Chapter 10 Women’s choices?

10.1               Dr Patricia Todd made the point that men presume that pay equity is due to the choices that women make.[1]

… culture and attitudinal change, which are the hardest things to change. But, without that change, we will not see any progress ... for many years we have been working to fix women. In a sense we are trying to put the female life cycle into a male career model and – do you know what?– it is not working.[2]

Workforce participation

10.2               The increase in female participation in the labour market since the 1980s has been attributed to a number of factors including changing social attitudes to women working and greater acceptance of working mothers and the perception of gender roles; women having children later in life reduced fertility rates, childcare access; more flexible work options; an increase in part-time employment opportunities through the growth of service related industries and an increase in female participation in further education.[3]

In terms of workforce participation, women’s labour force participation rose substantially, from 43.7 per cent in July 1978 to 58.4 per cent in July 2008. Since 1978 full-time employment for women has risen by 88.6 per cent and part-time employment has risen by 193.7 per cent. Australia’s increasing participation rates for women is similar to other OECD countries and Australia ranks fifth overall across the OECD.[4]

10.3               In 2006-2007, the unemployment rate for women was 4.8 per cent compared to 4.3 per cent for men.[5]

There is a range of economic and social factors that have changed women's life patterns and choices. These include:

n  Increasing school retention rates and participation in post-school education and training;

n  The availability of child care services;

n  the introduction of anti-discrimination, equal opportunity and equal remuneration legislation;

n  increased workplace flexibility to support some employees – mostly women- to balance paid work with family responsibilities;

n  changing societal values regarding women’s roles.[6]

10.4               Research has shown that wages are a significant factor in an individual’s decision to enter the labour force.[7] The Queensland Government commented that:

the labour supply of Australian women concluded that it is clear that increases in women’s wages, the cost of living, the availability of suitable jobs, educational attainment, labour market experience and duration of residence are all recognised to significantly increase women’s labour force participation and the number of hours they work. The research also suggests that Government polices, such as access to child care, the removal of gender discrimination laws and the implementation of family friendly practices, affect the labour supply of women.[8]

10.5               Associate Professor Siobhan Austen considered that ‘an important driver for change in women’s position on the distribution of income should be their employment status and their earnings from employment, with both influenced heavily by educational attainment.’[9]

One of the key questions discussed in our consultations was whether women are making real choices or just compromises based on external pressures … men also talked of lacking choices, with employers often resistant to offering flexible or part-time work so that men could take a major role in caring for their families.[10]

10.6               Job Network provides various forms of assistance to women wishing to return to the labour force.[11]

If you did finally have pay equity between men and women you would then see different family choices being made. You might see the mother going for the promotion because she is not going to be earning a whole lot less than the man. It is a no-brainer who stays home if she is not earning anything and she has no career anyway—she may as well stay home because the family is better off. So you start to change all the decisions that are made by a family, however it is structured. That is another benefit of pay equity.[12]

10.7               In terms of encouraging more women to participate in the workforce, it is possible through flexibility and the environment and valuing the work they do rather than through wages.[13]

Family friendly policies

10.8               Family friendly policies that incorporate gender equality include to:

n  Facilitate the reconciliation of work and family life through the adequate family and child development resources;

n  Facilitate parental and other carers’ choices about work and care;

n  Promote gender equality in employment opportunities;

n  Increased recognition of the relationship between workplaces and the broader community and specifically of the care arrangements that support the workplace;

n  A mix of both certainty and flexibility in the conditions of work, adaptable for employees across the life course;

n  The need for structural changes to support gender equality and equality for carers (such as improving pay equity and quality part time work);

n  Expanded legal rights, specifically improved protection from discrimination, a right to maternity leave and a right to request flexible work arrangements; and

n  The need for cultural change in workplaces to implement existing family-friendly provisions and drive further changes.[14]

Impact on women’s life time earnings

10.9               The cost to women of their temporary or permanent withdrawal from the paid labour force is significant in terms of current and future foregone earnings and is clearly illustrated in Figure 10.1. This figure uses long-term labour force data to determine the amount of earnings foregone by women due to raising children.[15]

10.10           In addition, part time employment is often casual employment and lacks the job security and leave entitlements of permanent work, however, the Productivity Commission reported that the share of casual employees in part time employment has declined over the last 15 years.[16]

Part time employment has a negative impact on lifelong earnings and reinforces a women’s subordinate role in the labour market and the household. Lower earnings are the result not only of the lower number of hours worked but also the type of part time positions that are available. Permanent part time work marginalised through the lack of higher earnings, promotion, and training opportunities that it provides.[17]

 

Figure 10.1   Life time earnings profile of women with completed secondary education, by number of children[18]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

10.11           In the lowest quintile, women with no dependent children earn more than males but in all other quintiles females earn less than males indicating that ‘there is evidence of there being a glass ceiling effect for women. That is the gender wage gap increases at the upper end of the income distribution’.[19]

Evidence from Australia has shown that part time work experience can ‘scar’ women’s future earnings and has significant impact on total earnings over the life course. Chalmers and Hill’s analysis of data from the Negotiating the Life Course (NLC) survey found that part time women workers lose 6% per year in earnings growth compared to their full time counterparts and that this loss accumulates to 49% after ten years.[20]

Figure 10.2   The earnings gap in the private sector of women without children, women with children and men with children relative to men without dependent children[21]

Source        Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, 2008, Gender earnings differentials in Australia: A statistical overview of Women’s earnings, unpublished,

10.12           Hourly rates for part time work are often higher as they can incorporate casual leave loadings which are designed to compensate the employee for benefits such as paid leave that are foregone. Women who move to casual employment to accommodate family consideration may not be aware that they lose their accrued sick leave, so it is not only about level of pay.[22]

Choice or compromise?

10.13           The New South Wales Office for Women’s Policy commented that:

the difference between men’s and women’s wages has the potential to narrow the choices that women and families can make about how they balance their paid work and family life.[23]

10.14           Commissioner Broderick concluded that:

… workplace structures and the expectations that accompany paid work significantly limit the choices that women and men make about how they manage their family responsibilities.[24]

10.15           In relation to the choice between full time and part time work, Women’s Health Victoria commented:

If women were able to work full time and to have an amount of income that was available to them that they could use to bring in additional services to meet their need to maintain the household and provide care to an increasingly diverse range of relatives, through children to aged parents to the rest of the extended family, I do not know that the issue of choice really comes into it. I think that women increasingly do not have access to permanent full-time work which can be negotiated down to part time and back to full time depending on changing needs throughout their lives. They are increasingly only able to get casual work, which means no paid sick leave and no paid annual leave. Many women do not understand that that is the only thing available to them when many of their peers are also involved in employment in that way.[25]

10.16           Ms Emma Ritch, Manager, Close the Gap in Scotland commented that:

I think there is a conception that women intentionally choose to work in low-paid, low-status and low-remuneration types of work. I think that the choices are not made freely, as it were. I think that the choices that all individuals make about their labour market participation are heavily influenced by a range of factors, some of them social and some of them to do with skills and some of them to do with employers. Sometimes the assumption that they are all based on completely free choice means that employers, educators and others abrogate responsibility for tackling some of them. I think we need to be a bit bolder than that.[26]

Part time positions

10.17           Australia has a relatively high level of part time employment compared to other countries and has the second highest in the OECD countries behind the Netherlands.[27] Over the last decade there has been an increase in participation in part-time employment.

