Employment
9.1 The Australian Government respects the choices of Australian parents about their decisions to work or stay at home to care for family members. The Government believes Australia must value the unpaid work of caring, predominantly done by women, as well as supporting opportunities for their increased workforce participation.
9.2 The number of Australian women in the labour force has reached record levels over recent years. Despite growth in women's labour force participation, Australia is ranked twentieth out of 30 OECD countries for the participation of women in the workforce, behind the United States, the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Relative to men, women's labour force participation and earnings are lower, especially for Indigenous women.
9.3 The Australian Government is concerned about the lower workforce participation rates of Australian women compared to other countries and is committed to achieving reform in the areas that impede women's chances to take up job opportunities. Workplace arrangements should deliver flexibility for employers and employees, fair wages and conditions, productive work practices, and a balance between work and family responsibilities.
9.4 Tax cuts that started in July 2008 are an important first step to longer-term tax and welfare reforms, which will provide more women with opportunities to work. To address barriers to workforce participation faced by women with young children, the Australian Government is also making quality child care more affordable and more accessible.
9.5 Since Australia's last report on CEDAW in 2003, the workplace relations system has undergone significant change. Most recently, following the 2007 national election the Australian Government announced significant changes to the workplace relations system, designed to achieve greater fairness and flexibility for Australian employers and employees. The new system is expected to be fully operational by 2010. Among other things, National Employment Standards will be introduced which will include a safety net of minimum conditions, providing for additional unpaid parental leave, and the introduction of a right for parents to request flexible working arrangements such as part-time work and working from home arrangements until their child reaches school age. This will help facilitate mothers' workforce participation.
Women's labour force participation
9.6 As at June 2008, around 4.83 million women were employed in the labour force, representing 45.1 per cent of Australia's total labour force.55 The participation rate for women reached 58.3 per cent in June 2008, up from 55.5 per cent in November 2003.56 The unemployment rate for women has fallen from 6.0 per cent in November 2003 to 4.5 per cent in June 2008.57 Despite the growth in women's labour force participation, it remains substantially lower than men's participation (72.5 per cent in June 2008). The unemployment rate of 4.5 per cent for women also remains higher than the unemployment rate for men (4.0 per cent in June 2008).58
Gendered segmentation of the workforce
9.7 The labour force in Australia continues to be segmented by gender. For instance, in May 2008 men comprised 86 per cent of total employment in the non-service based industries of construction, mining and electricity; gas; and water supply. In contrast, women comprised nearly 80 per cent of total employment in health and community services, and 70 per cent of total employment in education. Nearly 60 per cent of employed women worked in the service-based industries of health and community services, retail trade, property and business services, and education.59
9.8 In December 2006, the Office for Women, in partnership with the Minerals Council of Australia, produced Unearthing New Resources, a publication that examines barriers to women in the mining industry and includes strategies to attract and retain female employees in the minerals industry. A series of seminars were held in capital cities to promote the research findings to mining companies.
Gender pay gap
9.9 The Australian full-time average weekly ordinary time earnings in February 2008 were $1202.70 for men and $1,008.10 for women, representing a gender gap of 16.2 per cent.60
9.10 In January 2008, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency released the first Gender Distribution of Top Earners report, which examined the remuneration of the five most highly paid executives in the top 200 companies on the Australian Stock Exchange. The report found that women occupy 7 per cent of the top-earner positions (80 positions out of 1,136). In chief executive officer positions, a female earns two-thirds of her male counterpart's salary.61
9.12 The Australian Government is committed to achieving pay equity. Soon after coming into office the Government began to phase out the existing workplace relations legislation and introduced the Workplace Relations Amendment (Transition to Forward with Fairness) Act 2008, as the first step to achieving pay equity. The Australian Government has asked the Australian Industrial Relations Commission to prepare modern awards to ensure they provide a fair and flexible minimum safety net. In preparing modern awards, the Commission has been asked to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination including on the grounds of sex, marital status and family responsibilities and to promote the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value.
