Achieving equity for women and girls in the ACT - Your Say ACT - February 2023
The Salvation Army provided a response to the ACT Government’s development of the Third Action Plan of the ACT Women’s Plan 2016-26: Achieving Equity for Women and Girls in the ACT. This submission was informed by and built upon previous Salvation Army submissions related to family and domestic violence, women’s economic equity, and homelessness.
Family and Domestic Violence
The Salvation Army’s submission highlighted gender inequity as a driver of family and domestic violence, and discussed the importance of prevention, early intervention and community education related to family and domestic violence. The Salvation Army’s submission called upon the ACT Government to focus on prevention, early intervention, and community education, and for the development of comprehensive awareness and education campaigns to enhance understanding of bystander interventions and the impacts of coercive control on women.
Leadership and Workforce Participation
The Salvation Army’s submission discussed the gender pay gap which is exacerbated by the low pay rates of female-dominated occupations. We call upon the ACT Government to work alongside state and territory governments, the Fair Work Commission and unions to increase pay rates and expand tax concessions across female dominated sectors. We also urge the ACT Government to increase pay rates for workers in the public health and education systems.
The Salvation Army’s submission goes on to discuss that women are overrepresented among workers in insecure and low-paid jobs and are more likely to take time out of the workforce to take on a caring role. We discuss that certain groups of women are particularly vulnerable to job insecurity and decreased workforce participation, including single mothers, women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and women experiencing poverty and disadvantage. We urge the ACT Government to increase access to affordable early childhood education and care, continue to embed specialist employment supports for women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, provide access to free or subsidised childcare for low-income sole-parent families, provide access to financial counselling for women experiencing financial hardship, and increase wrap-around support for women facing multiple and complex barriers to paid employment.
Housing and Homelessness
The Salvation Army’s submission focusses on improving outcomes for older women aged 55 years and over who are experiencing or are at risk of homelessness. We discuss that the incidence of homelessness can be felt more acutely by this group as a result of spending less time in the workforce, and Australian women resultingly retiring on average with over 40 per cent less superannuation with men. We discuss that older women are less likely to own a home in retirement and are disproportionately reliant on the Age Pension. We urge the ACT government to work to increase the stock of accessible social and affordable housing specifically aimed at older women, increase rental support for lower-income retirees, improve processes to identify older women at risk of homelessness, and increase advocacy efforts supporting improved information and education related to housing and homelessness for the cohort.