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Morrison’s feminine appeal – none at all

By John Haly

From THAT women’s network logo to a corseted perspective where he can only understand women through the lens of his wife or daughters; Scotty from Marketing can’t recognise the inequality, bias and dangers that women face.

Trying to defend himself, he ran the following list past Kymba Cahill during an intense interview on Perth Radio show Mix94.5. [See Fig 1.]

Scott Morrison raised these points asserting that the coalition had made significant progress on:

  • women’s employment and unemployment,
  • Women in executive roles and gender pay equity,
  • domestic violence funding.

 

Fig 1: Extract from News article on Morrison’s actions on behalf of women

 

Women’s Employment

Using unemployment figures from the ABS is a dubious exercise, as I have noted previously, but this will be the data to which Scott is referring [see Table 1]. According to ABS, Females employed in the workplace in Australia in Feb 2022 was 6,407,730 (Men were 6,964,2820). This left 256,378 of the female workforce unemployed. That is a 3.85% unemployment rate for women in the workforce. I will dispute this claim later.

In the meantime, the lack of inclusion of zero-hours workers (which the ABS calculates) in the unemployment percentages is a blatant misrepresentation. People with registered employees (usually in the Gig economy) offered zero hours of work in a month and zero dollars for pay, while considered “employed”, are not segregated by gender in the ABS stats. However, people in employment are segregated by gender. So calculating the ratio of women in the workforce to men at 47.9% in February 2022, provides a reasonable basis for extrapolation. Zero-hours workers for February 2022 were 130,000 people, and multiplying that by 47.9% for February gives you an estimate that 62,678 workers were likely female.

Adding zero-hours female workers back to ABS’s unemployment numbers means that 319,056 women (or 4.79% of the workforce) are without paid work. That means women in employment dropped to 6,345,053. Making the same relative month-by-month calculations over the last three years generates a female ratio that varied between 49.9% and 46.4%, resulting in the Fig 2 Graph.

Another consideration is that since our Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, claims our economy has recovered to pre-pandemic levels (i.e. 2019). Commencing with ABS stats from the beginning of 2019 will allow some trend analysis. Of course, other journalists have demonstrated Josh’s claims are fallacious propaganda, but let’s overlook that for now.

 

Fig 2: ABS’s Female Employment estimates in Australia 2019 to Feb 2022

 

Looking at the trends in the Graph for Full-time, part-time and workforce numbers for women, it is evident none of the categories has made a full recovery. Compared to February 2019, the ABS figures claim: 5.996 million women were employed and 314K unemployed. However, it is 375K, if you add back the female proportion of zero-hours “employed” estimated in Feb 2019. That would have reduced our wage-earning employed to 5.954 million. So Morrison seems correct that more females are employed.

Still, it should be apparent that his claiming credit is a misdirection. Over that same three years, the total workforce moved from 6.310 million to 6.664 million. The population of women over 15 went from 10.417 million to 10.687 million. Unless Morrison is claiming credit for population growth or women entering the workforce – both of which are rising at similar levels. Is a rising level of employment, therefore, something for which he can claim the credit? Significantly when they have not even risen to a level that an extrapolation of 2019 figures would predict? What legislative change has Morrison’s government passed that has even achieved this underwhelming rise in employment?

As for “the lowest level of unemployment” for women, the evidence for real domestic unemployment for women demonstrates otherwise. This is where I will review not just ABS data but also include zero-hours data, Jobseeker and Youth Allowance and Roy Morgan’s unemployment figures. These measures demonstrate that unemployment exists at around 8.5% for women. This was lower than current levels for all of the second half of 2019. However, just as zero-hours “employees” are not segregated into gender statistics, neither are Roy Morgan’s estimates. Roy Morgan’s methodology has more in common with the Jobseeker and Youth Allowance as a measure of unemployment. Accordingly, I have used their month-by-month ratio of men and women on both stats to extrapolate the proportion of Roy Morgan’s total estimates, likely female. The results in the following graph [see Fig 3] and accompanying sources and internal explanations demonstrate why Morrison’s claim is inaccurate. Please see my articles here and here if you want further explanations concerning this multi-data analysis.

