Workplace gender inequality is a key driver of women’s economic inequality. The Victorian Working Women’s Centre works in partnership with the Victorian Trades Hall Council (VTHC). VTHC is the peak body for unions in Victoria made up of 40 affiliates and more than 500,000 workers. Along with VTHC, we are a recognised expert in this field as we have extensive experience in researching the issues confronting women at work and in advocating solutions to address them.

We represent nearly 215,000 women union members across every region and industry and is part of a network of union peak bodies across the country.

We have strong history of tackling economic inequality in collaboration with our member affiliates and partner stakeholders. We are worker led, ensuring the voices of working women and marginalised workers will be heard. Our extensive consultation processes inform our understanding of the issues faced by working women, particularly those from marginalised communities. Our outreach involves regularly connecting with workers directly and through their unions and community networks face to face and via phone, email and social media. We run events at Trades Hall and online in partnership with community organisations. 

As recognised experts, we understand workplace inequality is underpinned by gendered power dynamics which reinforce gender norms, resulting in a highly gender segregated workforce with high rates of insecure work and low pay in feminised industries. Gender norms also affect the distribution of caring responsibilities, women’s access to quality health care and women’s leadership opportunities.

We are committed to increasing working women’s leadership. We run training for workers to learn skills in public speaking, policy and public advocacy. We aim to empower workers to take on leadership positions. We will run this training again in 2024, and at least 40% of the approximately 50 cohort will be women or gender diverse. We also provide training and information to working women and unions about the issues facing women at work. Over 28,000 women are in our network and 2,500 regularly engage with the team who build the capacity of women workers to understand their rights and to step up in their workplaces. We do qualitative and quantitative research on women’s workplace safety issues. The team has also has a special focus on connecting with and supporting LGBTIQA+ workers, who are also likely to experience gendered violence at work.