9.13 Furthermore, on 26 June 2008, the Australian Government asked the House of Representatives Employment and Workplace Relations Committee to inquire into and report on pay equity and associated issues related to increasing female participation in the workforce. Issues to be considered in the inquiry include the adequacy of current data to reliably monitor employment changes that may impact on pay equity issues; the need for education and information among employers, employees and trade unions in relation to pay equity issues; current structural arrangements in the negotiation of wages that may impact disproportionately on women; and the need for further legislative reform to address pay equity in Australia.
9.14 See also information on the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, which can be found in paragraphs 2.22 to 2.24.
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Working to improve women's workforce participation
9.15 The Australian and state and territory governments have a range of initiatives aimed at improving women's workforce participation, including programs specifically targeting disadvantaged women. Since Australia’s last report on CEDAW in 2003, a number of new policies and strategies have been implemented to support increased labour force participation.
9.16 The Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Welfare to Work and other Measures) Act 2005 and the Family and Community Services Legislation Amendment (Welfare to Work) Act 2005 came into effect on 1 July 2006. The legislation introduced part-time participation requirements for parents on parenting payment when their youngest chid turns six years of age. With an allocation of $11 million over four years, a high-eve inter-departmental committee, including the Executive Director of the Office for Women, is evaluating the Welfare to Work measures. Based on early Welfare to Work evaluation, more principle carer parents are finding work. Some of this effect could be attributed to good economic conditions and changes in payment conditions, but there is strong evidence that the introduction of new part-time participation requirements also made a significant contribution.
9.17 In June 2008, the Australian Government established a participation taskforce to examine whether there are better ways of balancing participation requirements for parents with their family and community responsibilities. As part of its considerations, the taskforce met with parent groups and considered a number of issues raised by parents about their participation requirements. The report has been provided to the Government and the recommendations are currently being considered.
9.18 The Australian Government contracts a range of employment service providers that support jobseekers, including women with and without children, to obtain work or to develop their capacity to undertake paid employment. The eve of service provided to jobseekers is targeted according to their relative eve of disadvantage in the labour market. Parents and carers on income support can access additional services to aid their transition into part-time paid employment. From 1 July 2009, new employment services will be introduced in Australia, which will provide better, more tailored assistance to disadvantaged jobseekers and pace greater emphasis on helping employers fill job vacancies.
9.19 In response to ski shortages experienced across the Australian economy the Government has committed to deliver 630,000 new training paces over five years in areas of ski shortage. Of the total additional vocational education and training paces funded over the next four years, more than 238,000 have been allocated to people who are outside the workforce, including parents on income support.
9.20 State and territory governments run a range of programs and initiatives to hep women who are returning to the workforce after caring for children on a fu-time basis. The Australian Capita Territory Government's Women's Return to Work Grants program helps women prepare for, find and keep jobs after fu-time chid rearing responsibilities. The Victorian Government's program, Jobs For Victoria, also involves initiatives to hep women re-enter the workforce.
9.21 Each year as part of International Women's Day, the Northern Territory Government gives a grant of $1,000 each to four Territory women who have had a long absence from the workforce, to support them to undertake accredited training. The Queensland Government supports women's professional development opportunities through mentoring programs and promotes flexible work practices for mothers in the workplace.
