I agree with Nina Funnell. Women still have a long way to go with equality. The mere sight of girls on stage in these beauty parades is enough to show that women still only have to show their bodies and they will earn million. I cring watching the watching girls answer the questions that are asked. Several years ago feminists tried to stop these beauty contests but the big money won the day. Whilst ever women are prepared to make a career with their bodies women will not have equality. All women are expected to look like these contestants, even though these beauty contestants have spent years preparing their bodies for these shows with little thought of any thing else. Is it any wonder that women in the real workforce have to still fight so hard for equality alongside men.

Nina said:"young girls are still being taught that women have achieved equality, that the fight is over, and that feminism is like fluoride: you don’t need to worry about it because it’s already in the water."

LOL. Women HAVE achieved equality in Australia, except in the minds of a few women who see an advantage for themselves in claiming to be victims of systemic discrimination.

If you are concerned about the plight of women in other places, may I humbly suggest you go there to complain about it, instead of trying to conflate their situation with that of the pampered women of Australia?

Seriously, Nina, you're better than this piece. You're quite able to produce a good polemic that bears a casual inspection, which is as it should be at this stage of your career as a feminist, but this is something a first-year Women's Studies major might turn out after a hard night out with the grrrls.

Mareelorraine:"women still only have to show their bodies and they will earn million"
"Whilst ever women are prepared to make a career with their bodies women will not have equality."

Here's a news flash honey, people of both genders make "millions" showing off their bodies. The fact that you don't have a body as good looking as those hard-working models or athletes or actors doesn't make their career choice invalid. Nor does it do anything to undermine gender equality that some women have great bodies and some don't, since the same thing applies to men.

If Antiseptic thinks that women have achieved gender equality in this country, he/she might like to come with me. I will introduce him to a few thousand women, all in their late sixties, seventies, eighties and even a few in their nineties. They spend their days, months and years caring for their middle aged disabled sons and daughters with seldom any time off and no hope this side of the grave of doing anything else. They do this because there exists no place in the lucky country for their people to go. If these carers were male, it is my belief that we would have fixed this problem a long time ago and taken responsibility for our own disabled citizens. As it is, women's lives are perceived as less valuable than men's and those of the disabled as less valuable still.

About 10 years ago, I edited a SOSE textbook that had a brilliant chapter on the history of the women's movement. Unfortunately, the feedback from teachers who used the book said that this particular chapter received an overwhelming number of complaints from parents angry that their children were being educated to 'hate men'. Sadly, but predictably, the publisher caved in to pressure and the chapter was dropped from the second edition.

Contrary to prevailing beliefs, the history of the women's movement has not simply been 'forgotten'. It has been aggressively expunged from the mainstream narrative by conservative social forces, for whom any acknowledgement of feminism's contribution to history represents a dangerous subversion. Also, the proliferation of anti-feminist mythology over the last 20 years can only continue to thrive on ignorance - which requires that children never formally learn what feminism really stands for.

As a country girl/woman I spent the first 20 years obedient to my father's requests. I spent the next 25 years trying to be obedient to my husband's requests, while demanding equal respect. It didn't work. He divorced me when I was 45 and had reared our 5 children. He left me for a 'tart' that he didn't need to respect, but who was willing to please him.
I have fought for equal rights, like the right of women to drink in bars. Yet, now as a 69 year old gray haired woman, it is the young girls of society, who insult me. Like the receptionist, when I registered to see a doctor and gave my occupation as farmer. She joked, "Will I put you down as farmeress?"
I snapped, "Only if I'm to see the Doctoress?"
Yes, the hard won rights of women are vulnerable - the young women of today should be warned.

The Nina Funnells of the world are fighting a losing battle.

Women will never earn as much as men, and they'll always do more housework on average. Thats what happens when you have children and your career stalls, and you spend more time at home. And of course, the majority of women do choose to have children and this will always be the case because it's natural for them to want kids.

And abortion? This is an issue because people believe that the right to life (life which starts before birth) trumps the parents right to decide to end that life on a whim. Gender equality essentially has nothing to do with it.