Today GEN VIC has officially launched its second annual budget submission, Towards a Gender Equal Recovery 2021/2022.

After a tumultuous year for Victorian women, where they lost jobs at a greater rate than men, reduced their super balances and carried the burden of essential care work and home schooling, the submission sets out six priorities for government spending:

• Gender equal job creation;
• Boosting women’s health services;
• Gender responsive budgeting architecture;
• Imagining a care economy;
• Creating a gender and disaster workforce; and
• Strengthening gender equal communities.

The report was developed after months of consultation with our member organisations – 42 gender equality entities with expertise in gendered economics, job creation and placement, health, sport, the arts, housing and social welfare.

“Women lost 109,000 jobs last year across Victoria. That’s why we have prioritised creating jobs for women to get them back to work. For example, we want government to triple the gendered violence prevention workforce. This would create 500 jobs needed to address a shadow pandemic and fulfil recommendations made by the Royal Commission into Family Violence”  

“Despite being in the middle of a global health emergency, women’s health services have not had an increase to core funding since their inception in the 1980s. If we want women to take up vaccines without fear of impact on pregnancies, to return to cancer screening services and access mental health support, we need women’s health services to be resourced for today – not a Victoria forty years ago.” 

“The initiatives recommended here will mean millions of dollars to our members and the communities they serve. If we want to see improvements in gender equity, women’s health outcomes and gendered violence rates we need to lift investment over multiple budget cycles”

Download our budget submission, Towards a Gender Equal Recovery and read our Media Release here.