Caring responsibilities and labour force participation
9.21 Caring responsibilities continue to affect women's labour force participation. A labour force survey in 2007 found women comprised 61.5 per cent of the 1.65 million Australians who wanted a job or preferred to work more hours. Among those women who wanted a job or preferred more hours, 44.1 per cent were not available to start work within the next four weeks. For 40 per cent of these women, caring for children or for other adults were the main reasons given for not being available or actively looking for work or more hours.62
9.22 Another survey found that 38 per cent of Australian women who were employed before giving birth left their job after the birth. The main reason given for leaving work was to 'care for chid'.63 The first year of an infant's life is when mothers are east likely to be employed. Data from 2004 show that ess than one-quarter of a mothers with infants aged between three and five months were employed. This proportion increased to just over half of a mothers when the chid had reached one year of age. Men's labour force participation rates are independent of these factors.64
Balancing work and family
9.23 Balancing work with family responsibilities is a key issue for working women. When a chid is born, mothers are more likely than fathers to take eave from work to care for their chid. Most mothers take eave for six months or more. A 2005 survey showed that among Australian parents with children up to the age of 12 years, 73 per cent of mothers compared to 34 per cent of fathers reported using one of a number of working arrangements to hep with chid care responsibilities. Flexible working hours and working part-time were the most popular working arrangements.65
9.24 Women are more likely than men to be employed part-time, especially when they have dependent children. In April 2008, 71.1 per cent of a part-time workers were women. At the same time, part-time employment comprised 44.9 per cent of total employment for women.66 An Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency research report released in April 2008 showed that 45 per cent of women with children under the age of 13 years who are working part-time say they would work more hours in paid employment if they had better access to chid care.67 For more information on the Australian Government's commitment to chid care refer to paragraphs 9.31 to 9.35.
9.25 The Australian Government is supporting flexible working arrangements for working parents with a number of non-legislative strategies. These include funding assistance to small businesses to hep them meet the set-up costs of family-friendly working arrangements; providing business and industry-specific information to support family-friendly working arrangements; and publicly recognising organisations with outstanding flexible working arrangements through the National Work and Family Awards and Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency's annual Business Achievement Awards.
9.26 The states and territories have implemented programs to encourage work-life balance. South Australia's Strategic Pan in 2004 (updated in 2007) includes a 'target' to improve the quality of life of a South Australians through maintenance of a healthy work-life balance, enabling more men to have time for family commitments and more women to participate in paid work while better balancing family commitments. South Australia also established the Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into Balancing Work and life Responsibilities. The South Australian Government will respond to the committee's April 2008 report alter in the year.
9.27 launched in November 2003, the Victorian Government's Action Agenda for Work and Family Balance outlined initiatives to encourage work and family balance. It includes supporting industry to adopt practices that achieve better work and family balance, and demonstrating good practice in Victorian pubic sector employment. Findings from the Victorian Government's research project, Work and Family Balance in Regional Victoria on workplace conditions, benefits and balancing work and family responsibilities, is helping the state government and local governments to better assist families in regional areas balance work and family responsibilities. To promote quality part-time work, the Victorian Government has also released the Quality Part-Time Work Guidelines to hep managers implement this type of work.
9.28 In 2006, the Queensland Government amended its Industrial Relations Act 1999 to provide employees with a 'right to request' their employer to extend unpaid parental eave from 52 to 104 weeks, and permit an employee to return from parental eave on a part-time basis until their chid reaches school age. The amendments also mean that each year, an employee may use up to 10 days of persona eave, including accrued eave, to care for members of their immediate family or household who are sick or need care and support.
9.29 The Western Australian Government has undertaken a number of initiatives to foster and support work-life balance, including promotion of flexible work arrangements as a key attraction and retention strategy for large and small employers; and providing publications, resources and seminars. The Western Australian Department of Heath has established the State Heath Advisory Committee on Work life Balance and Creating Family Friendly Workplaces. The committee is developing a policy framework to enable cultural change in the workplace to attract and retain quality staff in the pubic heath care system.
9.30 Collective agreements across the Australian Capita Territory Government include a range of provisions which enhance work and family balance. They include the doubling to 10 days of eave for domestic partners on the birth of a chid, an increase of up to three years in unpaid eave following the birth of a child, and the right to part-time employment for up to three years after maternity leave.
