Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 08 April
6:15 PM - 7:15 PM
We’re supposed to live in a country of equal opportunity for women and men.
Australian women have contributed to every area of our national life and beyond – including science, medicine, the judiciary, the armed forces and, just once, the highest office in the land. Every day millions of Australian women go to work in every imaginable type of employment.
Yet, from the moment they enter the workforce, women are disadvantaged. Their workforce participation and economic security remains starkly out of sync with men’s. Women earn less, they receive nearly half of superannuation payments, and they remain hugely underrepresented in management and leadership. In 2014 there is just a single female in the federal government cabinet. When Foreign Minister Julie Bishop is away, there are none.
How can this be so in a modern, democratic nation of equal opportunity? And what can be done about it?
Join Fifth Estate host Sally Warhaft and guests Judith Troeth (former Liberal senator), Paula Matthewson (political blogger) and Danielle Green (Victorian Labor MP) to take a long hard look at women in the workforce – and in government – in Australia today.
Featuring
Paula Matthewson
Paula Matthewson (aka Drag0nista) is a corporate communications specialist who moonlights as a blogger and writer on federal politics.
She was media adviser to John Howard in the early 1990s and subsequently a long-time industry lobbyist, but retired from the rat race in 2010 to write full time.
In her spare time Paula curates a weekly collection of quality political writing at No Crap App and is editor of the group blog AusOpinion. She is also founder of The Other Right website.
Judith Troeth
Judith Troeth AM, was Liberal Senator for Victoria in the Federal Government for 18 years. She was the first female Member of Parliament in the Agricultural portfolio, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry from 1997 to 2004.
She has also been Chair and Deputy Chair of a number of Senate Committees and devised and passed through the Senate, two private members' bills.
Before entering politics, she was a farmer and a teacher – roles that led her to become a key advocate on issues including rural education, women and immigration. Judith was appointed Chair of the Austin Health Board in July 2012, bringing to the position extensive experience in public representation, community consultation and advocacy.
Danielle Green
Danielle Green is a Victorian Labor politician. She has been the member for Yan Yean for 11 and a half years, and is the Shadow Minister for the Prevention of Family Violence, Shadow Minister for Women and Shadow Minister for Health Promotion. She also sits on the Board of VicHealth.
Danielle has been a champion for women and girls – not just her whole working life, but her whole life. The eldest of four girls, she was educated at Catholic girls schools, of which she was recognised as an Inspiring Alumni at Emmanuel College, Warnambool.
She began her political activism as a 19 year old sole parent, advocating for access to contraceptive advice for women and girls in Regional Victoria. At 22, she became the Public Service Union’s inaugural chair of the equal ppportunity forum committee and sat on the affirmative action committees at the Ministries of Transport and Housing.
In the early 1990s, she edited Network, the Rural Women’s Network magazine, and from 1993 to 1996 during the turbulent Kennett era she was elected the Vice President of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU). She worked for the Victorian Trades Hall Council as Project Officer for women and enterprise bargaining and then the Labor Opposition and the Labor State Branch. She was an inaugural member of the Labor Women’s Network State Executive and member of the CPSU National Women’s Committee.
In 2002 she was elected to the district of Yan Yean, serving on various committees and holding various roles including Parliamentary Secretary for Police and Emergency Service. An early member of Emily’s List and a founding member of Women’s Health in the North (WHIN), she also played a prominent role in Victoria’s abortion law reform.
In 2012 she represented Australia at the UN International Parliamentarians’ Conference on the Implementation of the Population and Development Program of Action in Istanbul, Turkey.
Danielle is part of the State Labor caucus, which is currently has 43% of women. Should Labor be elected in the 2014 Victorian election, the caucus could actually comprise of equal numbers.
Sally Warhaft
Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year ...