A sorry story

Posted by Jenni Colwill on 16 February 2010 | 1 Comments

Tags: Pauline Hanson, EOWA, inequity, Australian women,

Tony Abbott may be disappointed to learn that Pauline Hanson is moving to the UK, but on reading the findings of the Review into the Equal Opportunities in the Workplace Legislation I am almost tempted to go with her.

Hanson says in her defence that 'the land of opportunity is no more applicable' and maybe she is right. No - I haven't quite gone to Planet Pauline - there are just too many differences - but I also feel disappointed with the way Australia has changed, specifically in regard to the treatment of women.

Deeply disappointed.

I find it difficult to understand why half the population continues to experience discrimination, and why our political masters think it is OK to continue to ignore the evidence.

And the depressing evidence is there under their noses.

The description of the current trends and characteristics of women in the labour force provided in the government's Consultation Report on the Review of the Equal Opportunity Legislation has really brought me down.

The report states that the following sorry story (be warned, it is a long list):

• The Australian paid workforce is highly gender segregated, and female dominated industries have been historically undervalued;
• Occupational segregation between men and women continues to exist, and male-dominated occupations continue to attract higher remuneration than female-dominated occupations;
• Women are less likely to be in leadership positions within organisations;
• Only 10.7 percent of executive managers in the ASX200 are women;
• At the board director level, there are more than 10 men to every one woman;
• At CEO level, there are 49 male CEOs for every female CEOs in the ASX200;
• Australia has a lower participation rate for mothers with young children than the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries of Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States;
• Women are much less likely to work full-time than men (54.9 percent compared to 84.1 percent), and comprise over 70 percent of the part-time workforce;
• Despite gains in participation rates over time, women's earnings remain persistently lower than men's'Over a lifetime, pay inequity places women at a considerable disadvantage compared with men;
• Studies suggest that about 50 percent of the pay gap cannot be fully explained by differences in these factors and can be attributed to discrimination in the workplace;
• Long and inflexible working hours may preclude many workers with family responsibilities from pursuing particular career paths or job opportunities;
• When the combined impact of paid and unpaid work is considered, overall, women work longer hours than men;
• Maintaining a connection to the paid workforce following the birth of a child is a determinant of future employment patterns and earnings;
• Experiences of sex discrimination and sexual harassment, fuelled by discriminatory stereotypes about gender roles, continue to pervade women's experiences of paid work' The Australian Human Rights Commission conducted a national telephone survey in 2008 and found that 22 percent of women aged 18 to 64 years have experienced some form of sexual harassment in the workplace during their lifetime;
• Nearly one in every five pregnant women experiences at least one difficulty in their workplace in relation to being pregnant;
• Australia lags behind many other developed countries in terms of women's workforce participation rates;
• When compared to other OECD countries with similar tertiary education levels, Australia has the fifth largest pay gap;
• Australia's ranking in the Global Gender Index of the World Economic Forum (a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress) has slipped from 15th place in 2006 to 20th place in 2009'On these measures, Australia is significantly behind New Zealand (5th place), South Africa (6th place) and United Kingdom (15th place)

The report also tells you why it is important to change all this:

• Australian women's increased workforce participation has been a major factor in leading to better economic security for women. Paid work gives women the opportunity to ensure their own financial security, contribute to the family budget and secure their economic future into retirement.
• While paid work improves women's choices and independence, it is also fundamental to workplace productivity and economic growth.

Paid work is also widely recognised as key to addressing disadvantage and to contributing to social inclusion.

So there it is. A very sorry story indeed. No wonder I feel like running away sometimes. But not with Pauline.