Eva Cox on progress

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In defining progress, we need to recognise that human beings are social: we gain our sense of who we are and how we feel through the quality of our connections with other people. Our connections cover both emotional and physical relationships. These links create the complex patterns that are our societies and communities. So how do social beings decide what a good – or even just a better – society is, and define what we mean by progress? Society is by definition about these connections.

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It’s Dr Minogue! Kylie gets an honorary doctorate

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Kylie Minogue has been awarded for her work as a breast cancer campaigner. The 43-year-old singer was diagnosed with the disease in 2005 but was given the all clear a year later after receiving chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. At the time she was applauded for encouraging other women to have screenings for breast cancer, which became known as the ‘Kylie Effect.’ Kylie accepted an honorary Doctor of Health Science award from Anglia Ruskin University in Essex, donning a black and orange gown and towe for the occasion.

This is a syndicated post. Read the original at It’s Dr Minogue! Kylie gets an honorary doctorate.

Jessica Mauboy a Deadly winner who’s dressed to kill

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Jessica Mauboy has picked up plenty of awards in recent years, so the prospect of winning another wasn’t going to stop her from spending the day at the beach ahead of last night’s Deadly Awards in Sydney. To be fair, the 22-year-old singer was working, shooting a video at Clovelly with fellow pop star Stan Walker for her new song Galaxy, which will be released before Christmas. Later, however, the singer from Darwin had to dash to the Sydney Opera House to collect the female artist of the year trophy, the third time she has collected that particular Deadly award since finishing runner-up in Australian Idol in 2006. ”I’m so delighted,” she said. “I’ve had a lot of family and friends ring me up and say they voted for me. I’ve been so busy this year. It’s flattering that a lot of people have been following my journey.”

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Call for small business women to speak out

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The more than 700,000 women who run small businesses in Australia are being called to speak out in a national online research project. The Women in Business Poll, to be launched tomorrow, will gather information on women in leadership and management roles. The Australian Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI) says the research will shine a light on the challenges, rewards and opportunities for women running businesses in regional and metropolitan Australia.

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Right to fight: Women win a place on the frontline

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Women will be able to serve in any frontline combat role within five years after a historic change by the Government. Federal Defence Minister Stephen Smith said cabinet approved the change during a meeting yesterday. ”This is a change which has the strong support from the chief of the defence force,” he said today. Currently 93 per cent of Australian Defence Force (ADF) positions were open to women. The other seven per cent excluded women “simply on the basis of sex”, Mr Smith said. These included jobs such as mine disposal divers, air force defence guards and infantry and artillery frontline positions. These jobs make up 17 per cent of employment opportunities in the ADF. Mr Smith said the discrimination would be removed over five years in a “careful and methodical” way.

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Female executives recommend childcare, nanny services be tax deductible

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Australian female executives pushed for the government to make costly childcare and nanny services tax deductible. By doing that, there would be more women available for employed, while those already working could have more opportunities for promotion. Chief Executive Women (CEW), which counts the 200 top female executives in Australia, estimated childcare in Sydney for a family with two kids would cost parents $500 weekly or $50,000 yearly. ”Tax deductibility for childcare would send an important social and economic message of endorsement for working women,” CEW spokeswoman Belinda Hutchinson said in a statement. Australian Council of Trade Unions President Ged Kearney supported the executives’ idea, but suggested means testing to ensure tax deduction would benefit only families who cannot afford the cost or are struggling to pay for childcare.

This is a syndicated post. Read the original at Female executives recommend childcare, nanny services be tax deductible.

Female-only literary prize puts gender on the agenda

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Fed up with women being overlooked for literary prizes, sisters are doing it for themselves and establishing Australia’s answer to Britain’s Orange Prize for fiction, which is open to women only. Australia’s version will be known as the Stella and, at $50,000, will be slightly more lucrative than Britain’s £30,000 ($A46,400) prize – although sponsors are still being sought. The Stella will also differ from its British counterpart in that it will be open to all genres of writing by women, not just fiction. Ambassadors for the Stella prize include actor Claudia Karvan, author Helen Garner, feminist Eva Cox, and the Greens’ federal member for Melbourne, Adam Bandt.

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Indigenous women ‘change makers’

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Indigenous women are the change makers who will help close the gap of disadvantage confronting Aboriginal people, a leadership forum has heard. The annual Oxfam Straight Talk Summit (September 19 to 22) brought 60 indigenous women from across Australia, from cities, the outback and the Torres Strait, for a week-long leadership program. The participants shared their stories with female politicians and increase their understanding of how the political system works. Deputy Opposition Leader, Julie Bishop, said her favourite part of the program was chatting in her office with a group of participants “laughing and crying” over shared experiences. “Whatever challenges our nation faces, empowering women must be critical to the solution,” she said.

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Not enough being achieved for advancement of women

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The results of the 2011 Gender Diversity on Australian Boards survey, conducted by Women on Boards, revealed over 70 per cent of female directors support setting gender diversity targets at board level, with approximately half in support of legislated quotas. While individual corporate initiatives and guidelines for ASX companies are in place, HC recently reported that gender diversity still gets overlooked due to the time pressures of recruitment. Maureen Frank, founder and CEO of gender diversity company Emberin, says increasing the proportion of women in leadership makes sound business sense. “Advancing women in the Australian workforce is not just the right thing to do, in terms of skills shortages, levels of productivity and innovation it’s the smart thing to do,” said Frank.

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Female leaders treated differently: Bligh

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Australian women political leaders will never escape media attention on superficial matters like their appearance, Queensland Premier Anna Bligh says. The state’s first female premier on Wednesday gave her last annual State of the State address before the next election. In a question-and-answer session, she was asked how treatment of her by the media differed because she was a woman. ”Female leaders globally, particularly in Australia, are still a novelty,” Ms Bligh said. ”… I do think that partly because of the novelty people are interested in a whole lot of things that don’t excite interest about male politicians.”

This is a syndicated post. Read the original at Female leaders treated differently: Bligh.