

This is an important issue for women (and men). You may be surprised to learn that 1 in 4 pregnancies is terminated. And that an abortion – a surgical rather than a medical abortion – is the most common medical procedure in the country.

While the laws have changed, there is a new challenge. Rising costs led to the Marie Stopes clinic in Newcastle closing last year. Marie Stopes also closed other clinics in other Australian regional centres.

This leaves one clinic to cover the Hunter and presumably some adjoining regions. GPs can and do assist with abortions but more needs to be done to encourage and support them to work in this space.

Having to travel to Sydney for an abortion adds stress and cost for women. Even with the Medicare rebate, an abortion will already cost around $500.

Governments need to look at how to properly deliver this essential and common health service.

Unplanned pregnancy – wrongful birth

Another thorny legal issue for many.

Here’s a scenario … not uncommon. A woman and her husband have 4 kids. She has her tubes tied – her fallopian tubes are ligated or tied off with a clip known as a Filshie clip.

The doctor performing the procedure does it negligently and doesn’t properly tie off the tube. The woman becomes pregnant. (Another common scenario is a failed vasectomy.)

Abortion is not an option. What can they do?

Once upon a time, parents could receive financial compensation for the costs of raising the unwanted child. Parliament has intervened saying compensation for a child and compensation is much more limited. Compensation for the doctor’s negligence is one solution.

Birth trauma

1 in 3 women experience birth trauma – and for some, there are lasting implications for them and/or their children.

There is a lot happening in this space medically and you may have heard talk in the media about concerns associated with forceps deliveries and some doctors even advocating for them to be banned.

Where this all comes from is concern about the information women are given during their pregnancy about the risks associated with a vaginal delivery and the very strong push from doctors and midwives for the “natural i.e., vaginal birth”.

More information

There are so many other examples I could go through. Our firm has produced a free guide for women on the basics of the law as it pertains to them. It is located here.

We produced this guide a few years ago when we realised that there wasn’t such a guide freely available to women. We are planning to update it and produce a similar guide more specific to women’s health and the law. Our website also has lots of fact sheets and articles on all aspects of the law, located here.

Here is a quote from the Women’s Electoral Lobby survey and scorecard report mentioned earlier.

“Women face great challenges but together we can achieve positive change”:

Happy International Women’s Day!