A new study from one of Australia’s leading humanitarian and girls’ rights organisations has revealed a disturbingly high level of conservative views on gender equality is still being held among many ordinary Australians.
The study collected the responses of 2,522 Australians aged 16 years and over on their views regarding their values, perceptions of gender equality, attitudes and beliefs about gender equality and personal experiences of the impacts of gender.
Despite the encouraging number of respondents who self-reported some form of advocacy to support gender equality in their workplace, alarming rates of outdated beliefs and attitudes remain.
For instance, 37 per cent of respondents said they believed women are more naturally suited to be the main carer of children and elderly parents.
One in four respondents said they disagreed or were neutral on whether people should have the right to make their own choices around their sexual and reproductive health.
One in five believed that there is no harm in men making jokes about women when they are among other men, while 16 per cent said that women who out earn their male partners were inviting trouble into their relationship.
The survey, which was completed by Plan International Australia and funded by Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, Trawalla Foundation and Minderoo Foundation – segmented the responses into six main categories, called the Gender Compass:
Trailblazer (19% of respondents)
Hopeful (24%)
Moderate (23%)
Conflicted (12%)
Indifferent (6%)
Rejector (17%)
The scale essentially represents the political views of the respondents regarding gender equality, with Trailblazers leaning more towards the left, all the way to the right, where we have the Rejector — those who believe “gender equality is a non-issue and change for equality for women has gone too far,” as the study describes.
Plan International Australia CEO, Susanne Legena said that enraging, unacceptable roadblocks remain in the path towards gender equality.
“Current projections indicate that the next five generations of girls and women will never see gender equality,” she explained. “Everyone should be alarmed by this. We need to do better. We must come together to beat the clock on gender inequality, until we are all equal in this world.”
Legena described the Gender Compass as an excellent resource to help us “gain a better understanding of Australian’s beliefs, values and attitudes around gender equality, and overcome the harmful social norms that underpin discrimination, inequality and violence all around the world.”
“[It] is a critical new tool that allows us to understand how we can talk about gender justice with Australians in a way that makes a difference,” she said.
“It is a pulse-check, but it is also a wake-up call, because the impacts of gender inequality are still invisible to too many Australians.”
In fact, the study found that only 60 per cent of respondents believe that women’s sport should have equal standing with men’s. Just over half believe that transgender and non-binary people should have the same rights, opportunities and outcomes as cisgender people.
Legena lamented a further list of evidence that progress continues to be a struggle.
“Here in Australia, violence against women continues at alarming rates with one woman, on average, murdered every week by a current or former partner,” she said. “And women still take home an annual salary on average $25,596 lower than their male counterparts.”
“Overseas in even more vulnerable contexts, progress has been even more fractured. In South Sudan, girls are more likely to die in childbirth than to complete secondary school. And in Kenya, a 10-year-old girl today will be 100 years old by the time every girl in her country has access to at least some level of secondary education.”
Sadly, only half of respondents in the study agreed that it was important for Australians to advocate for gender equality in other countries.
Despite these troubling numbers, Independent Research Lead Dr Rebecca Huntley believes that dismay should only be fleeting, and that the Gender Compass shows that a gender-equal future is possible.
“More segments are supportive of gender equality than not,” she said in a statement released today. “There is widespread support for a myriad of policies that advance gender equality. There is an openness across the community towards action.”
According to Dr Huntley, the Compass will become an important tool in helping individuals and organisations understand the shifting views and behaviours around gender equality.
The study unearthed some heartening trends. For instance, more than half of respondents said they have taken material actions in speaking out about gender equality, while 44 per cent said they have spoken up after witnessing an incident of gender inequality.
Though the Gender Compass may reveal that gender equality isn’t a priority issue for all Australians, 90 per cent of respondents agreed that it was important Australian women had the same rights, opportunities and outcomes as men.
You can read more about the Gender Compass here.