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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 2 Hansard (6 March) . . Page.. 663 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

I have been reading an American book entitled Manifesta: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future, which starts off in a very interesting way by posing the question: "Imagine that for a day it is still 1970 and women only have the rights that they had then". It is interesting to look back and see how far we have progressed in 30 years. Of course, it is an American book, but I think our experiences are quite similar. Babies born in 1970 are automatically given their father's name; if no father is listed, "illegitimate"is likely to be typed on the birth certificate. There are virtually no child-care centres, so all pre-school children are in the hands of their mothers, a babysitter, or an expensive nursery school.

In elementary school, girls cannot play little league, and almost all of the teachers are female. In a few states it may be against the law for a male to teach grades lower than the sixth on the basis that it is unnatural or that men cannot be trusted with young children. In junior high, which is the equivalent of our high school, girls probably take home economics, boys take shop or small engine repair. Boys who want to learn how to cook or sew on a button are out of luck, as are the girls who want to learn how to fix a car.

Judy Blume's books are just beginning to be published. The principal is usually a man. Girls have physical education class and play hardcourt basketball but not soccer, track or cross-country, nor do they have any varsity sports teams. The only prestigious physical activity for girls is cheer leading or being a drum majorette. Most girls do not take calculus or physics. They plan the dances and they decorate the gym.

If a woman is not a Mrs she is a Miss. A woman without make-up and hairdo is as suspect as a man with them. Without a male escort, she may be refused service in a restaurant or a bar, and a woman alone is hard pressed to find a landlord who will rent her an apartment. Afterall, she will probably be leaving to get married soon, and if she is not, the landlord does not want to deal with a potential brothel. The book goes on to list other problems.

I was talking to my mother quite recently about these issues and she raised the point that back in the 1970s when she was working and was the main source of income for my family, as my father was student at the time, she had huge problems trying to sign a lease, even though she was the one with the income. That was a struggle that she faced then. I am glad to see that things have progressed in the last 30 years and I pose the question: has feminism changed our lives? Was it necessary? After 30 years of feminism, the world we inhabit barely resembles the world we were born into, and there is still a lot left to do.

Here in the ACT, the status of women is better than that of most women living in other parts of the world today. Third World women are 30 times more likely to die during childbirth and most are unable to access contraception or other means of controlling their reproductive systems. Millions of women do not have access to clean water or sanitation. Millions more live in dire poverty and many of these are sole parents who are unable to adequately feed their families. Millions of women around the world suffer the physical and psychological trauma of domestic violence, which remains massively under reported and is often condoned by women's communities or cultures around the world.

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