Whilst average gender wage gap in the full-time (Australian) labour market has remained fairly stable there is evidence of a growing part-time/full-time wage gap.[28]

10.18           Women are four times more likely than men to be part time and are also more likely to be casual and work in the public sector.[29]

Part-time employment, which currently comprises 44.3 per cent of total female employment, is particularly important to many women, as it gives them the flexibility to balance work with family responsibilities, study and other commitments. Indeed, most women working part-time do not want a full-time job. Latest available ABS data showed that nearly 80 per cent of women working part-time preferred not to work more hours, while just 4.5 per cent were actively seeking and available to start full-time work in May 2008.[30]

10.19           The Work and Family Policy Roundtable expressed about the risks associated with part time employment in terms of poor hourly wages and casualisation noting that in ‘recent years have also seen a sharp drop in the full-time employment participation of women after the age of 29 and a shift away from full-time employment by women aged 35-44’.[31]

Part-time employment tends to be clustered into a narrow set of highly feminised occupations, often in the low wage economy where access to promotion, employer provided training and decent pay is often limited even for part-time workers employed on a permanent basis.[32]

10.20           New South Wales Office for Women’s Policy commented that:

Part time work remains a female dominated form of employment. Only 35% of full time employees are female. On the other hand, females represent 71% of all part time employees. Table 5 shows this in terms of the aggregate numbers of workers in full time and part time employment by gender breakdown.[33]

Table 10.1     Australian labour force by gender breakdown, April 2009

Full time	Males	4.9 million
Full time	Females	2.7 million
Part time	Males	0.94 million
Part time	Females	2.2 million

Source        Australian Bureau of Statistics - Labour Force Survey, cat no 6202.0, April 2009 – seasonally adjusted[34]

10.21           The Productivity Commission concluded that the growth in part time workers reflects both supply and demand factors in the labour market.[35] The factors include the entry of more women into the labour force; students wanting to work while studying; older workers remaining in the workforce; and employers requiring flexibility and therefore offering part time jobs.[36]

 

Table 10.2     Characteristic of employment excluding owner managers [37]

	Full Time	Part Time	Total
No paid holiday leave
Male	12.8%	73.0%	22.1%
Female	10.4%	53.3%	30.1%
Percent of Employment
Male	84.5%	15.5%	100.0%
Female	54.1%	45.9%	100.0%
Percent employment in public sector
Male	17.2%	13.6%	16.7%
Female	28.5%	19.2%	24.2%

Source        Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, 2008, Gender earnings differentials in Australia: A statistical overview of Women’s earnings, unpublished, p. 3.

10.22           Women between 25 and 54 years represent 44 per cent of part time workers in 2007, and those aged 15-24 years nearly 28 per cent of the part time workforce.[38] Part time work was more likely to be low skilled work with less than a quarter of part time workers employed in the high skilled occupation category of professional and associate professionals compared to 35 per cent of full time workers.[39] Further, 5 per cent of fulltime workers were in the low skilled occupations of elementary clerical and services compared to 21 per cent of those working part time.[40]

Part-time work can reduce a woman’s likelihood of promotion, participation in training and development opportunities that relate to the profession, the social culture of the work environment, ability to establish networks, and access to quality work.[41]

10.23           The Police Federation of Australia noted that 21 per cent of police officers were female and saw an increase in the availability of part time positions as a potential way to increase female participation in the police forces.[42]About 6 per cent of police officers are part time (compared to 34 per cent of all Australian employees), 24 per cent of female and one per cent of male officers working part time and no part time work was available above the level of sergeant.[43] Further male officers work longer hours on a regular basis.[44]

10.24           For some employers having many part timers on the roster is cheaper than casual employees.[45] However, for many there is a barrier in management that believes that it is harder to manage more part time people.[46] Further ACTCOSS noted that:

… workplaces with a significant part time workforce were less likely to provide information to employees than were workplaces with fewer part time employees. Part time workers were much less likely to be consulted by higher level managers and unions or through meetings on workplace change, and were more likely to rely on information from fellow workers than full-time staff.[47]

80% of managers with significant proportions of part-time staff claimed special measures were taken to pass information on, but only 40% of all workplaces held meetings at times that enabled the attendance of all employees.[48]

10.25           The issue of underemployment and wanting more challenging positions is a productivity and whole-of-community issue.[49] People work part time to combine work with education; to care for children but is this because part time work is preferred or because full time work could not be found.

Underemployment tends to be more common in the lower skilled occupation groups such as elementary clerical, sales, service workers and labourers. People employed in higher skilled occupations that include managers and administrators are much less likely to be underemployed. The higher rate of underemployment among those in lower skilled occupations can be partly attributed to their employment status as more likely being part-time. Part-time workers account for more than 90% of all underemployed workers, and in May 2008, sixty-five percent (65%) of elementary clerics, sales and service workers were women; almost 44% were aged 15-24 years[50].

10.26           Caring responsibilities are often not ideal in terms of preferred hours or job quality. Diversity Council Australia commented that Gen Y men are being asked if they intend to have children since the uptake of caring responsibilities by this generation.[51] The current employment market view of care arrangements have not kept pace with the community need or expectations.[52]

… unless women and men take up flexible work in equal numbers, the male primary breadwinner model will remain unchallenged and unchanged.[53]

Quality part time work

10.27           The Productivity Commission found that part time work:

n  Generally involved less responsibility and jobs were generally found to be less challenging;

n  Less likely to lead to promotions; and

n  Less likely to have access to entitlements (37% of part time employees had access to paid holidays and sick leave compared to 89% of full time employees).[54]

10.28           The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection, Western Australia:

… quality part time employment enables individuals to combine economic participation and family care and is comparable to full time employment in terms of conditions, opportunities and benefits, apart from reduced hours. Genuine quality part time employment creates the potential for men and women to share paid work and care.[55]

10.29           The assessment of quality part time work was defined in terms of ten criteria:

n  the number of hours and whether they match the individual’s preferences;

n  the scheduling of the hours of work;

n  the flexibility in the number of hours and schedule;

n  the ability to move between full-time and part time in the same job;

n  remuneration;

n  access to employment benefits such as leave and superannuation;

n  employment security;

n  opportunity for employee voice through workplace consultative arrangements;

n  access to training and career progression opportunities; and

n  content of jobs.[56]

10.30           Women with school age children often work in areas that are not related to their qualifications.[57]

I think there is a good argument for good part-time work for women in that it enables an ongoing attachment to the workforce. It keeps them current, and our patterns as workers, both men and women, should be able to be flexible over a lifetime of earnings. I have no beef about good part-time work; I think it is essential. Hopefully, the conditions around the marginal areas of casual work can be tightened up to provide better protection for people.[58]

10.31           Scientists from the Howard Florey Institute called for the availability of part time fellowships and the introduction of a new award to assist the re-introduction to employment after a career introduction to provide better opportunities for women with small children.[59]

10.32           The example was given of medical research institutes and the point was made that a career break had a significant impact.[60] The comment was made that discrimination was wide spread in the scientific community and that women who had not had career breaks were still not promoted.[61] This could partly be addressed by more transparency in the allocation of funding[62] but it was suggested that 50 per cent of senior scientists were ’resistant to addressing the gender issue’ as they did not see it as an issue.[63] In the scientific field there was limited part time work available notwithstanding evidence that productivity was not proportionately reduced with the number of hours.[64]

… Women want access to part time, but it has got to be the right type of part time.[65] 

10.33           Further the New South Wales Office for Women’s Policy comment on the difficulties in moving between part time and full time work because of the occupational segregation and the different nature of work with reduced hours to full time work.[66]

Many women express a preference for part time work, it is important to note the constraints that exist on their range of employment choices and options. Likewise, if the work available on a part time basis does not reflect a woman’s skills and provide career development opportunities, these constrained choices can lead to sub-optimal labour market outcomes.[67]

