Review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 – Submission
Community Employers WA
Introduction
Community Employers WA (CEWA) is a registered Employer Organisation with the Industrial Relations Commission of Western Australia, and represents not-for-profit employers in the non-government sector of Western Australia. One of its key objectives is to increase government funding for the sector and improve wages and conditions for staff.
One of the key areas for concern is the pay inequity for women and the significant Gender Pay Gap in the not for profit community and welfare services sector in Western Australia, and also in Australia.
We believe this is one of the major impediments in progressing equal opportunity, and our facts, comments and recommendation address the following question in the Issues Paper:
1.2 What are the obstacles that may impede further progress towards equal employment opportunity within organisations and in Australia generally?
The Facts
The non-government community services sector in Western Australia is already under resourced and sector staff are significantly under paid. In 2006/07 average weekly earnings for community sector workers were 30% lower than the average full time equivalent weekly wages for the health and community services sector in Australia.
In addition, women in WA are paid 26% less than men, and WA has the widest gender pay gap of any State (Western Australian Council of Social Service, “Close the Gender Pay Gap: Value Community Services” Research Paper, March 2009). The national average gender pay gap (GPG) is 17% and WA has had a larger GPG than the national average since the late 1980s. The WA community services sector is large, employing over 36,000 people, and it is the second-largest employer of women in WA, with females accounting for 80.8% of the workforce. More equitable pay for the sector would have a significant effect on the gender pay gap in Western Australia. This can only be achieved through the securing of additional government funding to the sector.
Comment
Salaries in the not for profit community service sector are not fair and just. This has a significant impact on female employees, who are the majority of the sector workforce.
Failure to address the sector salaries inequity will continue to mean that women are disadvantaged and paid significantly less than their male counterparts.
However, redressing the salary inequity is only possible with an increase in government funding to support salary increases. Raising pay levels alone is not sufficient, if introduced without the support of additional government funding. This would be disastrous for the sector – the level and quality of services would be affected and the number of staff (predominantly women) would need to be reduced to meet current organisational budget and funding restrictions.
Recommendation
It is therefore recommended that:
Salaries and wages in the non government, not for profit community services sector in Australia are reviewed consequent upon government funding to the sector being urgently increased by 30% to allow organisations to pay salaries that are fair and just and which allow the organisations to redress the significant pay inequality for women.
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