IEUA Speaks on International Women’s Day, 8 March 2024
75,000 IEU members and their families will be celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) across the country this Friday, 8 March 2024.
Friday is an opportunity to pause and reflect on the incredible achievements of women fighting for greater equity, fairness and social inclusion; while we also recommit to taking the action needed to hasten the rate of change for women and girls around the world.
Action by union women delivers groundbreaking reforms
IWD will hold special significance for women in unions this year, as members celebrate their campaigns that delivered fairer laws that better support women and equality in the workplace.
As a union of 72% women, the IEU played a critical role in securing stronger rights to flexible work as well as access to multi-employer bargaining in feminised sectors like early childhood education.
New limits on the use of fixed term contracts were particularly important for IEU members with thousands of women working in schools stuck on insecure short-term contracts. These members now have a clear pathway to job security and union support will embed these important gains.
IEU members commend the federal government’s announcement that superannuation will now be paid on government funded parental leave. This is an essential step to help address the retirement poverty suffered by many women workers and builds on similar gains won by unions in collective bargaining.
Women and unions mobilise for gender equality to ‘attack the gap’
While the gender pay gap shows some improvement, especially in education, lower earnings by women remains a national shame. On average (across all industries) women earn $26,393 less per year.
New WGEA reporting requirements have demonstrated positive overall trends in the education sector, while at the same time, highlighting embarrassing failings by many school employers.
The IEU will continue to be the voice for women and girls in education and the wider community, as our collective efforts strive to #InspireInclusion in our homes, schools and workplaces.