10.34           Women nearing retirement or retired may have extensive experience but may prefer to work part time. Women Into Politics would like to see more community awareness of the potential contribution of older women.[68] WIRE also raised the issue of ageism for older women and the increased difficulty in re-enter the workforce.[69]

10.35           Women can be limited to ‘part-time, menial, physically demanding work, when they would prefer full time work where they can use their intellectual and managerial abilities’.[70]

Flexible working arrangements

10.36           The Australian Institute of Management Victoria and Tasmania saw flexible working arrangements as one of the emerging issues and that the business sector has not fully engaged in this issue.[71] Flexibility can work to the benefit of the employee in situations of skills shortage and to the benefit of the employer in the opposite situation.[72]

Women may be forced to ‘choose’ the flexibility of lower paying part time or casual work or not seek career advancement because of caring responsibilities. Often there are fewer opportunities for training and career development in part time or casual employment or in industries where these types of employment are widespread.[73]

10.37           Men do not take up family-friendly arrangements when they are available.[74] Research in the United Kingdom has shown that:

They found that women applied much more than men to vary their work arrangement and that when women applied they were much more likely to be accepted. The few men who applied were much more likely to be rejected. When they asked people who had availed themselves of the right to request what had happened, they also found that around about half of them said that they had suffered some negative consequence as a result. Because it is women who are accessing those flexible work arrangements, that then has gender implications. It means that when provisions are put into place there needs to be careful evaluation. Nobody expected that to happen; they thought, ‘This is great: it is open to men and women.’ On the face of it, there is absolutely no discrimination.[75]

10.38           Flexibility is a two edged sword which has some desirable characteristics but can also ‘convey information about a person’s vulnerability in the working environment’.[76] It is difficult to arrange child care if the work hours are unknown and unreliable.

As long as taking advantage of progressive work life balance policies means forfeiting career aspirations and feeling that you are letting your work team down, the policy-practice gap in this area is likely to be wide.[77]

10.39           Some employers have found a flexible approach to their advantage. For example, in addition to paid parental leave and part-time and job share positions, Port Stephens Council offers access to extended bereavement leave; ability to purchase additional annual leave; learning and development plans; financial assistance for formal studies; grandparent and community volunteer leave; and career break leave.[78]

The introduction of flexible work arrangements is being recognised as a key strategy to increase female participation, provide greater opportunities for women to work and make their skills available to employers. A recent survey of employee perception conducted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia (CCI) found that the provision of more flexibility in the workplace is the single most important measure to attract and retain female workers.[79]

10.40           The other finding in the United Kingdom was that:

Part timers were much more likely to avail themselves of it than full timers. That tells you two things: firstly, part-time work is not inherently flexible; and secondly, it also tells you that, if you are already seen as being on a non-career track, then you can afford to use those little flexibilities. But if you are serious about your career, even if you have provisions in the workplace - and there are lots of instances of that - people simply do not take them up.[80]

10.41           The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia commented that flexibility arrangement must be determined at the workplace level to ensure their practicality.[81] Offers made with the best intentions may fail due to practicalities of the revised arrangements.

10.42           The Western Australian Chamber of Commerce survey found that women are ‘finding it increasingly difficult to balance work and family responsibilities’.[82] While 66 per cent of the 100 women surveyed by the Western Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry expressed concern about pay equity, 82 per cent listed flexibility as the most important factor.[83] Flexible working hours is important for both genders with men taking a more active role in family caring responsibilities.[84]

Flexible working arrangements provide a practical solution to address this issue without adversely affecting business. Flexible arrangements provide employees with more options as to when and how they complete their work, and greater opportunities for balancing work and family responsibilities, while at the same time ensuring that they continue to work their full hours.[85]

10.43           The Australian Education Union commented that the improvements in flexibility polices over the last three decades which enable better work and family balance, has not had an impact of the gender wage gap.[86] In particular, flexibility in employment is a strong motivator for 21 to 30 year olds.[87] Younger men and women are more aware of the aspects that need to be changed and would be responsive to clear direction on how to best achieve these changes. [88]

Once you relieve yourself of the notion that you are factory building widgets between nine and five, you actually realise that there is a whole lot of things you can do about flexibility of hours and arrangements and return from maternity leave and parental leave and so on. That is cultural reform.[89]

10.44           The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission report in 2007 found that ‘One of the major barriers for men with family responsibilities that the Commission has identified is a lack of support within workplaces either in terms of lack of access to family-friendly policies such as flexible working arrangements and paid paternity/parental leave, or where there is access to such policies, family-hostile workplace cultures prevent their take up’.[90] The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection, Western Australia preliminary research has shown that:

n  employees believed that employers were not supportive of work life balance, despite having numerous flexible working arrangement policies;

n  women faced the most difficulty in varying their working hours to meet family or personal commitments;

n  barriers to part time employment was the most prevalent issue facing women and mature aged employees; and

n  cultural norms, such as work demands and pressures, meant that most managers were unable to utilise work life balance policies.[91]

10.45           Smaller workplaces may not be in a position to offer part time opportunities.[92] While in the restaurant industry engages a large proportion of part time worker as they engage people during the busy times and therefore because of the nature of the business, there is not a lot of potential flexibility that management can offer.[93]

10.46           There needs to be research into the gap between flexibility policy and practice as managers may lack the confidence to implement this new agenda.[94]

Simply having flexible arrangements in employment conditions is not enough. There is a need for substantial cultural change to ensure that women can choose to work fewer hours and still be considered for promotion or training.[95]

10.47           The Finance Sector Union of Australia considered that flexibility policies could be rendered meaningless by excessive hour and workloads.[96]

… providing more flexible work practices and access to those, while commendable, could become a trap for women and we think that there are enough of those within our industry and, indeed, our industry is often cited for its progress in this area. What we require is more certainty around hours of work, paid overtime and total pay …[97]

10.48           Work intensification can also result in training options being foregone.[98]

Pay adequacy rather than equity (anecdotally) is the primary barrier to women taking up the flexibility options available to them. Ironically when pay adequacy issues are largely addressed by women moving to more senior levels in the organisation, there is traditionally less room to negotiate flexibility options due to the demands (real or perceived) of the work and roles, and a cultural belief that women shouldn’t seek flexible work options if they are serious about demonstrating their commitment to their career.[99]

Number of hours worked

10.49           Caution must be exercised in the interpretation of employment figures.

In Australia a lot of women work part time, a lot of men work full time, but if you have a look at the distribution against comparable countries like the Netherlands, which has one of the highest proportions of part-time work in the OECD, women work substantial part-time hours, between 25 to 35 hours, and men work what you would call standard full-time hours, between 35 to 40 hours. In Australia, women are clustered at the short hours end of work, men are clustered at the long hours end of full-time work. That has lots of ramifications for pay equity.[100]

10.50            Research has shown that women working part time on shorter hours would like more hours while those working longer hours would like fewer hours.[101]

10.51           There needs to be more education as most women see work-life balance as parental leave.[102] Business and Professional Women Australia commented that standard hours of employment only exist because that is the way it has been in the past and this can be challenged.[103] There is some capacity to provide flexibility in hours without automatically assuming part time is the solution.[104]

10.52           If women were more aware of the full extent of factors then would make more informed decisions about which factors are important.

