WEL recognises the importance for women of work and financial independence. The reduction of poverty for families and for women in retirement is often dependent on a woman's opportunity to work.
However a lack of family friendly work arrangements act as a major disincentive which Governments and employers need to address. Paid Maternity/Parental Leave and Child Care are addressed in this website on separate pages. Another area is permanent part time work. Mere casualisation can lead to income insecurity. WEL has been made aware that some franchisees using mainly casual workers have not adhered to fair pay for their staff.
Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008
Julia Gillard MP, Minister for Industrial Relations in the Rudd Government introduced the Act which passed both houses in March 2008. The Act stopped any more AWAs under the old WorkChoices Act 2005. The old Act marginalised awards. The 2008 Act introduces measures to reform Awards. These new "modern Awards" are to work with the proposed ten National Employment Standards.
CLICK here to read the WEL submission 2008 to the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC) on the Award Modernisation process for the Aged Care industry.
Click here to read about Equal Pay under Threat by Sue Dunlevy, Daily Telegraph.
The Pay Gap increases
Read this article from Sue Dunlevy and Amos Aikman, of The Australian, detailing survey findings that show how the pay gap between men and women has worsened due to the "two-speed" economy where male wages in industries such as the mining boom have sky-rocketed.
Australian Women Short Changed
New government research provides new evidence on the gender pay gap and how it affects senior business women. Tania Plibersek MP, Minister for Housing and Minister for the Status of Women, has launched The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Worplace Agency (EOWA) Gender Income Distribution of Top Earners report in January 2008. Ms Plibersek says the report investigates pay disparity at senior levels in the top 200 companies on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX200). While the average gender pay gap is well documented, this new research shows that pay inequity is far reaching and experienced by senior business women, including CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) of large Australian companies. According to the report, female CEOs earn two thirds the median wage of male CEOs and female Chief Financial Officers and Chief Operating Officers earn just half the median wage of their male equivalents.
The Office for Equal Opportunity in the Workplace has a snapshot of key statistics, as well as a more in-depth report on their 2010 Australian Census of Women in Leadership. The report shows that not only are there not enough women in Board positions, but they are also underrepresented in the line-management positions which are the typical feeders for Boards of Directors.
Also, Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveal that a full-time working woman will earn, on average, 84 per cent of a full-time working man's wage. This is further evidence that from the moment a woman enters the workforce she is likely to earn less than her male colleagues, regardless of her career, industry or level. WEL has been lobbying for workplace equality for the last 30 years - when will it change? A full copy of the EOWA report can be dowloaded at www.eowa.gov.au.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released figures in November 2010 that show, across Australia, women's average full-time weekly earnings are now 16.9 per cent less than men’s. When part-time and casual work is taken into consideration, the total earnings gap between men and women is 35.3 per cent. This gender pay gap has a significant impact on women's lifetime earnings. AMP NATSEM’s She Works Hard for the Money: Australian Women and the Gender Divide report quantified that the gender pay gap over a lifetime accumulates to an average earnings deficit of $1.5 million for all women; and $1.8 million for those with bachelor degrees or higher.
Discrimination is holding women back in the workforce.
A report, commissioned by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia, details how subliminal and intangible discrimination is holding women back in the workforce and helping to entrench the nation's gender pay gap. The report urges companies to look ''below the surface'' at ''irrational'' bias against women, arguing not only that they are excluded from leadership roles but are also ''held to account for being women''. (Rurh Willimas, SMH, Sept. 28, 2011.)
It finds that while some of the 17 per cent earnings gap between men and women can be explained by different occupational choices and other factors, most of the wage difference was ''explained by being a woman or by being a man''. And it warns that companies' attempts to reform their workplaces can be undermined by unconscious bias, especially against women in roles of authority.
The committee's report, launched by the Status of Women Minister, Kate Ellis, comes amid intense debate about the lagging representation of women in senior roles. Speaking at the launch in Melbourne, Ms Ellis warned that quotas for female representation - staunchly opposed by many in corporate Australia including the Australian Institute of Company Directors - were still ''on the table'' and could be introduced if things did not improve. ''We are saying very clearly to corporate Australia, we want to work in partnership with you to change this - and it's an offer that I hope corporate Australia will take that up and we don't have to take that conversation any further.''
According to the government's latest census of women in leadership, last year females made up just 8.4 per cent of directors and 8 per cent of executive managers in ASX200 companies.
The report calls for companies to adopt a range of reforms, including making their workplaces more flexible and setting targets for gender diversity.
Key government bodies such as Australia Post and NBN Co will have to focus on gender diversity in their board appointments, under new guidlines for government bodies released in October 2010. CLICK here for the full report.
