• Hannah Piterman

02 November 2009In some areas Australian companies have taken a backward step on gender equity, writes Hannah Piterman in The Age

ATTENTION given to the impact of the global financial crisis in exacerbating the plight of women in developing countries invites us to reflect on our own responses to the global financial crisis (GFC). The recent report by Plan International, Because I am a Girl, finds women in the Third World bear a disproportionately heavy toll for the GFC. They are the first to lose their jobs, rendering them more vulnerable to exploitation in all forms and reversing past progress.

As a member of the First World in the 21st Century, we in Australia eschew all forms of discrimination against women in our legislative and civil society frameworks and seek to distance ourselves from societies where women are treated as second-class citizens. However, if we are to uphold the standards we set for ourselves we need to be mindful of our own record. When it comes to paying the price for the GFC we have much in common with the short-sightedness of some of our Third World neighbours...

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Hannah Piterman is a consultant to boards and senior management and is an adjunct associate professor at Monash University.

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