Landmark women’s economic review to shape NSW budget
By Alexandra Smith, published on February 7, 2002 in the Sydney Morning Herald
The Perrottet government will appoint a women’s economic expert panel to help shape the state budget in an acknowledgement that the role of females and the work they do will be key to NSW’s pandemic recovery.
In a bid to improve the economic opportunities for women as the state rebuilds, a landmark review will look at policies to narrow the gender pay gap and make childcare more accessible and affordable.
Sam Mostyn will chair a landmark review into the role of women in NSW’s pandemic recovery
As part of the sweeping review, the independent panel will also provide advice on supporting women to enter or return to the workforce, as figures show female workforce participation continues to lag men.
Premier Dominic Perrottet, who will announce the review on Monday, said it was time to “level the playing field”.
“Ultimately, our objective is to ensure that all women – regardless of whether they are single, in a relationship or mums with kids – have the support and freedom they need to find the pathway that suits them best, and the flexibility required to get ahead,” Mr Perrottet said.
In a speech to the Sydney Summit on Monday, NSW Treasurer Matt Kean will outline the impact the pandemic had on women, which created the “first national recession in which women lost more jobs than men”.
“When the Delta outbreak took hold last year, 85 per cent of all jobs lost in the first month of the lockdown were jobs held by women,” Mr Kean’s speech says.
“Beyond the jobs losses, we also know that women right across NSW saw an increase in unpaid work, stemming from remote learning arrangements and providing care for elderly and vulnerable members of our community.”
Mr Kean’s speech says women’s participation in the economy still lags significantly behind men, with a 61 per cent female participation rate compared to the 70 per cent rate of their male counterparts.
“The NSW economy would be eight per cent larger by 2060, if women’s participation reached parity with men. Annual household income would lift by $22,000,” Mr Kean’s speech says.
Mr Kean asked Chief Executive Women president Sam Mostyn to chair the expert panel after her National Press Club address last year, where she spoke about the importance of valuing the “care industries” which are largely made up of women.
Ms Mostyn said the government review was “stepping out of the narrow guard rails that we have put in place” around women’s paid, unpaid and underpaid work.
Minister for Women Bronnie Taylor said “this is not just a women’s issue, it’s everyone’s issue”.
“Too often women leave the workforce or reduce their working hours out of necessity, not choice. It is therefore no surprise that women have only two-thirds of the superannuation saved compared to men,” she said.
Other members of the expert panel include the chief executive of the Muslim Women Association Maha Abdo and Blair Comley, partner at EY Port Jackson Partners.
Regional businesswoman Jillian Kilby, co-chair of the Council on Early Childhood Development Leslie Loble and writer and teacher Daisy Turnbull are also on the panel.
Mr Perrottet was criticised just days into his premiership that his government was too male-focused after he marked Sydney’s long-awaited pandemic reopening by drinking a beer in a pub with his male colleagues.
He was also pressured to increase the number of Liberal women in his cabinet, with only two remaining after the resignation of former premier Gladys Berejiklian. There are now four Liberal women in his ministry.