Gender Financing and Empowerment of Women

in conjunction with Survivors of Family Abuse, Muslim Women’s Group, Australian Women’s Coalition

Focus:

Economic and Social Development b) Improve societal and workplace conditions to enable women to achieve their potential

Date Reported:

31 December 2007

Overview:

1. What we did: The Club provided a response to research being undertaken by the Australian Women’s Coalition on financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
2. Why we did it: Gaining access to funding and ensuring fair and equitable distribution of Commonwealth and State Budgets to support women’s initiatives is of great concern to Club Members. The SI Position Statement on Equal Opportunity for Women recognises that even where there is equality in law, there is not always equality in practice. SI encourages members to advocate for strategies for gender mainstreaming to be implemented in all government policy and legislation. Soroptimist International is a partner organisation of the Australian Women’s Coalition. SISWP President-Elect Leigh Ellwood Brown is Vice-President of AWC and actively encourages Clubs to participate in research projects and events undertaken by AWC.
3. How we did it: The questionnaire was circulated throughout SIBC’s network. Feedback was received from Survivors of Family Abuse and the Muslim Women’s Group in Brisbane – two organisations that SIBC has worked closely with over many years on gender equality issues. The information was collated together with SI Brisbane City’s responses and forwarded to the Research Officer, Anne Morris employed by the Australian Women’s Coalition.
4. Results and recommendations: 36 groups submitted responses including 13 Soroptimist Clubs. Issues highlighted:
   • a lack of political will to give gender issues legitimacy or urgency.
   • undervaluing women and their contributions to society is still endemic.
   • male domination of institutional frameworks and mechanisms, excluding women from equitable decision-making at all levels.
   • media has a significant role in reinforcing sexualised stereotypical images, working against women’s equality and empowerment. 
   • Successful government-funded programs specifically for women are routinely discontinued because of short-term funding, re-structuring of government departments, or governmental change in priorities
5. A report on the findings was prepared by the Australian Women’s Coalition and presented to the Commonwealth Office for Women and circulated to all participating organisations. A copy of the response submitted by SIBC and the report findings is available on request. Further follow-up will be undertaken with the newly elected Federal Government to ensure that the issues pertaining to gender financing are increased in future National Budgets.