March4Justice founder Janine Hendry: We need equality in politics, business and education

When women are under-represented in politics, business and education we all suffer, writes March4Justice founder Janine Hendry ahead of International Women’s Day.

A little less than a year ago, I stood at a podium in Canberra ready to address the 10,000 women and their allies who had gathered.

We had gathered to protest gendered violence in this country, and the underpinning cause of gendered violence – inequality.

I will admit I was a little surprised at the numbers, having always believed I would be standing there with my seven mates, and a few placards. But there we were, acutely aware that across Australia there were a further 110,0000 women and men listening to similar speakers across another 200-plus events. What started as a tweet ended up with a plethora of people, brought to the brim of frustration at the levels of gendered violence in this country, desperately wanting to make changes.

What March4Justice did was break the silence. It has been pivotal in starting to change the narrative around gendered abuse in this country, in the community, in boardrooms and in schools.

Monday I stood in Adelaide in front of 120 business and community leaders at an event hosted by Junction – a social enterprise supporting about 10,000 South Australians a year through housing and community services.

Gender inequality underpins so many of the social challenges we face and I have no doubt it will also be a defining factor in the upcoming elections.

To say there is a lot of work to still do, is a gross understatement.

The situation in Australia is not pretty. We see 23 per cent of university vice-chancellors are women. 34 per cent of 2000 ASX-listed board positions are held by women. In the Supreme Court 38 per cent of judges are women. The federal parliament has 32 per cent of representatives being women.

Why does this matter? Because those working in these positions are making decisions daily that affect us all.

Our politicians allocate scarce funding, they make the laws, and if our politicians are not truly representative of who we are then how can they represent us fairly and equitably?

Our judges preside over cases and create precedent which affect women.

Our universities make decisions about research programs and courses which affect women.

Board directors and chief executives make decisions about products and services which directly target women.

How can these institutions truly represent women when they don’t have women making the decisions?

Is it any surprise then that the gender pay gap is 14.1 per cent, which had been declining until the pandemic, has now started to rise again?

Knowing this, is it any surprise that the levels of gendered violence and abuse in Australia are some of the highest in the world? When inequality is so embedded at every level in our society.

The good news is, we can create change. As individuals we have that power. It is, of course, easier if you have an extraordinary group of people walking beside you to create that change, as I did with the March4Justice, but there will always be the need for someone to jump first.

The important thing is to take a step.

We need to have the hard conversations. Ask the hard questions and if you don’t know the answers, seek them out.

There are some discussions that aren’t easy but they are the most important. And, once we’ve had them, we are on the path to creating real change.

Abuse happens in the shadows. Abuse happens behind closed doors. Abuse happens in the silence. I believe gender inequality is a form of abuse.

Asking the questions will bring this abuse into the light, and it is from there that we can make change.

Change doesn’t happen overnight but it does happen. It happens most when we listen, when we ask questions and seek to truly understand, when we work to build trust, and when we have courage.

But if we are not willing to find the courage then who is? Whose responsibility is it if not ours?

Janine Hendry is the founder of the inaugural March4Justice. Tuesday, March 8, is International Woman’s Day.