Page 202 - Week 02 - Thursday, 25 May 1989
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
There is need for improvement of equal opportunity in the areas of employment, health and welfare, child-care and education. There are particular areas of the community where special provisions need to be taken into consideration. Mr Kaine covered that subject earlier when he referred to the aged. Women make contributions, as do men, to the economy through their employment or their own self-employment. As a very large proportion of women are already self-employed in the ACT, I would suggest to Mr Whalan that those initiatives he was going to put in place would be far better suited to women, as well as to men, who look to self-employment. I suggest that it is discriminatory to take women aside.
I also recognise that women seek employment for many reasons, not all through economic necessity. Some women rate financial independence or pursuit of career opportunities as very good reasons for doing so, and rightly so.
MR SPEAKER: Order! The time for discussion has now expired.
Suspension of Standing Orders
Motion (by Mr Whalan) agreed to:
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the Assembly from continuing discussion on the matter of public importance until 4.30 pm unless the discussion is concluded before that time.
Debate resumed.
MRS NOLAN: I thank the Assembly. Women must be promoted on the basis of merit. Women who have a family should not be penalised, and deserve the same job security as do working fathers. I think that is a very important consideration. We recognise that women are the ones who are penalised, but there are many situations where men, too, are penalised because they are working fathers. I think that is very important.
There are a couple of other areas that I would just like to mention as speakers have raised them earlier in this debate. One relates to representation to boards, which the Chief Minister mentioned. Certainly I would like to see as many women as possible on those boards, but again I would be very upset to see a board comprising 50 per cent women just because it had to have that number of women. Consideration has to be given to who those people are, how they can best do the job, and by all means we should make sure that there are women there.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .