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Easy targets: Women in the Global Financial Crisis
The impact of the economic downturn on women in Victoria will be the focus of a
consultation workshop hosted by RMIT University next week.
The workshop, which is being hosted by RMIT’s Centre for Applied Social
Research (CASR), is on Monday, 23 November, from 10am to 12pm.
CASR Senior Research Fellow, Dr Sara Charlesworth, said women were the first
to feel the impact of the economic downturn because of the precarious nature of
Australia’s largely female casual workforce.
“While we haven’t seen unemployment rise dramatically in Australia during the
global financial crisis, the biggest issue for women is under-employment,” Dr
Charlesworth said.
“The jobless figures do not reveal the full picture – that casual employees are
losing hours and losing valuable income that they rely on to support their families.
“And because the majority of casual work, particularly part-time casual work, is still
undertaken by women, it is women who are the first targets and who are suffering
the most in the economic downturn.”
Dr Charlesworth said in many areas, the lack of accessible out-of-hours school
care for children was also a pressing issue affecting women in the paid workforce.
Consultation workshops are being held in each state and territory to gain local
perspectives on the issues raised in The Australian Institute’s report, “Impact of the
Recession on Women”, launched in August by ACTU President Sharan Burrow.
Federal Minister for Women, Tanya Plibersek, has placed the Report and its
revelations about women’s hidden unemployment on the agenda for the October
meeting of the Council of Commonwealth and State Ministers for Women.
The Victorian consultation workshop is sponsored by Security4Women,
WomenSpeak, National Rural Women’s Coalition, Australian Women’s Coalition
and the National Foundation of Australian Women, with support from the Women’s
Information Referral Exchange and the Office of Women’s Policy.
Media opportunity
What: Impact of the Recession on Women – Victorian consultation workshop
When: 10am – 12pm, Monday, 23 November
Where: RMIT University, Research Lounge, Building 28, Level 5
(Enter through Building 8 on Swanston Street)
For interviews: Dr Sara Charlesworth, (03) 9925 3354 or 0412 889 122.
For general media enquiries: RMIT University Communications, Gosia
Kaszubska, (03) 9925 3176 or 0417 510 735.
19 November, 2009
NEWS 
