THE HON. MALCOM TURNBULL, PRIME MINISTER, THE HON. BILL SHORTEN, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION AND SENATOR RICHARD DI NATALE, LEADER OF THE AUSTRALIAN GREENS TODAY HOST THE AUSTRALIAN LAUNCH OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY.
Parliamentarians, Departmental Secretaries, representatives of civil society and military leaders are gathered together for UN Women National Committee Australia’s Parliamentary Breakfast held at Parliament House this morning. The event marks the launch of International Women’s Day 2017 celebrations across Australia.
Australia has a long history of supporting International Women’s Day. Central to that, is the partnership between UN Women National Committee Australia, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who supports IWD events in many capital cities to put a spotlight on the achievements of women in our region.
This International Women’s Day (IWD) will mark an important milestone: the Australian Government and UN Women recently signed a new four-year Partnership Framework Agreement, to build on the shared and longstanding commitment to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.
This year’s IWD theme is women’s economic and political empowerment. This is central to making gains in international development and security. While the percentage of women represented in parliaments around the world has doubled in the last twenty years, today, just 23% of parliamentarians are women. In terms of earnings, globally, women earn 24% less than men.
UN Women is working hard in our region to ensure that women are well-represented around decision-making tables, at every level, in every sector; and that they have access to land, finance, business skills and training, to access safe and decent work, for equal pay.
“When women are represented in decision-making at all levels, policies reflect the needs of all facets of society. When women have unrestricted access to decent work, economies grow. I look forward to hearing more about our leaders’ continued commitment to economic and political empowerment. We’ve made a lot of progress, here in Australia and more broadly, in our region, and together, we can accelerate change and work towards our shared global goal of gender equality by 2030.” said Executive Director of UN Women National Committee Australia, Janelle Weissman.