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Supporting women with family responsibilities
Child care
9.31 The Australian Government helps families participate in the community's social and economic life by assisting them with child care costs through the Child Care Benefit and the Child Care Tax Rebate. Child Care Benefit is a payment made to families to help with the costs of approved or registered care. In July 2008, the Child Care Tax Rebate was increased from 30 per cent to 50 per cent of working families' out-of-pocket expenses for approved child care up to a limit of $7,500 per child per year.
9.32 Child care in Australia includes a number of different care types with different regulatory and funding mechanisms. A range of child care services receive Australian Government funding, including long day care, family day care, outside school hours care, mobile child care, and multifunctional Indigenous children's services.
9.33 To increase the supply of child care, the Government has committed to provide up to 260 early learning and care centres, which will be built on school grounds or community land where possible. Providing up to 13,000 full-time additional places, the centres will be established by 2014.
9.34 Jobs, Education and Training Child Care Fee Assistance provides extra help with the cost of approved child care for eligible parents (mostly women) to undertake activities such as job search, work, study or rehabilitation to help them enter or re-enter the workforce. Funding for this fee assistance will be extended, from up to one year study for multi-year courses, to up to two years.
Child Care Support program
9.35 In addition to the support provided to families, the Child Care Support program supports a diverse range of child care services. Funding is provided to establish child care services in high need rural, regional and Indigenous communities, as well as to help children with special needs.
Paid maternity leave
9.36 The Australian Government is not at present in a position to take the measures required by CEDAW's Article 11(2) to introduce 'maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits' throughout Australia.
9.37 Australia already has workplace arrangements and a social security safety net that jointly provides a comprehensive system of support for families at the time of birth of a child, and ensures that support for families is broad-based, practical and long-term. In particular, the $5,000 Baby Bonus recognises the extra costs associated with the birth or adoption of a child, including the loss of income while on unpaid maternity leave. More than one million Australian families have benefited from the payment since its introduction in 2004.
9.38 In 2008, the Government asked the Productivity Commission to consider models to improve support for parents in the labour force with newborn children. The inquiry will consider the economic, productivity and social costs and benefits of paid maternity, paternity and parental leave for parents, employers and the community. The Productivity Commission's report is due in February 2009. Following completion of the inquiry the Australian Government may, if appropriate, review Australia's reservation to Article 11(2).
9.39 The Australian Bureau of Statistics' Forms of Employment Survey November 2007 shows that in 2007, 45.4 per cent of female employees had access to paid maternity leave entitlements and 39.0 per cent of male employees had access to paid paternity leave entitlements. However, a further 21.3 per cent of employees did not know if they were entitled to paid maternity or paternity leave.68 The Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations' Workplace Agreements Database shows that at March 2008 over half of the women employed under current national collective agreements (51.1) have access to paid maternity leave.
9.40 The Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency reported that in 2007, 48.9 per cent of surveyed employers provided paid maternity or primary carer's leave, up from 35.6 per cent in 2003. In 2007, the agency reported that 38.5 per cent of its surveyed reporting organisations offered paid paternity leave or secondary carer's leave, up from 14.7 per cent in 2001.69
Preventing workplace bullying and discrimination
9.41 At the start of 2008, the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency launched its new Bullying and Harassment Prevention online training program. Employers can customise the program to their particular workplaces and policies, and protect employers, especially women, from bullying and discrimination in the workplace. In 2006, the Australian Public Service Commission published Respect: Promoting a culture free from harassment and bullying in the APS, a guide for public service leaders and employees to help foster a better understanding of respect, including strategies to address harassment and bullying.
Indigenous women's employment
9.42 Australia recognises that Indigenous employment participation is low and many communities cannot access job opportunities. Consistent with the CEDAW Committee's 2006 Concluding Comments in paragraph 30 about the inequality experienced by Indigenous women, the Australian Government is committed to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, and has set targets including halving the gap in employment outcomes within a decade.
