In her first public speech since resigning as the chief executive of Westpac in February, Gail Kelly has highlighted the violence and inequality faced by women and children living in extreme poverty.
Speaking at a fundraising lunch in Melbourne on Tuesday for the aid organisation Care Australia, for which she is an ambassador, Kelly spoke of her trip in July to Vanuatu to see how people were rebuilding their lives after cyclone Pam.
“We were surprised at how many homes have not yet been rebuilt,” she said.
“Many people are still living in shared accommodation. Food is still a problem. Water is still a problem. There’s a lot more to be done, but particularly in the area of gender and gender violence.”
In the wake of natural disasters, women and children were among those who suffered the most because they were also the most disadvantaged, Kelly said.
Many had little money – 90% of any income a woman earned was given to her family or community – and they did not own land, Kelly said. This was exacerbated by gender-related violence, with women seen as second-class citizens in many areas of Vanuatu.
It was “staggering” how institutionalised gender violence was there, Kelly said.
“Women and girls are the lowest order. Women feel they have no control over their bodies. For women in Vanuatu, their first sexual encounter is more likely to be forced than anywhere else in the world. Much of this is cultural, with related family members having ‘special rights’ over their [relatives].
“And it’s not seen as rape.”
Women had played a significant role in helping to repair the damage from cyclone Pam, Kelly said. Those women who were allowed on to the committees of response teams thought about the needs of the whole community, from children to the elderly, she said.
“Men thought of themselves.”
While women were the solution to bringing people out of poverty and rebuilding communities, Kelly said this could not happen until women were empowered, given equal rights to men, and sexual violence and exploitation stopped.
“There’s plenty of research to show that if you bring one women out of poverty, they will bring four people with them,” Kelly said.
“It’s a good investment.”
