Prime Minister Scott Morrison has used his International Women’s Day address in Perth to claim women’s success shouldn’t come at the expense of men.
In the address, Mr Morrison referenced the Minister for Women Kelly O’Dwyer’s previous comments on gender equality when she rejected the idea that “girls doing well must mean that boys do badly”.
“See, we’re not about setting Australians against each other, trying to push some down to lift others up,” Mr Morrison told the Chamber of Minerals and Energy. “That’s not in our values. That is an absolutely Liberal value, that you don’t push some people down to lift some people up. And that is true about gender equality too.
“We want to see women rise. But we don’t want to see women rise only on the basis of others doing worse.”
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“We want everybody to do better, and we want to see the rise of women in this country be accelerated to ensure that their overall place is maintained,” he added.
In response, Labor frontbencher Tanya Plibersek said gender equality was good for both women and men. “Gender equality is good for both women and men,” she wrote. “It gives all of us more freedom and choice at work, at home, and in our relationships. Feminism is a fight for equality between men and women, what’s so complicated about that? #IWD2019“
The PM further told the room of mostly women that boosting the economy was key to gender equality to ensure that everybody does better.
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