Eva Cox
Eva Maria Cox AO is an Austrian-born Australian writer, feminist, sociologist, social commentator and activist. She has been an active advocate for creating a “more civil” society.
Eva's recent articles
10 October 2024
Both personal and political: Productivity and Childcare
The federal government recently released a Productivity Commission’s Report on children’s services. It found too many changes were needed for the government to say more than that they were looking at it. The report is significant and was passed to the Government to guide possible reforms to its role in funding of services to deliver effective children's care services.
11 August 2024
On fairness, our futures seem grim under Albo
Has the ALP read the Voice referendum loss as indicating limited voter support for First Nations rights, with an election soon?
27 June 2024
Challenging monetised individuality as the basis of our futures
This is a mildly edited part of my 1995 Boyer Lectures, which we have seriously failed to follow. I offer it now as evidence of our failure to include the social part of our lives in the Gross Domestic Product model of society by assuming monetised individuality and competition as the basis our futures!
19 May 2024
Jim Chalmers’ 2024 budget ignores that humans are social beings
This is not the budget that is likely to reassure voters that the Australian Labor Party is there to create better societies and be trustworthy in difficult times.
27 April 2024
Creating a liveable, equitable world
A call to women to put social needs, not just economic needs, back on the political agenda.
7 March 2024
The 8th of March is our Womens Day
It is the once-a-year day when the media wants content on how women are fairing. That is not a spelling error but my description of the limited equality that women have gained over the last half century. The following is my perception, now in my mid 80s, as I have been actively involved in feminist equality, on what has been both gained and failed to be gained over the years since 1972.
11 January 2024
How you can restore functioning social democratic governance now
We need to return to being Citizens with Power to ensure fair forms of governance and reduce levels of political distrust.
17 October 2023
Is the No victory another signal of voters distrust of democratic reps?
The high levels of loss of Yes voters to the No camp during the referendum campaign add indicators that the once social democratic contributions to governance are in trouble. Where once policies for fairness were seen as integral parts of good democracies, these have been replaced by neo liberal market models. This shows up too often as voters becoming customers, not citizens.
18 September 2023
Avoid the damage of NO: A plea to all women
This is a PLEA to all sensible women (and men) to vote Yes in the referendum because the damages of a No win will move us backward, not forward. We will still need ways of remedying the serious mess of inequities initiated in 1788. The failure of Yes will show the lack of sufficient trust of voters of those whose country this was before colonisation. As a feminist, I hope that womens experiences as the second sex will help us better understand more of the difficulties of first nations descendants!
11 August 2023
What women need to do to shift the continuing unfair gender biases!
My 82 years of active feminism started when I was refused a drum in the kindergarten because I was a girl. So, I went home a very longterm cross activist. A few years later Simone de Beauvoir explained we were The Second Sex which offered an explanation why we were not in control. So Ive been actively agitating for gender equity ever since, as part of the new second wave.
9 July 2023
Profit-making from government funded community services should be banned
Why the new ALP governments new Child Care funds should restore its social benefits and stop funding the failing profit/market model.
1 July 2023
The ineptitude of childcare policies
Monday next week starts a new childrens services funding program by increasing the government subsidies to parents, as described below. Child Care Subsidy (CCS) is changing from July 2023. For the average family on about $120,000 with a child in care three days a week, the changes will cut costs by about $1,700 a year. Most families using early childhood education and care will get more subsidy.
21 May 2023
Post budget blues: crucial omissions
Albo, the socialist, has omitted too many social factors in his first full budget, a year after his election.
7 March 2023
Restoring societal values that make a better future for all
Can we really believe that the power structurers of human societies in 2023 are setting policies and programs that are doing the best for our future?
14 September 2022
The need for a social contract to create voter trust
What happened to sustainable democracys social contract?
11 June 2022
Why isn't anyone talking about trust?
Why has there been no discussion of how levels of distrust influenced voters decisions in the recent election? There has been wide speculation on why there were such low levels of votes for the Coalition and, to a lesser degree, the ALP as first preferences. Theres also been lots of discussion about the successful rise of votes for independents and Green voters. Although these results suggest major shifts in voting that could undermine the long-term pattern of clear victories by major parties, to a need to depend on other representatives votes to achieve governance, nobody is talking about a trust...
1 May 2022
We cannot expect the Minister for Women to lead the changes for gender equality
A federal election in sight always creates feminist optimistic hopes that long-term inequities will be on agendas and addressed. But gender equality policy making in 2022 isnt working.
9 April 2022
The missing social trustworthiness factor in the Budget and everywhere
We must discuss the need for a social contract that restores our trust in democracy and decent governance.
9 February 2022
Pigeons come home to roost: toxic gender pay gap is exposed by the pandemic
Those in power must address the gender wage gap to ensure the capacity of governments and services to employ more health and community workers.
12 December 2021
It's time: we need a new social contract, with women at the forefront
The interests of half the population can no longer be ignored in the quest to remake our systems of governance, writes Eva Cox.
12 May 2021
Will we ever see a socially responsible budget?
They might be calling it the Womens Budget, but the way I read it this budget attempts to appear to be in the public interest but its actually aimed squarely at the private sector. Funding allocated to target womens needs is actually designed to give money to providers of services that employ mainly women and serve mostly female needs. These providers are increasingly for-profit, and there is little in the budget for not-for-profit groups, or for extending public services to serve the public.
8 May 2021
A nearly useless Government budget appeal to women voters!
This years budget has been designed to make the government more popular with women. After virtually ignoring our needs in last years budget and anger at workplace standards for female workers, it needed to act. With a coming election, this supposed improvement of funding of fee rebates for childrens services is offered as bait. However, the changes are imposed on a service that over the last four decades has shifted from the community-based family support service it was to a limited privatised economic industry, driven by badly designed subsidies targeted at market forces.
15 March 2021
Feminism needs to oppose neoliberal economics to move forward
Women, particularly feminists, have spent the last four decades seeking equality with men, but have failed to change inequitable male-driven values. We started well in the 1970s and into the 1980s but as neoliberalism took over our progress stopped. We had gained laws for equality in some areas but without the necessary value and attitude changes, so outcomes were very limited.
20 February 2021
Feminism, Tanya and the ALP
As a long-term feminist Im concerned that Second Wave radical goals of real gender equity, not just equality on masculine-established criteria, have still not been achieved. One area that requires serious change is to the criteria for leadership.
11 October 2020
Uncivil society: women's contributions grossly undervalued
Judging by last weeks budget, the federal government grossly undervalues the contributions made by female workers, both unpaid and paid. Given the huge contribution of women in care jobs during the worst of the pandemic, the absence of support is seen as deeply offensive.