Job Redesign
In a September 2010 TV interview Ms Elizabeth Broderick, Sex Discrimination Commissioner, stated that only 3 percent of senior managers with profit and loss accountability are women. This comes off a base where Australia leads the world in women's education. She asserts that the focus must be on men to allow them flexible work arrangements as well as women. Then companies can invest in job redesign rather than follow the existing model where a worker is always available with no caring responsibilities. Currently the need for caring is having a negative effect for women who take the 12 months paternal leave entitlement at a time in their careers when employees need to put in the big hours. Currently, we have half the talent of Australia put aside so we cannot expect to be competitive.
Men and Workplace Laws
The Courier Mail (15 Nov. 2010) reports that companies are to be forced to give fathers who request it flexible working hours so they can play a greater role at home and in child care. Minister for the Status of Women Kate Ellis will launch a major campaign to change workplace equality laws and social attitudes to enable more men to share the parenting responsibility. Ms Ellis said that after creating an equal environment for women in the workplace, it's now time to give men the opportunity to be stay-at-home fathers. "I intend to pursue reform of our workplace equality legislation through the Parliament, to achieve greater choice and flexibility for Australians of both genders ... Men can also be discriminated against in the workplace when it comes to caring for the kids," she said.
Under proposed amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act, companies will be forced to give working fathers more flexible hours so they can take greater responsibility for child care. Men, as well as women, will now be formally protected from discrimination based on their caring and family responsibilities.
And a new group of men aims to address the lack of women in senior positions, as more and more corporate leaders are stepping into the vacuum. The Male Champions of Change are a case in point. First brought together as a group earlier in 2010 by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, they initially included Michael Luscombe (Woolworths), Rob Elstone (ASX), Glen Boreham (IBM), Giam Swiegers (Deloitte), Stephen Roberts (Citi), Stephen Fitzgerald (Goldman Sachs), Kevin McCann (Origin Energy), Gordon Cairns (Westpac) and David Thodey (Telstra). The group is now expanded to include Ralph Norris (CBA), Alan Joyce (Qantas) and David Peever (Rio Tinto).
Women are in the lower paid segments of the workforce, so the the old WorkChoices Act 2005 had a disproportionate impact on them, through the process of removing award conditions and reducing pay. And it was impossible to know whether sex discrimination in pay practices was occurring. CLICK on the following to read about women's response to the resultant harsh impact on women.
Sue Hammond's IR Summary
WWW Key Points Chart
Low Pay in the Community Services Industry
Professor Marian Sawer AO, Emeritus Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations, ANU, reports on equal pay for women. She says that "the community services industry, where the workers are over 80 percent female, has suffered from feminised rates of pay. The current equal pay case, the first under the Fair Work regime, seeks to bring pay rates into line with those for work of comparable value in a male-dominated industry. Low pay is just one of the factors contributing to gender inequality and poverty in old age. The skewed distribution of paid and unpaid work is another, with women still far more likely to have interrupted careers in the paid workforce. Men are in the paid workforce for an average of 39 years, women only for 20 years".
Marian is author of the WEL history: Making Women Count and co-author of "Strengthening Democracy" in the publication More than Luck: Ideas Australia Needs Now, from the Centre for Policy Development.
Read what long-time feminist and WEL member Eva Cox has to say on the 2011 Equal Pay case for workers in the Community Services sector.
The latest on this: in 2011 Prime Minister Julia Gillard has made an announcement to fund wage increases for community sector workers. This is a step in the right direction towards closing the 17 percent pay gap between men and women, although it will take six years to be actioned in full. Read Eva Cox's comments in Crikey about this decision.
Sun Herald journalist Elissa Dherty reports on Juggling Work and Families (15/2/2011), reporting that modern mums bear the brunt of work-life stress becaause men are still not pulling their weight with the housework.
While mums increasingly juggle work and family, fathers are still not doing their fair share of household chores, according to a new report.
The paper, "Persistent work-family strain among Australian mothers", said almost 30 per cent of working mums experienced "strong tension" between work and family responsibilities. "Australian mothers in recent decades have greatly increased participation in the labour market. Fathers have not increased their unpaid household work to a matching degree," it reported. "But without equal sharing ... mothers will inevitably feel the work-family tension more keenly."
Mums are likely to have the toughest time managing the balancing act when the youngest child is aged between six and 11. A Melbourne University study last year found 66 per cent of women believed they did more than their share of the housework.
Disability Campaign
Have you been affected by the Welfare to Work changes? The Australian Federation of Disability Organisations is collecting stories about the impact of these changes on people with disability, and would love to hear your story.
CLICK on http://www.afdo.org.au for more information and to download a questionnaire form, or call the organisation on 03 9662 3324.
Read about the launch of the Australian Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (AWCCI), an organisation that aims to assist women in starting their own businesses. See at www.awcci.org.au