| The following are past and current
issues of Trust Women for Ideas - our think piece on topical issues
for women. They are presented as monthly newsletters and also by
topic.
The publications are in Acrobat format. You will
need Adobe Acrobat reader to view the publication. You can download
this from the Adobe
site.
Trust Women for Ideas Newsletters
(by month)
Trust Women for Ideas Newsletters
(by topic)
‘WOMEN
AND THE TAX REFORM DEBATE’
VOL. 1, NO. 1, DECEMBER 1997
The Tax Reform Debate pre-GST and its particular implications for women.
Researched and prepared by Janet Nixon as part of her major field placement with VWT.
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‘WOMEN,
POLITICS AND COMMUNITY AWARENESS’
VOL. 1, NO. 2, APRIL 1998
Prepared by Helen Bird as part of her major field placement with VWT, and introduced by Professor Marilyn Lake, Professor of History at Latrobe University, Melbourne.
The story of the NidKids support group – a small community support group and its campaign to gain successful recognition of a little known disease in children – Neuronal Intestinal Dysplasia.
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‘UNFINISHED
BUSINESS – PART ONE. THE HISTORICAL STRUGGLE FOR EQUAL PAY IN
AUSTRALIA’
VOL. 1, NO. 3, JULY 1998
Researched and written by Alex Fraser.
Marking the 25 years since the equal pay for work of equal value case was won in Australia in 1972. The history, campaigns and milestones, the current pay equity situation, including ‘outworkers’ in the clothing industry, and the future.
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‘UNFINISHED
BUSINESS – PART TWO. EQUAL PAY FOR WOMEN – SETTING THE RECORD
STRAIGHT’.
VOL. 1, NO. 4, SEPTEMBER 1998
Researched and edited by Rubina Smith as part of her voluntary involvement with VWT.
Some of the key legal cases in the struggle for equal pay.
Zelda D’aprano, a significant activist in the 1950’s and 60’s gives a background to some of the women who campaigned for equal pay. Also, current views covering equal pay and higher education, ‘outworkers’ in the fashion industry, process workers and the link between the GST and pay equity.
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‘WOMEN
IN CORPORATE AUSTRALIA – GOOD FOR BUSINESS?’
VOL. 1, NO. 5, DECEMBER 1998
Explores women’s role in corporate Australia. Themes from the Trust’s Annual Corporate Dinner on 15th October, 1998. Includes: research identifying some of the current issues which may inhibit diversity in corporations and; pregnancy discrimination and employment.
Key note speech by Bob Joss, Westpac’s Managing Director – ‘Women in Westpac – 100 Years of Women in Banking’.
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‘WOMEN
AND THE LAW – PART ONE. EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND WOMEN AND WORKCOVER’.
VOL. 2, NO. 1, APRIL 1999
Employment contracts and employee rights in relation to termination of employment, and a brief overview of the workcover legislation as it affects women.
Written by Hilary Little, Employment Lawyer and Jenny Kovacevic, Senior Associate, both of Maurice, Blackburn and Co.
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‘WOMEN
AND THE LAW – PART TWO. WOMEN AND HEALTH CARE’.
VOL. 2, NO. 2, JULY 1999
A comprehensive look at the law on medical negligence and what aspects women need to know about including:
- The right to know the risks.
- Delay in diagnosis.
- Time limits.
- Access to medical records.
- Sexual misconduct.
- Compensation.
- Other complaints procedures.
Written by Vivian Waller, Convenor of Women’s Law section and Mandy Bede and Kathryn Booth of the Medical Negligence Department, all from Maurice, Blackburn and Cashman.
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‘WOMEN
AND THE LAW – PART THREE. FAMILY LAW’.
VOL. 2, NO. 3, SEPTEMBER 1999
Sets out a range of basic information regarding family law. Particular areas outlined include:
- Child support
- Property
- Superannuation reform
- Proposed role of family court in superannuation
- Gifts and inheritances
- Lump sum payments and long service leave
This edition was sponsored by Maurice Blackburn and Cashman.
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‘WOMEN
AND THE LAW – PART FOUR. CLASS ACTIONS’.