The less women work, the more the hours worked by men will increase. Better work-life balance is needed for both men and women, and this will require changes in policies that provide incentives for employers and employees. For example, the decision made by a woman returning after childbirth to work part time depends on education levels, family commitments, age, expectations of employers and employment policies.[105]

10.53           Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick commented that ‘if we had better pay equity, couples could make the choices that suit them’.[106]

Unpaid and paid over-time

10.54           Recruiting and Consulting Service Association believes there is a trend to ‘choosing an hour-by-hour form of engagement so that they know they will actually get paid for all the work that they do and there is no unpaid overtime.[107] The Finance Sector Union of Australia suggested that ‘there are millions of hours of overtime worked each week in the finance sector; approximately 40 per cent of these hours were unpaid’.[108]

More thorough data needs to be collected that shows the amount of unpaid work performed by women. The census and ABS surveys do not adequately record the actual hours that people work. The census only asks people what hours they are paid to work. Surveys ask employers what hours their staffs work, but many would not know what hours they really do. Unpaid overtime goes largely unrecorded and unreported. Increasingly, Australians take work home in an attempt to seek some work-life balance.[109]

10.55           Business and Professional Women Australia added that:

The trend towards more unpaid overtime and less paid overtime may also be affecting women more that it used to. Overtime payment has declined since the 1990s and staff are increasingly required to take time off ‘in lieu’ of worked overtime. Increasingly, workloads make it impossible for staff to take the time off that is owed to them. The expectation of unpaid overtime as part of a contract that pays a high salary now extends to include low wage earners, and increasingly affects working women. Meetings are planned for times that previously would have been regarded as non-working hours; lunchbreaks disappear. For many women the expectation of long hours of work complicates their life, especially if they have dependents, are sole parents, or their partners work away, travel a lot or work shifts. Women carry more responsibility for children and elders, and it costs many women to work back – in car parking, childcare and worry. It steals time from their children, families and relaxation time and contributes to their already significant ‘time poverty’. Pocock suggests that recognition of such impacts must be taken into account in negotiation of wages and working conditions.[110]

10.56           Because information on unpaid overtime is not available, this needs to be addressed if you are to achieve true pay equity.[111] An example of this is non government organisations where the organisation is fund to a particular level but invariably the employees do many more hours than they are paid for.

10.57           Also men tend to do a lot more overtime than women and a greater proportion of men than women are working 40 to 60 hours per week.[112] The Diversity Council Australia Limited found that ‘access to less overtime, over-award and other benefits accounts for 9.6 per cent of the gap’.[113]

10.58           The Port Stephens Council have incorporate the commitment to equity and family work life balance in the Values, Rights and Commitments section of the enterprise agreement and have instigated a number of approaches to ensuring employees have ‘fulfilling, varied and better paid work’. [114]

Indigenous women

10.59           The Working Women’s Centres (WWC) of South Australia and the Queensland Working Women’s Service stated that according to the 2001 Census, the mean gross household income for Indigenous persons was $364 per week, or 62 per cent of the rate for non-indigenous persons ($585 per week).[115]

10.60           The WWCs continued that between the 1996 and 2001 Census, the average gross household income for Indigenous persons rose by 11% (after adjustment for inflation using the Consumer Price Index) compared with 13% for non-Indigenous persons.[116] Thus as a consequence, the relative income disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous persons increased slightly over this period.

10.61           Also from the 2001 Census, of the 52% of Indigenous people aged 15 years and over who reported that they were participating in the labour force, the participation rate was higher for Indigenous men (60%) than Indigenous women (45%).[117]

10.62           Of significant concern the WWCs cited[118] the ABS Population Characteristics, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, 2001 Census, where it was stated that

In 2001, Indigenous persons generally reported lower incomes than non-Indigenous persons in the same occupation. The median income of Indigenous managers was equal to 81% of the non-Indigenous median. Among professionals it was 73%, and among labourers it was 56%.[119]

Statistics for Indigenous women

10.63           The Industrial Relations Research Centre reported that with household surveys, ‘sample sizes and definitional issues may restrict the collection of data about important issues such as the labour market experience of Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse and immigrant women’.[120]

10.64           The IRRC referred to the 2006 CEDAW country review of Australia, in which CEDAW

…was quite critical of Australian efforts in these fields [Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse and immigrant women, and women with disabilities], as well as of Australia’s record on refugees and trafficked women. One of its criticisms, though not specifically in the employment field, related to the thinness of available Australian data. Part of the process of improving Australia’s human and labour rights record will thus be a system of better data collection.[121]

10.65           The Committee had hoped for further evidence to the inquiry with regard to Indigenous women and their participation in the workforce. However, evidence presented to the Committee further reinforced, that there is a lack of disaggregated statistical data on women in the workforce, more so for cases of multiple labour market disadvantage (such as Indigenous culturally and linguistically diverse and immigrant women, and women with disabilities).

 

Recommendation 55
	That the Government as a matter of priority collect relevant information of workforce participation of Indigenous women to provide a basis for pay equity analysis and inform future policy direction.

 

Women with disabilities

10.66           Women With Disabilities Australia (WWDA) listed the barrier for women with disabilities participating the workforce as including ‘discriminatory attitudes; poverty; non-optional costs of disability; inflexible work arrangements; inaccessible environments; experience of and vulnerability to violence; issues relating to transport, child care, attendant care; insecure housing’.[122]

10.67           An important factor is the non-optional costs of disability and disability-related services and supports should not be linked to income.[123] Some women may not be able to afford to enter the paid labour market without the supports.[124]

10.68           There is a disparity between the proportion of men and women with disabilities being assisted under the Federal government funded open employment services.[125]

Poor quality part time work can be associated with more restricted career paths, poorer quality work opportunities, less secure employment, and more limited access to leave and other work related conditions. Women are less likely to have paid leave entitlements, with data suggesting that women constitute 66% of all casual employees working part time hours. In addition, significant periods of time in spent in part time and casual work can have a wage and superannuation penalty for women.[126]

10.69           Women with Disabilities Australia commented that ‘there has been virtually no improvement in the unemployment rate and/or labour participation rate of women with disabilities since 1997, in stark contrast to the improvements made for disabled men, non-disabled men and non-disabled women in the same period’.[127] Further, women with disabilities are over represented in poorly paid jobs and in the traditional areas of female employment, and women ‘are given marginal jobs far below their capacity; and are denied opportunities for further training and job advancement’.[128]

10.70           For women with disabilities, there can be additional barriers including:

n   unstable work patterns because of the episodic and/or fluctuating nature of the disability;

n   negative social attitudes;

n  the impact of poverty on the capacity to be job ready;

n  lack of access to education and training; poor job design;

n  inflexible work arrangements; lack of attendant care; inadequate or expensive transport;

n  lack of, inaccessible and inflexible childcare;

n  domestic and parenting duties;

n  inaccessible and unresponsive employment services;

n  restricted access to information and communication technologies;

n  may include experience of abuse, violence and harassment;

n   cost of equipment and assistive devices and inaccessible built environment;

n  insecure housing and accommodation;

n  lack of awareness about rights; and

n  cost of disability and lack of portability of state funded programs.[129]

10.71           A safe environment must be created for women to move from income support into employment:

As long as women with disabilities are required to pay for their own supports when they leave the relative safety of income support, the reality of their lives will create a huge barrier to labour force participation. Because of their greater likelihood of living alone or as a lone parent with almost total financial responsibility for themselves and their children, as well as much lower likelihood of earning a high wage if they were to find a job, women with disabilities are often those most adversely affected by the present system of linked disability-related supports and income support.[130]

10.72           Women With Disabilities stressed the need to de-link disability related supports and income support to enable easier access to the labour market to address this.[131] Further, for women with disabilities who utilise funded programs for their support, there can be additional barriers through the lack of portability between the states and territories depending on eligibility criteria and resource constraints.[132]

…any strategies which aim to promote the employment of people with disabilities, require a clear sense of the reality of the situations that women with disabilities face, and a commitment to addressing the barriers that stand in the way of them participating in the labour market on an equal basis with others.[133]

10.73           In January 2009, the Government announced an employer incentive scheme which will offer incentives for employers to employ people with disabilities and provide tailored assistance to jobseekers based on their level of disadvantage.[134] Also as discussed earlier in the chapter, the need for Public Service departments to report biennially on their gender duty in relation to policy implementation should incorporate information on what is available for women with disabilities and the effectiveness of those programs.

