Equal Pay

So the Australian Industry Group’s Heather Ridout says yesterday’s historic equal pay decision by Fair Work Australia is “dangerous”, because it “will lead to a raft of union claims in other industries”. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry calls it “disturbing”.

Goodness, not another ‘dangerous precedent’. Dangerous precedents have peppered history – like votes for women, the American Civil Rights and the Mabo decision on native title.

Maybe AIG and ACCI have been catching up on some episodes of ‘Yes, Minister’, which defined a dangerous precedent for us: “if we do the right thing now, then we might be forced to the right thing again next time. And on that reasoning nothing should ever be done at all.” But this time something – the right thing - has been done.

Continue reading "No hidden danger lurking in the Fair Work decision" »

The tired old chestnut of equal pay gets trotted out every time there are new job figures or the latest batch of income statistics are released.

“It’s a deplorable situation,’’ comes the plaintive cry. “Women still only earn X per cent of men’s wages.”

Don’t get me wrong, that would be deplorable - if it were true. But sadly it’s much more a case of creative mathematics than a widespread mysogynistic conspiracy.

Continue reading "Don’t give me that tired old equal pay chestnut" »

Sometimes we are so busy getting on with our lives we don’t notice history is being made before our eyes. That is precisely what is happening right now with equal pay.

Forty years ago an Australian woman doing the same job as a man was not guaranteed the same pay. The law allowed employers to set two rates of pay, one for men and one for women,  the unspoken basis being a woman could not hope to be as efficient and productive as a man. Work was often seen as a temporary thing for women, before they became wives and mothers. Women in some jobs, like teaching and the public service, were required to resign once they got married.

No women had sat in Cabinet, on the High Court or served as Governor-General. Or, Heaven forbid, led the union movement.

Continue reading "Equal pay: Plenty of women are still being left behind" »

It costs nearly $1 million dollars more to be born a woman in this country. While the average 25 year old male will earn $2.4 million over the next 40 years, the average 25 year old woman will earn only $1.5 million.

Of course there are a number of reasons for this gender pay gap. Women are more likely to work part time, take more time out of the workforce to undertake unpaid caring responsibilities and continue to bear a disproportionate share of the responsibility for unpaid household work.

Traditionally feminised jobs in the caring and community sectors have been historically undervalued and consequently, underpaid.

Continue reading "Claims we’ve gone soft on equal pay are rubbish" »

When people ask me what I do for a living I tell them, then I bite my tongue. You see, I’m a community development worker.

In my outer-suburban neighbourhood centre I manage a host of programs for people who need support: grandparents who’ve taken custody of their grandkids in distressing circumstances, playgroups for toddlers with teenage mums, skills training for long-term unemployed, to name a few. 

You could put your last $5 on the response (and I am often down to my last fiver so maybe I should). “Oh, you must be an angel!” they say; and, “it must be great to have such a rewarding job.”

I bite my tongue, because expletives from a woman of my years might come as a shock.

Continue reading "Even for angels a warm inner glow ain’t hard cash" »