 

Fig 3: Female Unemployment measure variations in Australia from 2019 to Feb 2022

 

More women on Boards and gender pay gaps

I assume Morrison boasting of more women on Government boards doesn’t include former Australia Post CEO Christine Holgate, who is still waiting on his apology. It should be noted that more than 50%” of women on government boards is larger by a factor of 0.2%. In short, it is 50.2%. The history of that climb resembles a long and tortuous effort. Not unlike Morrison’s appointment of women to his cabinet – another point he raised.

This may be true for a tiny percentage of women who represent the country’s government executives. Still, many social and economic issues for women who are non-board members (i.e. the vast majority) remain unresolved. Women’s Agenda publishes a range of these issues, like sexual assault through to women’s career anxiety. As for Morrison’s claims about the gender pay gap, beyond some minor fluctuations, it has sat around 14% for the last three years. Taking credit for a recent 0.4% drop is hyperbole when you consider it depends:

  1. entirely on what State and with whom you are employed,
  2. and the changing state of employment and unemployment. [see Figs 2 & 3]

One doesn’t have to take a human’s claim that falling gender pay gaps are fallacious in a volatile employment economy with stagnating wages. Even internet bots are pointing out the disparity.

Domestic Violence funding

The Domestic Violence Package of $1.1 billion announced by the Minister for Women’s Safety, Anne Ruston’s media release from October 2021, is full of self-congratulatory praise for their “landmark” contribution to DV.

Keep in mind that the DV funding was not considered sterling before this point. Monash University’s assessment in 2020 was that previous funding arrangements for women were woefully inadequate. Although the subsequent $1.1 Billion in the following budget might improve on previous efforts, “it does not yet reflect the level of investment so desperately needed to address, interrupt and ultimately prevent what is a national crisis.” according to two Violence prevention experts. Other critics have noted it is hardly enough, and falls short of the need.

In truth, all this expenditure is a transparent effort to put a bandage on the gaping wound left in the wake of

But while that was a long sentence, no sentences of any length have been applied to any of the misogynistic male perpetrators responsible for these abuses.

Despite the massive protests by women over these issues, not even the Minister for Women, Marise Payne, showed solidarity by attending “March 4 Justice” at Parliament House. And I suspect we all recall Morrison’s bullet point based response in Parliament to that protest.

Assessment

So yes, Morrison has poured in more money into domestic violence, but it isn’t anywhere near enough to deal with the scope of the problem. Yes, employment has risen but so has unemployment amongst women. Yes, the ruling class women at the height of the government echelons have enjoyed more executive work. But, in contrast, the non-executive women (known as the vast majority or working-class) are still increasingly unemployed, poorly and unequally paid, compared to their male counterparts.

So if this is Morrison’s idea of “action” in response to women’s needs, dare I suggest his “action” is quite definably “small” and “inadequate” to meet the real needs of women in Australia?

 

This article was originally published on AUSTRALIA AWAKEN – IGNITE YOUR TORCHES.

 

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17 comments

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  1. Phil Pryor

    Can one imagine a bottle of New York sewage concentrate, no. 5, to dab on.., UGHH, but.., Morrison stinks more!! I’ve followed the career of this putridity since the Towke affair, a curious attention grabber, and Morrison has two decades of filth, laziness, cheating, betrayal, double crossing and lying behind him. He has NEVER worked at a real job, never succeeded personally, never embraced truth as policy, failed at the LIAR”S game of advertising (how is that possible?) and holds his own hose exclusively. With halitosis of the soul, paralysis of the mind, inertia of the limbs of action, drenched in soul destroying superstition, incapable of civilised demeanour, personality putrid, propped up by media maggots and mindless muckraking, this Gross Grub must be gone soon for the sake of our nation, its environment, its reputation.