 

Recommendation 56
	That the Government as a matter of priority collect relevant information of workforce participation of women to with disabilities provide a basis for pay equity analysis and inform future policy direction.

 

Women from non-English speaking backgrounds

10.74           Culturally and Linguistically Diverse women can experience multiple disadvantages and FECCA commented that CALD women are more often in the unsecured and lower wage jobs.[135]

Compounding the situation is the lack of appropriate and available English language programs for certain groups of migrant women; issues surrounding accreditation of overseas qualifications; and lack of access to training and education options within regional areas.[136]

10.75           The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission and the Victorian Multicultural Commission have found evidence of indirect racial and religious discrimination in current employment practices.[137]

10.76           Employment abuses in relation to guest workers have receive substantial media coverage and the point was made that:

Equitable treatment of immigrant women workers is less defined by Australia’s obligations under international law. Unfortunately, despite being a net recipient of immigrant labour, Australia has not ratified any international treaties covering the rights of migrant workers. We submit that Australia should lead immigrant-recipient nations in ratifying the 1990 ILO International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.[138]

10.77           On 14 September 2009 the Migration Regulations 1994 were amended to support the commencement of the Migration Legislation Amendment (Worker Protection) Act 2008 in relation to the sponsorship of non-citizens working in Australia including the equitable remuneration arrangements. This amendment requires that sponsors:

Ensure equivalent terms and conditions of employment for their sponsored persons (i.e. The sponsor must ensure that the terms and conditions of employment provided to a sponsored person are no less favourable than the terms and conditions they provide, or would provide, to an Australian citizen or an Australian permanent resident to perform equivalent work in the person’s workplace at the same location).[139]

10.78           These equity issues can be exacerbated by’ multiple disadvantages of ethnic background, language, culture and faith, on top of existing gender bias discrimination.[140] Culturally and linguistically diverse women are disadvantaged in negotiations because ‘there is no longer a requirement that the provisions be explained in the community languages of the workplace as a condition for approval’ which has resulted in a loss of protection.[141] Five per cent of Australian have low-level English language proficiency and individualised workplace agreements have not been helpful to vulnerable people.[142] This is dealt with in Chapter 5.

Language skills

10.79           Another aspect that can impact on migrant women’s participation in the workforce is:

The erosion of English language tuition over the past 20 years, and strict guidelines governing timing of post-arrival access, have made access to English impossible for women with children. Status as spouse of a primary immigrant, ongoing issues of overseas skills recognition, loss of skills currency in fields such as IT and engineering, religious discrimination based on dress codes, and the low value given to fluency in other languages, have all been barriers to employment. The migrant resource centres, including women’s centres, that flourished before 1995, have lost most of their funding. The upshot is a tendency to concentration in low-paid occupational segments, regardless of skill levels, and a denial of voice and organising capacity. To see these issues as matters to be addressed simply through safety net mechanisms is to compound the stereotyping of immigrant women by bundling them into one low-skilled category.[143]

 

Recommendation 57
	That the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship review the adequacy of English language tuition and the need to reinstate these programs.

 

International qualifications

10.80           Another aspect disadvantaging CALD workers is the delay in the recognition of overseas qualifications and FECCA suggested a more centralised and efficient system.[144]

While there is an increasing number of CALD women emigrating with a high level of educational qualification and work skills, a lack of recognition of overseas qualifications for skilled migrant women presents a barrier to working within their field of expertise.[145]

10.81           It is difficult to settle in a new country without the added stress of having to redo a degree:

… people come here with accounting degrees and then have to do an accounting degree again because the accounting degree is not recognised in Australia because that particular university or country does not have the accredited standards.[146]

 

Recommendation 58
	That the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship investigate options for the improvement of current processes for the accreditation of overseas migrants.

 

Access to training and education options within regional areas

10.82           There is also a role for government in assisting migrants to gain local experience through the provision of work experience in government departments or instrumentalities.[147]

 

Recommendation 59
	That the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations seek cooperation from the State and Territory Governments to develop opportunities for the provision of work experience in government departments or instrumentalities for migrant women

 

Employee rights

10.83           FECCA also called for a ‘comprehensive public education program aimed at informing CALD communities about schemes such as the introduction of paid maternity leave through avenues such as community radio, ethno-specific organisations and migrant resource centres’.[148]

 

Recommendation 60
	That the Government ensure that CALD women receive the appropriate information about all employment related initiatives such as paid maternity leave.

 

Parental leave

10.84           The Productivity Commission released the report on 28 February 2009 on Paid Parental Leave: Support for Parents with Newborn Children and the Government is currently developing strategies for the introduction of these policies. The Paid Parental leave Scheme to be introduced from 1 January 2011 will largely adopt the recommendations of the Productivity Commission. Accordingly the Committee has not provided detailed comments in this report but acknowledge this is a key feature referred to in large proportion of the submissions to the inquiry.

10.85           Australia was the second last OECD country to implement a national paid maternity leave scheme. A study in the United Kingdom has found that ‘not only the availability, but the duration and generosity of paid maternity leave affected the likelihood of mothers returning to their employer after the birth of a child’.[149]

10.86           The ACT Government now also has leave for grandparents:

The recent introduction of Grandparental leave with up to 52 weeks leave without pay to be granted over a three year period to permanent full or part time staff and to long-term temporary staff who are immediate family grandparents, step-grandparents, grandparents through adoption or through their children taking parental responsibility under a law of a State or Territory.[150]

10.87           While the benefits of the introduction of paid parental are obvious, there are still a number of issues.

10.88           The Kingsford Legal Centre has found that women feel vulnerable when pregnant and that:

because of the increased demands on income and the awareness that obtaining a new job will be much harder than continuing in an existing position. This gives employers greater bargaining power and many clients will recount ongoing harassment and loss of conditions which they endure in the hope of staying in employment. Participation in the workforce for these women is hence seriously compromised.[151]

10.89           In relation to the rights of women returning to work after maternity the Kingsford Legal Centre commented that there is a need for clear and thorough education about employers responsibilities:

Some of the things that we were very clear on from our experience with our clients were that employers often are not aware particularly of their obligations, especially small employers. They seem to either not be aware or not be able to deal with the issue when it comes up. They might not have turned their mind to it. They might not have thought about how they would deal with it. It puts them in quite a defensive position.[152]

10.90            The Kingsford Legal Centre would like to see an independent body to assess the workplace, provide advice to employers and under take any necessary prosecution of repeat offenders as currently the onus is on individuals to take action.[153] Individuals seeking individual remedies is not an effective approach to achieving systemic change.[154]

10.91           Further, the Working Women’s Centres pointed out that unpaid maternity leave does not count as service in the calculation of long service leave entitlements.[155]

Also women under these stresses, may use up all their sick leave and recreational leave entitlements, meaning they are unable to be paid for further days of leave taken because of ill health or family commitments resulting in decreased income.[156]

Table 10.3     Key Employment Statistics for Tourism NT

	2002/03	03/04	04/05	05/06	06/07
Total paid staff	98	128	149	133	133
% female	84	86	81	74	77
Miscellaneous leave days	NA	NA	8.2	13.1	27.8

 

10.92           Tourism NT provided the above table to illustrate the impact of miscellaneous leave entitlements on organisations.[157]

Day care and after school care

10.93           Many submissions referred to the need for accessible affordable and appropriate child care as a significant issue for mothers attempting to find permanent or part-time casual employment.[158] The limited range available and cost of child care can impact on the decision to return to work.[159]