9.43 In 2007, the estimated labour force participation rate for Indigenous women aged 15 years and over was lower (47.9 per cent) than for men (65.1 per cent).70 After a steady decline in the participation rate of Indigenous men and women in remote areas from 2002 to 2005, the participation rate increased for both in 2006, particularly for women (from 39.5 per cent to 45.1 per cent), but fell again in 2007.
9.44 The employment-to-population ratio of Indigenous females in remote areas decreased 17 percentage points between 2002 and 2005, and after increasing 5 percentage points in 2006, has fallen slightly to 38 per cent in 2007. However, the Indigenous labour force participation rate for women living in remote areas continues to be lower than for Indigenous women in major cities (52.0 per cent), and in regional areas (49.0 per cent).71
9.45 In 2007, the estimated unemployment rate for Indigenous women (14.7 per cent) was higher than the unemployment rate for Indigenous men (13.5 per cent). In 2003, the unemployment rate for Indigenous women was 20.2 per cent, suggesting a large decline in unemployment among Indigenous women over the four-year period. Despite this favourable trend, the unemployment rate of Indigenous women remains over three times the national female unemployment rate. The participation of Indigenous Australians in the Community Development Employment projects program reduces unemployment levels in Indigenous communities as program participants are classified as employed in national labour force statistics.
9.46 The Australian Government is developing a new strategy-the Indigenous Economic Development strategy-to build the strong foundations necessary for sustainable Indigenous economic development across Australia. Nation-wide consultations started in May 2008.
9.47 State and territory governments also have initiatives to improve the labour force participation of Indigenous Australians. For example, South Australia's Strategic Plan is working to reduce the gap between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous unemployment rates. The state government has also set targets to increase the participation of Indigenous people in the South Australian public sector, spread across all classifications and agencies, to 2 per cent by 2010 and maintain or better those levels through to 2014.
9.48 The Australian Government funds Community Development Employment projects to provide paid work primarily for unemployed Indigenous people living in remote and rural areas. The scheme funds Indigenous community organisations to pay participants working on community projects.72 As of 30 June 2008, 7,019 Indigenous women were participating in Community Development Employment projects, compared to 11,555 Indigenous men.
9.49 The Australian Government has developed a proposed model for a reformed Community Development Employment projects program and consultations on this began in October 2008.
9.50 The gross median weekly individual income of Indigenous Australians is about 59 per cent of the median weekly individual income of non-Indigenous Australians, and Indigenous women earn less than Indigenous men. These disparities largely reflect the lower incomes of employed Indigenous Australians-especially the lower incomes of Indigenous women-and the large share of the Indigenous population, particularly women, that is either unemployed or not in the labour force.73
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Workforce participation of women with disability
9.51 The Australian Government has focused on approaches, programs and policies that bring people with disability into the mainstream of economic and productive life by improving their access to employment and training services. Data indicate that in 2003,74 just over half of people with disability participated in the labour force, compared to about four in five people without a disability. Men with disability had higher rates of labour force participation (59.3 per cent) than women with disability (46.9 per cent). Employed women with disability are also more likely to be employed part-time, compared to employed men with disability who are most likely to be employed full-time.
9.52 In January 2008, the Australian Government announced an investment of $3.7 billion over three years from 1 July 2009 in a new generation of employment services. The new employment services system will mean more tailored assistance for jobseekers based on their level of disadvantage; will increase early assistance to the most disadvantaged jobseekers; and will better meet the skill needs of employers. Under the Employer Incentives strategy, the Australian Government also offers a number of incentives to encourage employers to employ people with disability, including help for deaf workers and with workplace modifications and recruitment.
9.53 The Australian Government is developing a national mental health and disability employment strategy, which will outline how policy and programs across the Australian and state and territory governments can better operate together to help people with disability and mental illness find and keep work.
9.54 The Northern Territory Government runs the Australians Working Together grants program (funded by the Australian Government), which provides financial support for pilot programs to help employment-disadvantaged Territorians, including people with disability, migrants and refugees, and young women at risk of long-term unemployment to access training and employment opportunities. In 2008, six of the eight funded programs had high female participation.
