The worsening in health and wellbeing and their determinants among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples clearly shows that current strategies are failing, and that the directives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders have not been supported.
A lack of policies that promote equality and inclusion of migrant and refugee women in Australia’s economic, social, cultural, civil and political life significantly reduces these women’s capacity to participate and contribute, and leaves them and their families vulnerable to short term shocks that could leave them further dependent on assistance in the long-run.
Election 2019 – Women with disabilities. What are the particular issues for women with disabilities.
There are a wide range of issues that currently affect Australian young women. These include (but are not limited to): The casualisation of the workforce, high rates of under-employment, increase in the gig economy and increasing unpaid internships make it difficult for young people to find steady, secure employment with access to paid leave and superannuation.1 The youth unemployment rate is currently 12.6% overall and 12.3% for young women aged 15-24, compared to an unemployment rate of 5.1% for the total population.
There are currently over 128,500 people waiting for home care packages in Australia, with average wait times of between 6 to 9 months (Department of Health, 2018b). Responding to the ongoing growth in demand for home care packages through the piecemeal increases in funded places does not provide women requiring care or providing informal care support with the certainty of support they require.
Women are significantly more likely than men to rely on the award safety net than agreements (Fair Work Commission, 2014, ix). This is because women tend to be in industries, workplaces and jobs that are hard to unionise – contracted ‘caring’ and service delivery industries, small and decentralised workplaces, shops and restaurants, and casualised work.
Women’s career development is generally different from men. It is often more complex (for example, conflict between work and family) and is often characterised by different career stages or patterns (for example, intervals away from full time employment to assume care responsibilities).
The impacts of air pollution from coal power stations, and rising CO2, as well as the resultant climate impacts, such as heat waves, rising temperature, drought and climate related disasters have specific systemic outcomes for women.
An RMIT study found that people are more likely to attend non-legal services, like health services, for legal assistance. HJP are effective in terms of addressing violence against women because they get to clients otherwise not reached because of the health care setting. We would advocate for funding the HJP to be increased in a way that builds on existing partnerships.