10.94           DEEWR defined childcare as:

arrangements made for the care of children under 12 years of age. Formal care is regulated child care away from the child’s home. Informal care is non-regulated child care either in the child’s home or elsewhere.[160]

10.95           DEEWR listed the main types of Commonwealth support for childcare as:

n  direct financial assistance to families to help reduce the cost of care (Child Care Benefit (CCB) and Child Care Tax Rebate (CCTR));

n  financial assistance to certain types of child care services in terms of establishment and operating costs;

n  funding of various quality assurance and professional support mechanisms for child care providers;

n  extra support in remote and rural areas for both providers and families;

n  extra support for those with special needs; and

n  funding of various information services.[161]

10.96           Based on September 2007 data, the ABS reported that for almost a third of the number of women who were not in the labour force but wanted to work the main reason they were not working was due to caring for children.[162]

10.97           Child care particularly in regional areas is a key factors in preventing women from returning to work and was described as ‘falling neatly in the gap between government and companies’ but it is a key consideration preventing people from returning to work.[163]

As long as flexible work arrangements depends on an individual woman’s ability to negotiate then it is unlikely that pay equity or equitable working conditions will be obtained. The ability to negotiate can be diminished by numerous external factors such as the availability and affordability of childcare, after school care provisions as well as individual personal communication skills and knowledge.[164]

10.98           The Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy argued that the lack of available of child care is exacerbated in rural and regional areas. The Institute recommended several measures involving government and business to address the issue of child care including:

n  extending Fringe Benefits Tax exemptions to all employer sponsored child care costs, not just employer-run child care centres;

n  ensuring funding of adequate child care facilities in regional and remote areas particularly where there is projected growth;

n  encouraging partnership arrangements between business and child care centres or family day care providers for centres to provide services compatible with mining rosters; and

n  encouraging employers to jointly operate child care centres for employees.[165]

10.99           As the provision of child care continues to be a barrier to women participating in the workforce, the Government in cooperation with employers should work towards a system of child care that provides women with the greatest opportunity to enter, or re-enter, the workforce.

 

Recommendation 61
	That the Government review existing policies to encourage and assist employers in the provision of child care facilities.

 

10.100       In countries where there are better child care arrangements, there is a significantly higher participation rate of women in the workforce.[166] The European approach to child care is much more flexible and the cost of child care is based on household income.[167] There is a higher birth rate in countries which provide good social supports to families.[168] There is the need to:

… change the culture of where people have huge slabs of time away from the workplace, but making the workplace so much easier for people to stay in and want to be in, and able to manage in.[169]

10.101       Although Australia and Canada have many similarities in social, demographic and economic characteristics, Canada has a higher workforce participation rate for women.[170] Australia’s part-time work rates are almost double those of Canada:

Canada giving tax deductions for childcare costs going back at least a decade. So the first comment I would make is that the introduction of those measures in Australia recently is likely to be beneficial. They have a bite, especially in terms of women’s financial rewards from moving from part-time to full-time work.

Secondly, maternity leave is another critical difference between the two countries. Canada is rated as a country with amongst the most generous maternity and paternity leave provisions ... The available international research evidence suggests that that is promoting continued involvement in paid work for women.[171]

10.102       The unequal sharing of caring and other work household reflect the expectation of Australians.[172]

In Australia we have a very ambivalent view about women in the paid workforce. We think, yes, it is good that women work, but we do not really think it should be their prime concern: ‘Yes, they should work, and maybe part time is okay, but their prime business is really looking after the family.’ That attitude is not only societal; it is very much there in the workplace. In terms of current discussions about downsizing of workplaces, I think one of the very real risks is that there is an assumption that, whatever else we do, we must preserve those traditional male breadwinner models.[173]

10.103       The Australian Bureau for Statistics commented that it is the age of the youngest child that determines the number of hours the mother will work.[174] It is usually women who change their working patterns to look after primary aged school children but after-school-hours care ceases for children in secondary school.[175] A survey conducted by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia listed as the major barrier to women’s participation in the workforce as, child care and maternity leave and, employment flexibility as significant barriers but pay equity and continuing professional education were not seen as insurmountable barriers.[176]

10.104       A Newspoll national survey of 526 parents, conducted for the National Foundation for Australian Women, reported the priorities of parents balancing work and child care are more flexible work conditions for themselves and their partners and access to school vacation programs.[177]

10.105       Out–of-school care is a barrier to supporting women wishes to re enter the workforce.[178] Currently the system does not accommodate appropriate activities for older children and would be improved if out-of-school facilities included quiet facilities which could operate as homework centres.[179]

10.106       In 2005, the Australian Bureau of Statistics Child Care Survey identified a need for additional before and after school care, long day care and occasional care.[180] There must be an age appropriate range of services.[181]

Australian women with children report that child care availability/accessibility (including care for children of school age) is the main reason they do not seek paid work or (have a) disincentive to increase their hours of paid work.[182]

10.107       Of the 4 664 700 female employees in June 2008, 1 397 500 had children under 15 years of age.[183] There is a lack of data on care arrangements for older children or on the benefits of outside-school-hours care.[184] Security for Women commented on the emphasis on care arrangement for infants and preschool children and added that there is lack of availability of affordable, accessible, acceptable quality care for school aged children (6-15 years) out of school hours.[185]

10.108       Another strategy was suggested by Women Into Politics who supported encouraging employers to allow some hours to be worked from home.[186] The Brisbane City Council for example has a workplace agreement that enables workers to work from home the hours of their choice outside normal business hours to suit their individual circumstances at ordinary rates of pay.[187] If the employer request they work outside normal business hours, then penalty wage rates apply.[188] However, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Western Australia has found that there is a degree of nervousness among some employers because of the potential for occupational health and safety issues.[189]

Government responsibilities

10.109       The Commonwealth agencies responsible for policy development for out of school care are the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations and the Australian Sports Commission. Portfolio responsible is with the Parliamentary Secretary for Early Childhood Education and Care is with the Prime Minister and the Minister for Youth and Sport is within the Health and Ageing. Security for Women expressed the view that ‘this arrangement fails to provide adequate Ministerial focus on the issues surrounding appropriate care during term and vacation times for children and young people of school age.[190] Security for Women suggested that the Ministerial arrangements at the Federal level be reviewed to provide a clear focus on out of school care and that placing the issue on the COAG agenda may improve cooperation.[191]

 

Recommendation 62
	That the Government assign the responsibility out of school care to a specific portfolio to provide a focus for policy development and consideration and cooperation with the States and Territories.

