INTRODUCTION

Following the release of Australia’s future tax system1 (the Henry Report) the Commonwealth Office for Women had discussed with the National Foundation for Australian Women (NFAW) and the Equality Rights Alliance (ERA, formerly WomenSpeak) the possibility of further follow up work. (These organisations had previously been commissioned by the Office for Women to make a submission on gender issues to the review of the tax system2 )

The NFAW and WomenSpeak/ERA, with valuable input from Professor Patricia Apps, independently held meetings to discuss the Henry Report at the University of Sydney through the Women and Work Research group, and at the University of Melbourne (Taxation Studies, Law School). We are indebted to Professor Marian Baird and Professor Miranda Stewart for their professional and financial support, and to Helen Hodgson (ATAX, University of New South Wales) for her inputs to these meetings.

Subsequently, the Office for Women approved a project proposal by NFAW and ERA for community consultation on factors impacting women’s decisions regarding work-force participation. This would involve consultations with women, with particular attention to younger women, an initial plain English report on these and a further technical report.

Deliverables included these two reports, to be made available to the Office as drafts by 31 August 2011 and 30 September 2011 respectively 3. After discussion with the Minister for Women, and the Office for Women, these have been combined into this single comprehensive report. The short time-frame available for organising consultations has been an issue for the project, limiting the time available for local preparatory work to satisfactorily engage women and their organisations.

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