The Women’s Movement Study Notes

Timeline 1949 - The Commonwealth Arbitration Court fixes women’s basic wage at 75% of men’s 1951 – The UN recommends equal pay for equal work 1961 – The contraceptive pill becomes available 1969 – The first Women’s Liberation group forms in Australia, in Sydney 1970 – Germaine Greer publishes “The Female Eunuch” 1972 – The Arbitration Commission accepts “equal pay for equal value” 1972 – Women’s Electoral Lobby (WEL) is formed 1975 – International Women’s Day is recognized by the Whitlam government 1977 – The ACTU adopts Charter for Working Women 1986 – Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunity for Women) Act is passed by Federal parliament

Equal Pay 1951 – The UN recommends equal pay for equal work. However, women in Australia experienced difficulties in getting support for this recommendation 1958 – NSW introduces the Industrial Arbitration (Female Rates) Amendment Act granting equal pay to women doing the same work as men but NOT to women whose work was “essentially or usually performed by women” 1969 – The Equal Pay case declared that women must be paid the same as men for the same work BUT this also did NOT apply to women whose work was “essentially or usually performed by women”. In this context the decision applied to only 18% of the female workforce 1969 – The NSW Industrial Commission refuses to create the same minimum wage for men and women. Men’s minimum wage should be higher as “the male wage takes account of family considerations” 1972 – The Arbitration Commission establishes that different jobs with the same value should be paid at the same rate - “equal pay for equal value” 1983 – During the National Wage Case the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission (ACAC) concludes: 1 Women’s work was underpaid and undervalued; and 2 The economy could not withstand the costs of paying women appropriately 1987 – Basing wage increases on productivity gains, disadvantaged the many women employed in sectors that are difficult to measure productivity changes, such as nursing and teaching 2004 – Significant differences between male and female pay rates are still evident – see next slide

2004 Wage Comparisons

The Women’s Liberation Movement Women’s liberation as we know it commenced in the early 1960s and focused not on a single issue but rather challenged the concept that women must conform to ‘women’s roles” The movement was formed in the context of the radical protest movements of the 1960s such as the campaign for civil liberties in the US, anti-Vietnam demonstrations, anti-nuclear demonstrations and the like. The availability of the contraceptive pill was also a significant factor Women involved in these protests were well aware that society’s authority figures were male – they challenged this position with well reasoned, clear arguments and uncomfortable questions for the times The movement had no trouble attracting media attention by way of their protests for legalised abortion, equal pay for women and so on New terms were introduced to the English language such as male chauvinism (the active and unreasonable discrimination against women by men) and affirmative action (policy implemented to ensure women are represented in areas traditionally dominated by men) and sexism (any discrimination based on gender) In 1972 Australian Helen Reddy releases the international theme song of the movement “I am Woman” In 1975 International Women’s Day was recognized by the Whitlam government Among other changes, the Women’s Liberation Movement encouraged the following laws: 1984 – Sex Discrimination Act 1986 – Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunity for Women) Act

Germaine Greer In early 1970 Australian born Greer publishes “The Female Eunuch” within which Greer argued that society had made women into passive slaves: “Women represent the most oppressed class of life – contracted unpaid workers, for whom slaves is not too melodramatic a description” Greer recognised that a woman’s energy and creativity was just as important as a man’s and should be given free rein, not just limited to the traditional roles of child bearing and homemaker: “We must also agitate hither and thither, picket segregated bars and beauty competitions, serve on committees, invade the media, do, in short, what we want, but we must also refuse, not only to do some things, but to want to do them” During the promotion of her book, which internationally became the handbook of the women’s lib movement, Greer became the voice and face of the movement appearing on television and radio around the world Without the influence of Germaine Greer and the Women’s Lib movement issues such as equal pay for women, sexual harassment and domestic violence against women would have been unlikely to have been addressed by society – as is the current case in radical Islamic nations today