9.55 South Australia's Strategic Plan outlines targets to double the number of people with disabilities employed in the public sector by 2014.
Supporting women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds in employment
9.56 A number of state and territory government initiatives and policies aim to help women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds into paid employment. To better regulate and protect outworkers, particularly in the clothing industry, which is dominated by women from such backgrounds, new programs and regulations have been introduced. In South Australia, the Fair Work (Clothing Outworker Code of Practice) Regulations came into effect on 1 March 2008, creating standards for outworker practices and a tool to monitor the practices in that state. Similar work to provide protection to outworkers was undertaken in New South Wales in 2005 and is also under way Victoria, with the Outworkers (Improved Protection) Act 2003.
9.57 The New South Wales Office for Women recently supported three partnership projects with non-government organisations which provide resources to help disadvantaged women in the workforce, including a project with Asian Women at Work that aims to increase awareness of employment rights among vulnerable groups of women from Asian- and Arabic-speaking backgrounds.
9.58 The Queensland Government's Muslim Labour Force Participation project encompasses gender-specific programs, such as the Muslim Child Care Work Placement program, and targets identified vocational pathways for Muslim women. Through its Multicultural Assistance program, the Queensland Government also provides grants to a number of community organisations to support projects including the Developing Leadership and Management Expertise project to build leadership capacity among young Muslim women and the Queensland Women's Working Service to deliver Your Rights at Work: A Seminar for Women.
9.59 Other work being done includes a Western Australian Government collaborative research and pilot project, Good Practice in the Assessment, Skills Gap Training and Employment of Overseas Trained Nurses 2006, which aims to improve the utilisation of skilled culturally and linguistically diverse migrant and refugee nurses in the workforce, facilitating the economic independence of these cohorts.
Other state and territory government women's workforce participation measures
9.60 The New South Wales Office for Women's Policy supports the Lucy Mentoring program, which assists young women in higher education by providing advice, networks and experience to help them take on leadership and senior positions in the private and public sectors. Ongoing evaluations and a longitudinal evaluation study indicate that the program is having positive long-term impacts on participants.
9.61 The Northern Territory Government provides yearly funding to the Northern Territory Working Women's Centre to provide free and confidential information, advice and representation to women about work-related matters. The Employment Disadvantaged Pathways project was established to respond to recommendations from Creating Effective Pathways to Employment and Training for the Employment Disadvantaged in the Northern Territory on how to help groups of employment-disadvantaged people, including women.
Rural and remote women
9.62For information about rural and remote women and employment, see paragraphs 12.11 to 12.13.
Women serving in direct combat duties in the Defence Force
9.63 The Australian Government maintains its reservation to the application of CEDAW under Article 11, which covers the restriction of women from serving in direct combat roles in the Australian Defence Force. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 exempts the Australian Defence Force from the operation of the Act so far as it relates to the prohibition of women serving combat duties. The Sex Discrimination Regulations define combat duties as 'duties requiring a person to commit, or participate directly in the commission of, an act of violence against an adversary in time of war'.
9.64 In 2005, the Australian Government reviewed the roles of women in the Australian Defence Force and confirmed its long-standing policy. However, that year the Government did alter its policy on employing women in support roles in infantry, armoured and artillery units. For several years, the Australian Defence Force has progressively broadened women's roles. Women are now eligible to serve in approximately 90 per cent of Australian Defence Force employment categories, up from 73 per cent in 2003.
9.65 Increasing the number of women in the defence forces and their length of service are priorities under the Defence Strategic Workforce Plan 2007-17. The Chief of the Defence Force has established an external women's reference group to present alternative and innovative strategies and options to break down current barriers to women joining and continuing to serve in the Australian Defence Force. For more information about women in defence, see paragraph 6.8.