VOL. 2, NO. 4, DECEMBER 1999
What do the terms ‘class action’ and ‘representative proceedings’ actually mean and what are the strengths and weaknesses of class actions? Also includes summaries of some recent class actions in Australia including:
- The alleged failure of Filshie Clips during sterilisation procedures at a NSW hospital.
- The Esso Longford Gas Plant explosion and fire.
- Wards of the state who have been subjected to violence and sexual abuse.
- The GIO shareholders’ class action.
- Alleged price fixing of vitamins in the Australian market.
This edition was sponsored by Maurice Blackburn and Cashman.
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‘WOMEN
IN THE CITY: A PERSPECTIVE’
VOL. 4, NO 2.1, JULY 2001
An edited version of the paper presented on the 1st July 2001 by Professor Ruth Fincher at the “Women in the City Conference”.
The conference took place at the Melbourne Town Hall and was held following a Department of Infrastructure initiative aiming to develop a Metropolitan Strategy Plan for Melbourne by early 2002.
The three key dimensions of women’s experience of metropolitan life that Professor Fincher examined were:
- Mobility: the capacity for women to do what they have to do in the time that they have.
- Access: the right to have a safe and affordable entry to a range of urban places and spaces.
- Participatory power: the opportunity to have an effective say, to be listened to and to communicate and negotiate in discussions of the organisation and planning of things urban.
Ruth Fincher has been Professor of Urban Planning at Melbourne University since 1997. She is a researcher, teacher and a co-editor of several books, including “Cities of Difference” with Jane M. Jacobs (Guildford Press, New York, 1998). She has interests in urban policy from a social planning perspective, with expressions of inequality. From 2001-2003 she has held the office of President of the Institute of Australian Geographers.
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‘HOUSING:
THE POLICY WALLFLOWER’
VOL. 4, NO. 2.2, OCTOBER 2001
Housing is a very significant policy issue but most political attention is accorded to the areas of health, education and employment.
This paper examines some of the issues for women in relation to access to housing. It discusses the direction that housing policy is taking and emphasises the importance of women urging policy makers to take a leadership role in the more equitable allocation of housing.
This paper was prepared by Ruth Spielman, Director of Community Services at the City of Whittlesea, who has worked on housing policy and strategy development at both local council and regional levels and also as a consultant. She continues to work with a range of groups to advocate for improved housing outcomes.
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WOMEN AND THE PUBLIC RECORD
APRIL 2002
An edited version of a speech given by the Trust’s Executive Director, Mary Crooks, at the closing ceremony of the exhibition ‘Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives’, held at the Telstra Centre, Melbourne on 8th March, 2002.
Concerned that women remain all but invisible when it comes to constructing the mainstream public record she says, “One measure of human rights equality lies in the truthfulness of the public record.
When women are accorded a proper part of this record, when their enormous contribution to families, communities and society are accurately represented, they will have achieved an inclusiveness that is a pre-condition of equality.”
The ‘Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives’ Exhibition was the
Women’s Trust’s contribution as part of the events celebrating
the Centenary of Federation in 2001. The exhibition focused
on the lives of more than 260 women who since Federation have
contributed to the Victorian community in a vast number of ways
and whose collective vision and endeavour has by any political,
economic or social measure been invaluable and enduring.
As well as being seen by many people in Melbourne the exhibition toured through country areas thus creating further interest in and admiration for the project.
The Trust has since published 5000 copies of “Ordinary Women, Extraordinary Lives - capturing the contribution of Victorian women since Federation” which documents the exhibition and also opens up further areas of interest to both inspire and enthuse the reader.
Importantly, the State Ministry of Education has enabled the exhibition to be incorporated into the schools curriculum taking the form of an interactive website.
Mary Crooks is the Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust.
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INTEGRATING FAMILY AND WORK: A PATCHWORK DEBATE
SEPTEMBER 2002
Concern about Australia’s low fertility rate has triggered a debate about women, work and feminism.
This article follows the debate as it evolved through the pages of ‘The Age’ newspaper beginning in May 2002.
For over two months academics, letter-writers, politicians and columnists became the major participants in this public debate. The issues of maternity leave, childlessness, misplaced feminist agendas, the quality of childcare, baby bonuses and even the sins of our feminist mothers were all part of the patchwork of the debate, but attention is drawn to one important piece that was missing – one which received little or no recognition in the discussion: the thorny issue of women’s unpaid work.
