Entries by

Augustine Zycher

Ageist Budget Leaves Older Women Out

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Budget 2022-2023 has been presented as a budget for women. Certainly if you are a woman with young children, you will benefit from the welcome changes to childcare and parental leave. But if you are a woman over the age of 50, you are as invisible to this Labor Australian Government as to the previous LNP Government.

There is a fundamental failure of Government to see the major social crisis specifically affecting the demographic of women aged 50+.

The Women’s Budget Statement lists women’s economic equality as one of its 3 key themes. The Budget quite correctly goes into detail about the ‘motherhood penalty’ on work, income and advancement. But there is nothing about the ‘age penalty’ for women.

The 50 Over 50

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Forbes ’The 50 Over 50’, is a list of women who have become successful and powerful after the age of 50, with some even in their nineties.

Why is it important to publish such a list?
Because one in two people in the world hold ageist views according to UN figures.
Because the older a woman becomes, the more she is devalued.

This deprecation and depreciation of women as we age, is also deeply entrenched in the English language.

Not every woman can realise the extraordinary success and achievements of many of the women in these Forbes lists. But they can recognise that the debasement of older women is based on lies. They can also recognise that this prejudice is destructive to them individually, and they can reject it.

Jobs Summit Fails to Address High Unemployment of Women 50+

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It is a matter of great concern that the high rate of unemployment of women aged 50 to 66 was not addressed at the Jobs and Skills Summit 2022. The Summit did not address the key barriers facing older women without small children.

Why did it not look at women over 50+ locked out of the workforce by the impenetrable barrier of ageism? Older women face greater barriers and more discrimination than older men. Ageism combines in a toxic mix with sexism to diminish older women’s value even further and reduce their likelihood of employment.

No discussion of these issues during the Summit and no mention in the published 36 Outcomes of the Summit.

Jobs and Skills Summit – 4 Questions

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There is a direct causal link between a woman’s age in Australia and her likelihood of becoming unemployed and homeless.
The Australian Government is to hold a Jobs and Skills Summit in September.
WomanGoingPlaces puts 4 Questions to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and key Ministers.

1. Why is this crisis that is engulfing Australian women aged 50+ not on the agenda of the Jobs & Skills Summit?
2. Will the Jobs and Skills Summit address the workforce experience of women aged 50+ and present programs to provide them with training where required?
3. Will the Government recognise at the Jobs and Skills Summit that the amount the Government pays in Jobseeker is a direct cause of the impoverishment of older women and will it immediately raise the rate?
4. Will the Government use the Jobs and Skills Summit to announce emergency changes to WorkForce Australia?

Government Integrity – It’s Not Just About Money

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If an ICAC into the Morrison Government is established, it will examine its handling of public funds.
But the integrity of a government has to be measured by more than an investigation into money.
The integrity of a government must also be measured by the way it governs,
and whether it governs in the public interest and serves the common good.

By this measure, the LNP Government under Scott Morrison corrupted its mandate to govern in the national interest.

It did so by dividing the nation into adversarial camps and favouring one camp over the other.
At the same time, it shrank the mandate of government and divested itself of its Constitutional responsibilities.

Election Issue Universally Ignored

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There is one election issue that has been universally ignored by the major parties and the independents in this election campaign. That is, the social crisis engulfing women aged 50+.

These women make up 30% of the female population in Australia, but they constitute the majority on Jobseeker, the majority of those who are locked out of the workforce by ageism and the majority of the homeless. There were over 400,000 older women already homeless or at risk of homelessness. Now, with the CPI at 5.1%, tens of thousands more will become homeless as they give up trying to survive on the obscenely inadequate amount of Jobseeker at $46 p.d. 

Lollies Instead of A Living

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Treasurer Josh Frydenberg in Budget 2022 is handing out lollies when millions of Australians, despite being employed, are losing their ability to feed, clothe, house and support their families and themselves. Trumpeting about unprecedented unemployment figures is meaningless when wages have gone backwards, work has been casualised and employment is defined as working just a few hours per week. Over 60% of those dependent for food on OzHarvest are actually employed.

Not True

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Recently, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg claimed that women were “ better off under the Coalition”. 
This is not true.
The LNP Government has presided over one of the worst social crises ever to unfold in Australia.

The final ignominy is that just as older women are invisible in society, so too are they invisible to the Federal Government of Australia. There is no acknowledgement that the economic insecurity and social exclusion of women aged 50+ is a rapidly escalating social crisis in Australia.

Unseen Power of Women 50+ in the Next Election

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The good news is that both parties now recognise that winning the women’s vote will be the crucial factor in winning the upcoming federal elections. Describing it as “pink-vis” instead of “hi-vis”, David Speers host of ABC Insiders, makes a good case for this in a recent article.

But the bad news is that Speers speaks mainly about young mothers in the 20-45 age group in marginal seats. He says that the parties know that “young women are more willing to shift their vote than older women or men.”

And with that he dismisses further discussion of the votes of older women.

Not so fast, Mr Speers.

50-ish Women

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It’s a fairly innocuous sentence, but it reveals a completely different perception of women.

“There is a tendency when you are a 50-year-old (ish) woman, when you are given a mess, to say ‘just give it to me, I’ll fix it up’, “ said Dr. Monique Ryan, Voices of Kooyong candidate. She was speaking about the growing number of 50-ish women becoming independent candidates for the upcoming federal election.

It is the first time we have seen women of this age, as a group, leading the charge to transform Australian politics. These women are putting themselves forward in order to exercise the levers of power. This is at odds with the usual perception of 50-ish women.