March 2024 – More to the Story

It’s Harmony Week which is the celebration that aims to recognise our diversity and bring together Australians from all different backgrounds.

It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Over half of Australians were born overseas or have at least one parent who was born overseas. As a day of anti-racial discrimination, this year’s theme is “Everyone Belongs”.

Many of the refugees who I have interviewed over the years are enormously grateful to Australia for giving them a home when they were forced to flee persecution in their own country. As my friend Paul, a Karen man from Burma, told me he still remembers what he said when he arrived in Australia : “I am a free man. I can smell freedom in the air.” You can read more about Paul on my website.

I don’t have to think about freedom in Australia, it just is. But during this Harmony Week it’s hard not to think about places where people are living without harmony. Burma, Israel and Gaza, Ukraine and Haiti to name a few.

Harmony Week is celebrated during the week that include 21^st March, which is also the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The Australian government has been criticised for continuing to call the 21^st March Harmony Day, instead of joining with the world community to celebrate the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

I’m pleased to think about harmony and inclusion this week, but I still feel Australia is a fundamentally racist country like so many others. Critics argue that Australia’s failure to commit to the purpose of the UN day has hindered our efforts to understand, fund, and develop research into problems stemming from systemic racism. There’s an interesting article that delves into this issue here.

But I think we should all try and attend a Harmony Week event and focus on the fact that in our country everyone should belong. How can we make people feel more comfortable? My approach is to read about places around the world to understand both the good and the bad. Sometimes you find a lot of harmony where you least expect it.

Today is International Women’s Day with the theme Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress. Within the wide array of announcements, events and launches that are happening all around the world, two have stood out for me as highly significant and very meaningful.

The first is that Ireland is holding a national referendum on the day to remove from their constitution the outdated idea that a ‘woman’s place is in the home’.

The constitution’s clause, which dates to 1937, says: “The State recognises that by her life within the home, woman gives to the State a support without which the common good cannot be achieved. The State shall, therefore, endeavour to ensure that mothers shall not be obliged by economic necessity to engage in labour to the neglect of their duties in the home.”

Proponents argue that the constitution does not truly reflect the Ireland and world we live in today and needs to be modernised. Let’s hope that is a no brainer for voters.

The second is that France, the first country to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution, today will be holding a ‘sealing ceremony’ – a tradition reserved for only the most significant laws. Crowds gathered at the Eiffel Tower in Paris on Monday as the words “my body, my choice” were shown up in lights on the monument. People celebrated as French lawmakers gathered to vote on the ammendment giving women the ‘guaranteed freedom’ to choose an abortion. It is a big step forward for reproductive rights in Europe.

Closer to home the Workplace Gender Equality Agency released the latest information on gender pay gaps which has once again highlighted the disparity in pay between men and women in Australia. Gender pay gaps are not a direct comparison of like roles. Instead, they show the difference between the average or median pay of women and men across organisations, industries, and the workforce as a whole.

Across all industries in Australia, women are earning on average less than men. Currently at 21.7%, the gender pay gap in Australia is a persistent and pervasive issue that undermines women’s earnings and our place in society.

For us to truly ‘Count Her In: Invest in Women. Accelerate Progress.’, then closing the gender pay gap would be a good start.