Paper by Mary Crooks, Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust with assistance from Trish Pinto.
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THE WATERMARK AUSTRALIA PROJECT
MARCH 2003
Australia is at a national turning point. In this ancient, fragile and arid continent, we now face the prospect of chronic water shortages, huge tracts of productive land lost to salinity, and further loss of biodiversity.
“There seems little chance of us moving forward to sustainable land and water management without raising the water literacy of the Australian community and the Watermark project offers an innovative and exciting way of doing this.” Peter Cullen, FTSE Environmentalist of the Year 2001
Read how the Victorian Women’s Trust hopes to create an unprecedented national momentum that will lead to a way that changes the way we think, talk and act about water.
Paper prepared by Mary Crooks, Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust.
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A POUND OF FLESH – WOMEN, POLITICS AND POWER IN THE NEW MILLENIUM
JUNE 2003
An edited version of the Clare Burton Memorial Lecture delivered in 2002 by Moira Rayner at RMIT in Melbourne.
Five critical questions are analysed and explored by Moira in a way that is both insightful and constructive. Does the presence of women in large numbers of particular proportions make a difference to political decision-making?
- What do they bring to politics that men do not?
- Do they do politics differently or better?
- Do they leave anything to build upon?
- What do they pay, and must they always pay for political power?
Moira Rayner is a prominent lawyer, social policy analyst, human rights campaigner and author.
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FATHERS, FAMILIES AND CUSTODY
OCTOBER 2003
Recently the Victorian Women’s Trust made a submission the Federal Government’s ‘Inquiry into Child Custody Arrangements’. While we argued for the encouragement of more positive shard parenting, we recommended the Government does not introduce the presumption of rebuttable joint residency in Family Law.
We also asked Dr Michael Flood from the Australia Institute for a piece on the issues of fatherhood and shared parenting for our newsletter and this article is an edited summary of a recent speech he gave at Wollongong University.
Dr Michael Flood is a research fellow at the Australia Institute. He has held positions as a lecturer in women’s and gender studies at ANU and is the Sexual Health Promotion Co-ordinator at Sexual Health and Family Planning, ACT.
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THE VICTORIAN WOMEN’S TRUST – MILESTONES
FEBRUARY 2004
A reflection on the many milestones the Women’s Trust has achieved in the nearly 20 years since it began in 1985.
An edited account of the presentation by VWT Executive Director, Mary Crooks, on 16 December, 2003 at a function which happened to coincide with the celebration of 100 years of female suffrage in Australia.
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A SPEECH BY DR CAROLINE TAYLOR
MAY 2004
An edited version of the speech given by Dr Caroline Taylor on April 20, 2004 at a breakfast held to raise funds for Heather Osland to use on her release from prison next year.
By mid-2003 Heather Osland had served seven years of a 14˝ year sentence having been found guilty of the murder of her husband, Frank. Her adult son, David, who struck the blow the killed Frank was acquitted on the basis of self defence of himself and his mother.
The Women’s Trust has been involved over the years supporting Heather and has had a long association with The Release Heather Osland Group and now The Heather Osland Support and Action Group.
Dr Taylor’s speech was a powerful and a personal one and drew particular attention to the biased attitudes that still prevail in the courts: attitudes of entrenched discrimination that affect the lives of women as they strive for just outcomes within our legal system.
Dr Caroline Taylor is a highly respected academic and researcher in the area of physical, sexual and emotional violence against women. She is held in high esteem by survivors and is to be involved in the coordination of one of the Trust’s funding projects for 2004 run by Ballarat CASA.
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WOMEN IN POLITICS – THE ART OF THE POSSIBLE
VOL. 16, NO. 3, SPRING 2004
An article written by Mary Crooks, Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust to encourage further commentary on the recently published VWT report “Women in Politics”.
The report followed a decision made last year by the Trust to explore the issue of female representation in politics, and whether women in the wider community felt this representation was adequate in articulating women’s needs and interests.
Women in the broader community, female representatives from federal and state governments and women in local government in Victorian participated in the surveys which formed the basis of the report.
The results and analysis of the report have been published on the Trust’s website: www.vwt.org.au, and a hard copy is available for the cost of $10 to cover the costs of printing and postage.
Mary Crooks is the Executive Director of the Victorian Women’s Trust.
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