 

10.110       The State and Territory governments have responsibility for registration and quality control of programs for out of school hours and the arrangements for Commonwealth support vary with the jurisdiction.[192] The Commonwealth National Child Care Accreditation has a quality assurance program for those eligible to receive the Commonwealth Child Care Benefit, however, parents can claim the benefit through Centrelink[193] or the tax concessions available.[194]

Parents wishing to use non-registered services which may be more suited to the age and needs, and attractive to the preferences of slightly older school aged children – adventure, sport, arts, theatre, music, culture, amongst other interest areas – are not able to access any of these benefits or payments to defray costs to the parent.[195]

10.111       Security for Women suggested that OSHC services be expanded; that there be additional resources and:

The inadequacy of OSHC including services for young people up to school leaving age be recognised as a major disadvantage to women’s workforce participation and career development.[196]

10.112       In 2007, the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission recommended that State and Territory governments:

… introduce a scheme of financial incentives for primary and secondary schools to introduce outside school hours activities with the aim of enabling all schools to be able to offer education and care to school aged children under the age of 16 during the hours of 8.00 am to 6.00 pm.[197]

10.113       Further, in 2007 HREOC recommended that federal, state and territory governments:

Offer coordinated grant based funding for community based organisations, school and children’s services to establish innovative projects which provide age appropriate activities for high school aged children and young people before and after school and during school holidays.[198]

10.114       Further, child care may not be available during the times when training is available those studying part-time, particularly those wishing to return to work full time.[199] Particular emphasis was placed on those requiring child care services for those who work irregular hours.[200] For parents who are working , there is inadequate programs available for children with disabilities.[201]

10.115       On 28 February 2008, a New South Wales Parliamentary Committee commenced an inquiry into ‘Children and Young People 9-14 years in NSW’ which will investigate these issues in that jurisdiction. Evidence to that inquiry commented that some parents send the children to local libraries after school in lieu of other child care arrangements.[202]

10.116       There is evidence that parents adjust their working hours to be home after school hours, therefore in terms of greater productivity:

If parents who are capable of greater workforce participation and seek that are impeded in doing it by the lack of access to affordable and locally accessible services then that is something that needs consideration.[203]

Job security

10.117       The National Council of Women of Australia saw job security as a key aspects in encouraging the constructive participation of women in the labour market.[204] Women value job security most highly.[205] Women tend to stay with one employer longer than men.

The disproportionate representation of women in casual and part time employment is strongly linked to their primary responsibility for unpaid work in the home, caring responsibilities and associated breaks from paid employment ... However, the prevalence of women in insecure part time work in low paid jobs and industries is a cause for concern.[206]

10.118       The economic rationale for the retention of women in the workforce is that there is ‘a business imperative and it is linked to an ageing workforce and long-term skills shortages’.[207] EOWA observed a trend in casuals being offered permanent part-time positions ‘as an incentive to retain the investment that they have put into these people’.[208] Tourism Alliance Victoria commented that seasonality is a major challenge for the tourism industry and that:

it has become apparent that finding and retaining skilled labour are consistent problems for tourism businesses. Bringing mothers back into the workforce after maternity leave is vital for skill and knowledge retention. Re-integration of mothers into the workforce and better support of flexible employment arrangements (such as more affordable and available child-care) are essential for increasing mothers’ participation in the workforce.[209]

Skills development and training

10.119       Pay inequality and other discriminatory work conditions affect worker’s choice in complex ways and ‘can be too easily dismissed with the claim that it is an inevitable consequence of women’s own preferences for reduced hours of paid work while their children are young’.[210] In relation to training EOWA has found that 35 per cent of women were dissatisfied with the career paths provided by employers and 16 per cent would like to see more learning and development opportunities.[211]

Compared with full time work, part time jobs have been found to be lower paid; heavily casualised thereby excluding part time employees from standard employment benefits; have fewer protective rights; are less secure; and lack access to training and career development opportunities.[212]

10.120       The Brisbane City Council suggested that ‘it would be beneficial to run a government sponsored education campaign focussed on providing fair access to training and promotion for employees who have flexible work arrangements such as reduced hours.[213] Another suggestion was to include additional categories in the National Work and Family Awards on father friendly policies and carer friendly workplaces.[214] The Warringah Council suggested a ‘re-introduction’ process following a period away from work:

This could include programmed training activities to revitalise skills and knowledge relevant to job success and reinforcing employee self-confidence, as well as options such as flexibility in how and when training is offered to women, so that family responsibilities are not unduly compromised.[215]

10.121       Flexibility including the full range of employment options and education for older workers are important for those wishing to re enter the workforce.[216] Businesses are encouraged

… to run training and development programs for all women who are returning to the workforce and to ensure that there are education and training opportunities for women to advance in their careers and to understand what opportunities might be available to them.[217]

10.122          A study in Western Australia found that women do not have equal access to training because there is less training in feminised industries although there was more training at higher levels and employers tend to provide training for fulltime and permanent employees.[218] Department of Consumer and Employment Protection, Western Australia referred to:

A lack of career progression and training is a key cause of the gender pay gap. Access to training and other career development opportunities such as quality part time work plays an important role in career progression and pay determination. One of the fundamental strategies for improving pay equity is improving women's workplace experience and this is influenced by the level of acceptance of the way women's careers interact with their child rearing responsibilities.[219]

10.123       The University of Western Sydney made the point that:

The effectiveness of training available to women is also an important consideration. Organisational training audits, such as that undertaken at UWS, may reveal that women are accessing training and other professional development opportunities, but are neither progressing in their career nor earning comparable wages to their male counterparts.[220]

10.124       Further, the Diversity Council Australia believes that:

Women are more likely to access training opportunities which help them undertake their current role better rather than position them for promotion and therefore higher remuneration. Additionally, women are more likely to rely on flexible work arrangements including part-time work. Such roles have less access to training and development, which in turn reduces women’s opportunities to access increased remuneration.[221]

10.125       Dr Christine Short stated that:

The key stakeholders I interviewed certainly felt women did not receive fair access to training and promotion. The research I reviewed confirmed this opinion. Again this is an insidious effect of what is termed “doing gender” – society consciously or not feeling women who are also mothers should have their children as their main focus and do not belong in the workplace except in peripheral part time jobs. Current EEO legislation puts on the onus on individuals to bring cases against powerful employers and it is only the rare brave individual that puts themselves through the process. What we need is legislation that puts the onus on employers to show that they are providing as equal access to training and promotional opportunities to women as they do to men.[222]

10.126       The Local Government Association of Queensland commented that:

… part-time people will not take up the training. That is because often they almost feel guilty: ‘I’m only here three days a week and I’d feel guilty if I took one of those days and went and trained for myself.’ We have to overcome those cultural issues. That is in the minds of not just the managers, which is important, but also some of those people.[223]

10.127       Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, Queensland Branch commented that the current arrangements were unsatisfactory because they relied on the good will of the employer.[224] The New South Wales Office for Women’s Policy saw the ‘award modernisation process being conducted by the AIRC is an opportunity to use the award system to promote training and skills development’.[225] The NSW Office for Women’s Policy noted that there are general training provisions in a number of NSW awards.[226] and commented that:

Industry-based awards should contain a comprehensive range of provisions dealing with hours, wages, reimbursements, training allowances and on-the-job training, as well as the employment of apprentices and trainees.[227]

10.128       The New South Wales Office for Women’s Policy added that:

 Further, we support the provision of adequate industrial arrangements in awards for training and the establishment of viable career paths, and consider that the award modernisation process offers opportunities to achieve this. Where there are existing training provisions in Notional Agreements Preserving a State Award (NAPSAs) we submit that these should be consolidated to make their importance clear and their meaning readily understood.[228]

10.129       The Department of Consumer and Employment Protection, Western Australia commented that:

Career progression for women may be restricted by a lack of training and development opportunities. Organisations may need to place emphasis on all employees, including part time employees, undertaking training and development opportunities that are not just relevant to their current position, but also to future career development and promotional roles. The availability of training and development opportunities should be widely publicised to ensure that all employees are able to express an interest in participating. This helps to overcome possible inequity due to managerial assumptions about employee suitability, interest and availability for training.[229]

Promotional opportunities

10.130       One of the factors that women consider to enter or re-enter the workforce.

The causes of poor career progression amongst part-time women, and women utilising flexible work practices to balance work with family responsibilities, were found to be varied, complex and ingrained and included the poor quality of many part-time jobs, lack of affordable child-care, and a workplace culture that rewards length of service and time-commitment over ability and merit. Ensuring that part-time work is not incompatible with career success is a key pay equity issue.[230]

10.131       A study by Cooklin et al found a lack of knowledge and a high level of misunderstanding among employers and employees in relation to women’s rights at work when having children.[231]

