Good morning. Gender inequality is hitting headlines today. Australian women are more likely to drop out of the workforce during the pandemic, figures show, and there are fewer receiving additional Covid support payments. Women also receive worse medical treatment for heart attacks. And the UK-France defence summit has been cancelled in the Aukus row.
A curfew in the 12 greater Sydney hotspots has been lifted as New South Wales hits the 80% single dose vaccination milestone. Starting from today, restrictions will be relaxed in the western Sydney LGAs to equalise them with the rest of the city. Public pools will be able to reopen across the state from Monday 27 September.
Welfare recipients under stay-at-home orders and barred from additional Covid support say they are struggling with the extra costs of living under lockdown. Government data shows 152,000 people receiving income support payments had gained access to the Covid disaster payment, meaning about 800,000 people or 84% had been left out of extra assistance, the Australian Council of Social Service said. Data also shows more men receive the disaster payment than women. “I’ve got $50 a week to live on, and pay bills and do everything,” said Donna Bennett, one of the recipients.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions is ramping up its gender campaign after last week’s unemployment figures showed that women continued to be disproportionately affected by the pandemic’s impact on the economy. Women in the workforce have also been let down, with the government “missing the opportunity” to legislate more protections from sexual harassment and violence in the workplace, the union says. “The recovery from this pandemic should be an opportunity to reshape the Australian workforce to provide more secure work, safer workplaces and equal rights for working women,” ACTU president Michele O’Neil said.
A Franco-British defence ministers’ summit due to take place this week has been cancelled as Paris steps up its protests over the loss of a $90bn submarine contract with Australia and its secret replacement with nuclear technology from the UK and US. France recalled its ambassadors from Canberra and Washington over the weekend, plunging relations between the countries to an almost unheard-of low. The cancellation of the defence summit demonstrates there will also be repercussions for the UK, which could yet deepen as the row continues.
Australia
Cultural isolation, language barriers and visa issues make migrant women particularly vulnerable to domestic violence and hinder their ability to seek justice, but in Australia their experiences are still a “blind spot.” “The system makes it difficult for those women to report an issue or to get help after reporting an issue,” says Yasmin Khan, who runs the Bangle Foundation, a women’s support service in Brisbane. She says police rarely hire a translator in domestic matters. “A lot of women will tell you that they didn’t get a chance to speak, [that the police] spoke to him.”
Women receive “less evidence-based treatment” than men for common heart attacks, according to a new study by Sydney researchers. The study points to “physician biases” in medical care, the lead researcher said. “Despite the way we think we’re practising, we are still innately conservative and under-treating women for whatever reason.”
The promotion of gifted products by Instagram influencers is a common practice that has exposed Australia’s regulatory “grey areas” in influencer marketing. While brands seek organic social media engagement with their product, the Ad Standards code was designed so that companies can’t “camouflage the fact that it’s advertising”.
The world
One of the greatest boxers of all time, Manny Pacquiao, who is now a senator, has said he will run for president of the Philippines next year, after railing against corruption in government and President Rodrigo Duterte’s “cozy” relationship with China.
Female employees in the Kabul city government have been told to stay home, with work only allowed for those who cannot be replaced by men, the interim mayor of Afghanistan’s capital said on Sunday, detailing the latest restrictions on women by the new Taliban rulers.
A volcano erupted on the Spanish Canary Island of La Palma on Sunday after a week of building seismic activity. Just before, authorities had evacuated about 40 people with mobility problems and farm animals from the villages around the volcano.
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Travel is on the mind for many Australians at the moment. But given how suddenly states can impose travel restrictions, and fluctuating caps on international arrivals, booking an interstate or overseas trip in the next year carries risk: the trip could be cancelled without a refund or, worse, you could get stuck, unable to easily return home. A travel expert shares advice on planning a holiday during the pandemic.
“The concept of depression has always been so ill-defined as to be meaningless, and even more so as the Covid-19 pandemic rages around us,” Sidney Bloch writes on the need for a more nuanced approach to mental health. “The risk prevails that more and more people facing the vicissitudes it imposes will be affixed with the label and prescribed antidepressants inappropriately.”
Listen
When the “subscription social network” OnlyFans announced it would be banning the sexually explicit content that made it a billion-dollar business, sex workers were up in arms – and many observers wondered how the move could make financial sense. Then it had second thoughts. So what does this tech saga tell us about where pornography fits into the future of the internet – and is it just another example of the sex industry treating women as disposable? Nosheen Iqbal speaks to the Guardian’s UK technology editor, Alex Hern.
Full Story is Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcasting app.
Sport
After upsetting the Springboks twice, the Wallabies are daring to dream they might be a chance of winning the 2023 World Cup in France. But if they do seriously challenge, RA must amend the Giteau Law to such an extent that it ensures Rennie has access to all players required for the tournament, writes Bret Harris.
Media roundup
The federal government has been stunned by the level of France’s anger over Aukus deal, but is cautiously optimistic Paris won’t undermine the free trade pact negotiations with the EU, the AFR has reported. Thousands of online shopping purchases could be delayed this week after drivers for delivery company FedEx voted to go on strike, the Courier Mail has reported. The move comes as truck drivers at the Australia Post-owned StarTrack plan a 24-hour stoppage on Thursday in protest at the outsourcing of jobs.
Coming up
Scott Morrison heads to the US for the first-ever Quad leaders’ summit with Joe Biden and leaders of Japan and India on 24 September.
Maha Al-Shennag, who in 2017 drove into a Sydney primary school killing two children, will be sentenced in the NSW district court.
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