• Home
• Media releases
• Transcripts
• Speeches
• Statements
• Current Minister
• Department

Introduction

Thank you for that introduction and for the opportunity to join you this morning.

I acknowledge Minister Robyn McSweeney and Dr Hamidah Marican.

The Australian Government is proud to co-host this Perth International Womens' Day event with UNIFEM Australia.

There are nearly 100 registered events across Australia where women and men are coming together to raise awareness of the issues facing women around the world and to raise funds to support the important work of UNIFEM.

This year the funds raised from these International Women's Day events will support migrant women workers in Indonesia.

This year marks 100 years since the idea for an International Women's Day was first canvassed.

It was suggested in 1910 at an international conference of working women in Copenhagen.

The very first International Women's Day was held one year later.

From the outset, women have been using International Women's Day to improve the lives of women directly and their families and communities indirectly.

The theme of International Women's Day this year is 'empowering women to end poverty by 2015'.

This year also marks the 15th anniversary of the Beijing World Conference for Women, and the commitment made by world leaders to advance women's rights through the Beijing Platform for Action.

The UN is working to enhance the international architecture around gender issues and Australia welcomes that.

Australia has also demonstrated its support by strengthening our partnership with UNIFEM and last year, I was very pleased to sign an agreement that guarantees funding certainty from Australia of more than $17 million over four years.

This partnership acknowledges the good work that UNIFEM does and the role it is playing in promoting gender equality and reducing violence against women.

Support to women to reduce poverty

Women play a major role in poverty reduction.

Supporting women to participate more actively in economic, social and political life is key to reducing poverty and increasing the wellbeing of women and girls, their families and communities.

According to the World Bank, investing in the education of girls may yield a higher rate of return than any other investment.

We also know an extra year of secondary schooling for girls can increase their future wages by 10 to 20 per cent.

Educated girls tend to marry later and have fewer and healthier children.

For these reasons, investing in girls' education is critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. 

The good news is that many countries in Asia and the Pacific are close to gender parity in primary school education.

We need now to see progress in secondary school parity because this is where the real health, social and economic benefits of educating girls begin to appear.

Then, with each generation the prospects for girls become better.

We have seen this happen in Australia.

While challenges remain, the lives of our young women now are very different to those of the women of a century ago.

Girls in Australia are now more likely than boys to continue to Years 11 and 12 at school.

Girls make up just over half of all higher education students.

Australian assistance

Australia is committed to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and to advancing gender equality for women in developing countries.

Gender equality is an important part of Australia's aid program.

We are working with governments, international organisations and NGOs to make progress against each of the eight MDGs.

Education is a flagship of the aid program and Australia is committed to improving access to education for girls and boys in the Asia Pacific region.

I have seen some of this work first hand.

In Indonesia, for example, Australia has strongly supported the Indonesian Government's goal to provide a basic education to children up to Year Nine. To that end we have helped fund the construction of schools and provided materials, supported curriculum development and trained teachers, focussing on the poorest provinces.

In 2008 I had the pleasure of opening the 1000th school built with Australian funding in Sulewesi, eastern Indonesia.

By June this year 2075 schools will be completed.

More than 130,000 children are now attending Australian funded schools, and half of these children are girls.

Seventy per cent of these children now travel less than three kilometres to go to school.

Almost half of the children in Australian funded schools come from poor families that earn less than US$2 a day.

Half of the teachers in the Australian funded schools are women.

This is one example of how Australia is working to empower women and promote gender equality.

Another priority for the Government is to help reduce child mortality and improve maternal health.

The World Health Organisation estimates that 10,000 newborns die each year from preventable complications which occur during pregnancy, childbirth and the first few weeks of life.

Australia has many programs that are aimed at reducing child mortality.

Last year I visited the Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia and saw the work of the remarkable Catherine Hamlin. Dr Hamlin has spent over 50 years working to improve the health of women and their babies.

I was very pleased to announce further funding to support Dr Hamlin's work. The Australian Government is providing an additional $2.3 million to fund the expansion of the hospital's midwifery college and support 25 rural maternal health clinics in Ethiopia.

Gains for women and girls have been made possible with the commitment, resources and advocacy of many organisations including the UN, international agencies, governments and civil society.

Announcement of funding for women in conflict

It is very difficult to progress gender equality and the empowerment of women in communities affected by conflict.

Violence against women generally increases during conflicts and immediately after conflict.

Together with the Minister for the Status of Women, Tanya Plibersek, I am pleased to announce today that Australia will provide nearly $4 million to help women who are the victims of gender based violence during conflict and to support the role of women in peace-building.

Nearly $3 million will help to improve support services for over 2,000 women who have suffered gender-based violence in northern Iraq, and increase the capacity of local organisations to respond to these cases.

$500,000 will be provided to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and FEMLINK Pacific to support women's roles in peace-building. This funding will help increase women's involvement in peace negotiations through the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue's project, 'Women at the Asian Peace Table'.

Australia will also provide $500,000 to the UN's Gencap, which works across UN agencies to ensure gender issues are taken into account in emergency humanitarian responses.

Conclusion

Experience shows that we can make significant inroads against poverty if we empower women.

Progress is being made but we need to make sure we continue to move forward.

There are some big challenges ahead for the world and women need to be involved in the solutions.

I encourage you to continue your good work.

Thank you.