10.132       The New South Wales Office for Women’s Policy commented that:

Gender pay inequities not only affect the utilisation of human capital and women’s skills in the Australian labour market. Women’s working patterns, gender segregation and systemic discrimination also affect women’s potential in the labour market, and can see women disadvantaged in the acquisition of human capital. Accordingly, pay equity strategies that reduce gendered skill and human capital gaps, and improve the effective and competitive functioning of labour markets, can contribute to increasing the productive capacity of the economy.[232]

10.133       The University of Western Sydney commented that:

Career progression is often reliant on informal networking which tends to occur out of business hours without due consideration for the inability to participate of those with caring responsibilities. Ensuring that networking opportunities are available during times when women can participate, and actively encouraging women to take these experiences will increase women’s opportunities of career advancement.[233]

10.134       In nursing there is an overrepresentation of males in management and administration roles but this can reflect a number of factors. There are fewer men and they may be more easily noticed, administrative work may be more appealing to men and they move away from bedside care and there is a preference for full time positions in management.[234]

10.135       However, in the education sector, the National Tertiary Education Industry Union reported a cluster of female employees at the lower levels of the general staff classification structure with women’s access to promotion and senior positions remaining unequal.[235]

The promotion process is fraught with obstacles and difficulties for part-time employees. Many are anxious that to apply for a new position on a part-time basis places them at a disadvantage, particularly when traditional work organisation and traditional managers favour full-time work and full-time employees.[236]

10.136       This is not because women are not committed to their careers: women in higher education are just as career-oriented and ambitious as men. However, women are more likely to be working part-time than men, and to have breaks in employment, with negative influences on their chances for promotion. It is well established that interruptions in employment such as those for childbirth and child raising reduce women’s attachment to the labour force and can be barriers to women's career progression. Clearly, these barriers have been working effectively to restrict women’s access to senior university positions. Furthermore, explanations for women’s disadvantage are multi-factoral, definitions of success and merit have largely been defined by men in academe, and women adjust their preferences in response to the barriers they face.[237]

10.137       Government Skills Australia reported that in 2007, 46 per cent of women working part time in local government raised job selection and promotion as issues referring to the lack of career structures and part time work in senior positions.[238] The Women in Local Government Management National Strategy has now been adopted by the Local Government Management Association in response to National Framework for Women in Local Government – The Way Forward.[239]

Attraction and retention

10.138       Employers now recognise attracting and retaining women in the workforce as an important business issue, however, the issues listed were:

n  A lack of family friendly policies;

n  Difficulties in returning to work after maternity leave, such as the availability of work at the same level skill level;

n  Limited availability of quality part-time work;

n  Problems faced by immigrant and refugee women, such as race discrimination;

n  A lack of appropriate training and education for Indigenous women; and

n  Limited opportunities and poor transport for women in regional and remote areas.[240]

10.139       Women’s participation in the workforce is likely to increase over the next two decades[241] Honda Australia Motorcycle & Power Equipment Pty Ltd made the point that an organisation not employing people based on skills not gender ‘will be at a distinct competitive disadvantage when trying to either employ or retain suitably qualified and skilled employees.[242] The National Australia Bank in seeking to attract and retain the best talent looked to more flexible work practices.[243]

10.140       Mackay Sugar reported that during the labour shortages in the region, there has been an increase in the number of women applying for and accepting positions with the company, many in non-traditional areas.[244]

10.141       Women re-entering the workforce have addition skills learn in parenting and volunteering etc. Recognition of prior learning could assist many women wishing to return to the workforce, however, Dr Karmel commented that there are similar costs in properly assessing someone’s skills and providing them with a course and the successful completion of the course can also boost their confidence.[245] Women are not marketing their true competencies and do not seem to understand that this is the language of the workplace.[246] There needs to be some sort of process to have the competencies recognised in a formal training sense. There is already a system in place where apprenticeship and traineeship organisations can go into the workplace and work through the competencies[247] but this is after they have been employed. These assessments can be done for people not already employed.[248]

10.142       Whether the hours of employment suit the other commitments and responsibilities of potential employees.

In a recent Australian Human Resources Institute publication (September, 2008) nearly one in three respondents (28 per cent) observed that the career opportunities of employees in their organisation have at some stage been negatively affected by being a new parent or expecting a child. A total of 40 per cent of the sample reported unenthusiastically on practical return-to work arrangements for new mothers in their organization, while 28 per cent reported fair and a further 6 per cent said arrangements were non-existent. The survey showed that return to work practices varies significantly within an organisation depending on the relative enthusiasm of particular bosses. There are few requirements for employers to offer equal opportunity to women in these situations.[249]

10.143       Morgan Stanley Australia Ltd suggested the publication of a guide on taking maternity leave and the subsequent integration into the work environment.[250] The Sims Group commented that:

The transition from employment to Maternity Leave and back to employment is a complex issue for all working mothers. Whilst employers are obligated to ensure employment is available, some females returning to work have concerns regarding ‘going back into their old roles’ particularly if those roles had historically been demanding and would not provide an acceptable level of work/life balance. If the demands on work/life balance for these employees have changed the capacity to return to a different role may be a more attractive option.[251]

10.144       It may not be recognised that motherhood can assist in the development of efficiency and organisation skills. Further, returning to work can provide an opportunity ‘to learn “new or different” skills, encourage and challenge “breaking out” to find new career paths/options ‘ which may meet the needs of greater flexibility for women returning to work while providing ‘meaningful, stimulating and “real”’ roles.[252]

Retaining skilled workers

10.145       In addition to the raft of family friendly policies, the City of Melbourne has a Keep in Touch program to assist employees on parental leave to reintegrate and keep up with changes in the workplace.[253] Another initiative for the City of Melbourne is that executive can spread the 14 weeks maternity pay over the year to enable them to retain the use of the company vehicle.[254]

10.146       The University of Central Queensland appreciates the need to attract and retain qualified staff and have in place policies and principles to support equality but career paths and participation rates of female academics are influenced by other factors such as balancing parenting and academia and factors outside the direct control of the university.[255] CQUniversity also emphasised the impact of market factors such as demand and supply of academics on remuneration levels:

CQUniversity currently has a number of positions that receive a market loading allowance including trades, technical support and IT positions. The reality is that CQUniversity operates in a domestically and globally competitive environment where skill shortages and staff attraction and retention factors can influence remuneration strategy.[256]

10.147       The reasons for women’s departure from particular jobs may be for a number of reasons and is often not disclosed upon resignation.[257]

For those female employees who access parental leave, in most cases it was in their financial interest to remain out of the workforce rather than to return and pay their own child care fees. This affected the retention in the industry.[258]

10.148       Work by Grimshaw and Rubery (2007) in the United Kingdom found that:

One indication of a mismatch between quality of work and the respective wage is pervasive evidence across a variety of sectors that businesses face significant costs caused by high staff turnover and unfilled vacancies. Costs include: recruiting and inducting staff; difficulties meeting customer targets; loss of orders and intangible costs of loss of organisational memory; and costly temporary agency work to fill vacancies. DfES estimated average cost to employers of each leaver as 2,500 pounds for sales staff and 4,300 pounds for managers.

Existing staff, forced to cope with heavier workloads and low morale, feel resentful and eventually leave, perpetuating a downwards spiral (DfES 2002).’ [259]

10.149       Staff turnover can be expensive. In a survey of female workers conducted by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Western Australia in 2008, comparable pay was ranked second as a key issue for women in relation to attraction and retention of women in the workforce with flexible working hours ranked most important.[260]

10.150       Other factors ranked in order were career development, training and education, paid maternity leave, affordable child care, accessible child care facilities and salary sacrifice of child care expenses.[261]