Time to rethink the time policy in Welfare to Work

The Liberal’s Welfare to Work model has been dissected from many angles, including several Power to Persuade blogs (e.g., this recent policy comparison, this discussion of the psychological impacts of feeling ‘workless’, and this piece on how current welfare policies are designed to punish recipients. Today’s piece provides an insider’s perspective, as Juanita McLaren uses the required number of work hours to demonstrate the illogical bureaucratic requirements that are placed on recipients. Juanita is on student placement with Good Shepherd Australia New Zealand.

Womens Policy Action TankWomen's Policy Action Tank28 October 2016social welfare

Are women and care professions leading a new type of union politics?

Recent effective election campaigns by nurses and teachers may point the way to new industrial campaigning on issues that is led by women and will shift beyond the traditional union-Labor party dynamic, writes Ben Spies-Butcher in the post below.

It was originally published at the POP Politics Blog and is republished here with permission.

Womens Policy Action TankPower to Persuade17 October 2016data and evidence for advocacy

Networking for Change: the role of the National Women’s Alliances in the women’s movement

Today we present the final blog post from Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum. Hannah Gissane (@hannahgissane) from the Equality Rights Alliance (@ERAAustralia) discusses the role of feminist networks in advocacy. She covers a brief history – or herstory – of women’s networks in Australia, including the ERA. She then discusses networks as influencers, capacity builders, and movements, concluding that networks help women reach out to each other for support, exchange of knowledge, growth, and to generate the energy needed to do the difficult but essential work of advancing equality.

Womens Policy Action Tank, AdvocacyPower to Persuade14 October 2016social inequalities

Women's Policy Action Tank: Asbestos, mesothelioma, and the predictive model 'gender gap'

A/Prof Alison Reid of Curtin University knows more than most about predictive models for the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma. In today's Women's Policy Action Tank she draws on her ANZSOG-funded research in the latest issue of Evidence Base journal to explain why these models are important to get right - and why we need to pay attention to women as well as men!

Women at risk during disasters due to poor understanding of gendered differences

Today’s policy analysis examines how the government response to disasters puts women at greater risk due to a lack of gender analysis. Stereotyped role assumptions underpin women’s increased vulnerability; they are more likely to experience violence and financial hardship immediately following a disaster, and are are less likely to have received disaster preparedness training. What is known about gendered differences to disasters needs to be incorporated into an effective strategy to keep women and children safer.

Susan Feldman on ageing and gendered disadvantage

In a recent interview on 3CR’s Solidarity Breakfast, Susan Feldman discussed gendered disadvantage and the need to look at men’s and women’s different experiences of ageing.

A Twitterview of how to put women at the centre of policy making

If you missed or want to revisit Putting Women at the Centre: a policy forum, hosted by Power to Persuade and Good Shepherd Australia and New Zealand (GSANZ), here are links to Storify accounts of the day put together from Twitter by Susan Maury and the GSANZ team.

Womens Policy Action Tank, Women's ScorecardPower to Persuade23 August 2016policy making

Working across boundaries: how insights from feminist thinking can make us better at collaboration

Concurrent with Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Helen Dickinson (@DrHDickinson) draws on her forthcoming article 'What can feminist theory offer policy implementation challenges?' to explore how feminist thinking can help us move beyond a simplistic view of collaboration as coordinating activity across a number of actors.

Micro-aggressions and the welfare card

Concurrent with Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum, we are running some accompanying blog posts. In this post, Kristin Natalier uses the concept of micro-aggressions to explain how single mothers experience a devaluing of their personhood through their interactions with Centrelink personnel.

Why Australian Women over 55 Aren’t Exactly Enjoying the Time of their Lives

In the lead-up to Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum on 16 August 2016, the Women’s Policy Action Tank has asked some of the day’s participants to publish articles reflecting how current policy differently impacts on women. In today’s post, Susan Feldman and Harriet Radermacher detail how women’s disadvantage accrues across the lifespan resulting in a disproportionate number of older women in hardship. This article originally appeared in The Conversation.

Aboriginal women: we have voice, don’t speak for us

In today’s post, Summer May Finlay makes the case for a facilitative approach to policy influence and change for people whose voices are silenced. Specifically, she calls on the feminist movement in Australia to ally with rather than speak on behalf of Aboriginal women. A Yorta Yorta woman, Summer specialises in health policy, qualitative research and communications, and is a popular blogger with Croakey. She is speaking at Putting Women at the Centre: A Policy Forum on 16 August. You can follow Summer on Twitter @OnTopicAus

Women’s Policy Action Tank: The gender pay gap persists due to an incorrect framing of the problem

In 1995 the gender pay gap in Australia stood at 16.2 per cent. In 2015, despite targeted policies to redress this inequality, the pay gap had actually risen, to 17.3 per cent. In this analysis, Fiona Macdonald dissects these policies. She explains how the representation of the gender pay gap problem is both faulty in places and too narrow in others to correct this persistent injustice.

Women’s Policy Action Tank: Bold Leadership Needed for Transformational Change

Neither party provides, nor even alludes to any transformational change capable of achieving gender equality. This analysis of recent women’s policy statements by Yvonne Lay reveals a failure by both parties to address the deep-rooted social structures that reinforce our male-defined society.

Women’s Policy Action Tank: Why the Women’s Budget Statement needs to be reintroduced

Gender-Responsive Budgeting improves targeted and effective social change. Despite being an early leader in this area, Australia abruptly ceased issuing a Women’s Budget Statement (WBS) in 2013. Today’s post argues that the WBS ought to be resurrected as an integrated analysis of the budget process itself.

Women’s Policy Action Tank: An “incident” approach to family violence fails both victims and perpetrators

When violence against women is considered an “incident” and handled through the criminal justice system, there is a failure to effectively address the reason why men use violence. Today’s Scorecard provides a much-needed framework for considering effective policy responses to men who perpetrate violence against women.

Women’s Policy Action Tank: Promoting girls’ and women’s participation in STEM education and careers

Despite girls’ higher academic performance compared to boys – including science and math subjects – there is a “leaky pipeline” when it comes to keeping women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) careers. Today’s policy analysis provides a comprehensive break-down of the policy statements from the Coalition, Labor, and the Greens parties regarding keeping girls and women in STEM.

Action and Inaction on Policy that Benefits Women

When a gender lens is applied to government policy, it becomes clear that women experience the consequences of policy differently to men. In this post, Policy Whisperer Susan Maury introduces the Women’s Policy Action Tank and why there is a need for highlighting women’s needs in the policy arena.

Women’s Policy Action Tank: Workplace policies must change to reflect 21st century realities

There are so many policies that intersect at the level of the family, which either enable or create barriers to active workforce participation while also ensuring family needs are met. Today’s Scorecard summarises what the major issues are for families, gender equity in the workforce, an ageing population, and carer duties. This synopsis is backed by a comprehensive document created by the Work + Family Policy Roundtable, comprised of over 30 academics from 16 research institutions. This analysis was first published in The Sydney Morning Herald on 30 May, 2016.

Women's Policy Action Tank: Women experiencing domestic violence need expert first contact

Both the acknowledgement that domestic violence occurs at high rates in Australia and the increased Federal funding for tackling this issue are to be lauded. In today’s post, a distinction is made between adequate funding and supporting best practice. For women experiencing violence, the choice of service model is critical. Funding must support best practice to ensure the safety of women and children.

Women’s Policy Action Tank: Playing the woman’s card in the US presidential elections

Today’s post examines women in the policy process and how gender can influence their agency, by examining the case study of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. This article first appeared in the Canberra Times on 1 June 2016.

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