ANMF (Vic Branch) members and staff at the International Working Women's Day rally 2026. Photo: Paul Jeffers
On 6 March 2026 – ahead of International Working Women’s Day – ANMF (Vic Branch) Job Reps rallied with colleagues and workers across the wider union movement at Victorian Trades Hall as part of a new Branch training day focused on women’s rights and safety at work, and women’s achievements in the workplace.
Forty delegates joined the training day, which reflected on the work already undertaken by unions to advance equality for women and acknowledged the work that is still left to be done.
They heard from Branch Secretary Maddy Harradence and Branch industrial, professional and OHS officers. Among other things, they learned about ANMF achievements around:
- family violence leave
- flexibility for women in the workforce to accommodate parenting and caring responsibilities
- being paid superannuation on parental leave
- improving wages in aged care and other workplaces via ANMF’s Aged Care Work Value Case.
They also heard about ANMF work currently underway towards incorporating and improving clauses to keep women safe at work in the private health sector along with moves to consider predominantly female workplaces when developing OH&S legislation and regulations (as opposed to the male-dominated industries that have in the past informed these decisions).
Trades Hall staff then undertook an activity with the delegates to reflect on their own stories and experiences as a woman in the workforce and how we can utilise those stories to inspire and campaign for further change.
IWWD rally
Then the delegates donned their red ANMF shirts and marched up to Trades Hall to join hundreds of other women unionists for a lunchtime rally where they heard about the struggles and wins of women in other workforces – including similarly women-dominated industries such as early childhood education as well as overwhelmingly male-dominated industries such as construction and transport.
They also heard about the Australian Unions’ It’s For Every Body campaign to introduce ten days of paid reproductive health leave and flexibility into the National Employment Standards, to ensure it is accessible to every Australian worker.
The sense of solidarity and sisterhood was palpable, and the feedback from delegates about the experience has been overwhelmingly positive.
- ‘This entire day was amazing, inspiring and motivating! I felt the power of solidarity for the first time in a long time! I learnt so much relevant and empowering information.’
- ‘Very insightful day – amazing to see the change / progress that has occurred over the decades. Also super cool to be a part of the rally.’
- ‘The best training I have experienced as part of the nursing collective ❤️’
Registered nurse and Job Rep Caryn Auld was so inspired by the day she sent a letter to The Age:
‘Standing outside Melbourne’s Trades Hall on Friday, in the shadow of the statue of Melbourne Zelda D’Aprano, surrounded by women as union members, activists, students, mothers, daughters and sisters at the 2026 International Working Women’s Rally, I felt a deep sense of gratitude.
Gratitude for the work of the difficult women who came before us. The women who refused to stay silent, who challenged injustice and demanded better. Gratitude for the difficult women who continue that work today by speaking out, organising, and refusing to accept inequality as inevitable.
Progress does not come from quiet compliance. It comes from women speaking out and prepared to be labelled difficult. To those strong, difficult women, past and present, thank you. May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them.’