  2. Jack Cade

    Phil Pryor

    You are too kind…tell it like it is – take the kid gloves off!

  3. New England Cocky

    Geez PP, why don’t you say it clearly and concisely; Scummo is unfit for any public service job!!

  4. Consume less

    It’s open season on scomo, well said to Jacqui Lambi on Q&A. More and more are coming out and telling it how it is, refreshing.

  5. Canguro

    If he’s got an ounce of functioning brain still active inside that dense skull of his he might just do a Mostafa Baluch and secrete himself inside one of the Bushmasters purported to be heading to Ukraine; win win – he’ll escape the flack and we’ll be rid of him. Not sure that the Ukrainians would welcome him though.

  6. Max Gross

    It’s really pretty obvious. If Morrison says it, we can assume it’s a lie.

  7. Kaye Lee

  8. Fred

    John – thanks for the serious effort in preparing article. Pity all it does is yet again show what a charlatan the liar from the Shire is – not worthy of bacteria breaking down a dog turd let alone being a PM. Mind you, the ABS should take a serious look at themselves. How can you call somebody that works an hour a week be called “employed”?

  9. Terence Mills

    A Commentator & Fred

    The one hour per week standard is only relevant for consistency in international comparisons, so that all ILO countries are on the same page. In all other respects the one hour standard is totally irrelevant and should never be used to demonstrate that everybody who wants to work is working.

    As a more realistic comparison we in Australia should, in my view, adopt a minimum of twenty hours paid work per week consistently over at least four consecutive weeks and we combine this with weekly income over that period as a guide to our national prosperity.

    For Frydenberg to go on abut the lowest unemployment numbers since Adam was in short-pants is misleading and deceptive.

  10. A Commentator

    The one hour definition allows both a comparison with many other developed countries…and analysis of the tend over time.
    The ABS points out that less than 1% of the workforce work a single hour and less than 3% work less than 7 hours
    Therefore the effect of this on the actual data is pretty well zero.
    The ABS also details the limitations on how the data should be interpreted.
    I think the link I provided deals with the questions that have been posed

  11. Jack Cade

    Consume less We always knew this, including – particularly, in fact – the current crop of whistleblowers: ipso facto, they are equally repulsive – only kicking a ‘man’ when he’s down, purely in hopes of saving their own seats. I was going to say ‘kicking a man in the balls…’ but he’s actually not a man in the accepted meaning of the word – he’s a gutless fucker, as all bullies are, slithering away from responsibility at every turn, as evinced in the excellent article in The Saturday Paper, which emphasises how he always tried to endure that his backstabbing slanders were ‘ not attributable’.

  12. Florence nee Fedup

    People forget the first woman who was persecuted by this government, beginning with Abbott. I went as far as to put Tim Wilson on the UNCHR to sabotage her. I am talking about Professor Gillian Triggs. Her abuse by senators at senate hearings was unbelievable. What they didn’t achieve was forcing her to back down or resign. Evidence on senate videos is there for all to see.

  13. Kaye Lee

    Excellent point Florence.

    They played every dirty trick in the book against Triggs. Because she didn’t make a fuss about herself or her treatment and continued to focus on defending others’ rights, we too often forget what was done to her. Well done on reminding us all.

    Likewise the disgraceful attacks on Yasmin Abdel-Magied.

  14. LambsFry Simplex.

    The money involved in this aspect is typical of deliberate social infrastructure cuts across the board based on ideology that facilitates a redistribution of weath to the bloated top.

    How many woman’s shelters could even a fraction of the money stolen by these people build?

  15. wam

    To a casual observer the people behind the bullying claims against the labor women are men and the people behind scummo’s claims as a bully are women? ps Anyone remember the diludbansimkims era and Bhathal???

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