Review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 – Submission

Government of South Australia

27 October, 2009

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to you on behalf of the South Australian Premier’s Council for Women.

The Premier’s Council for Women welcomes the opportunity to provide comments on the review of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999. I would appreciate it if these comments are not publicly disclosed without our permission.

The Premier’s Council for Women (PCW) is a high level advisory body which advises the Premier of South Australia and the Minister for the Status of Women. The PCW provides quality, independent advice to the South Australian Government on issues relating to women to facilitate a whole of government approach to meeting the needs of South Australian Women. The views expressed in this submission are those of PCW and do not necessarily reflect those of the South Australian Government.

The PCW has prioritised two focus areas. These are:

women’s economic status and employment; and
women’s health, safety and wellbeing.

The first focus area is particularly in response to PCW’s concerns about the inequity and discrimination that occurs in the workforce - particularly for women. In 2008, PCW commissioned a research report by Professor Barbara Pocock of the University of South Australia, Working Women in South Australia: Progress, Prospects and Challenges, which applies a gender analysis to South Australian workforce data. It was published in February 2009 and is available on our website should you wish to review it.

Professor Pocock’s report provides a comprehensive overview of status of women in the South Australian workforce. The key findings from the report are:

Women’s participation in paid work is lower in South Australia than the national average (a position contrary to that 20 years ago).
Women in SA work part-time more and casual employment is higher in SA than the national average.
There is significant underemployment in SA and this is concentrated more amongst women, especially part-timers. SA women wish to work more hours.
SA women have increased their skills and qualifications but this has not resulted in commensurate increases in earnings. Women also face poorer wage returns from education than men.
The gender pay gap in South Australia - like the national ratio - has remained very resistant to improvement over the past twenty years. Essentially it has not altered in that time.
More than half of South Australian women are employed in just three occupations--all of them lower level occupations.
42.9% of women provided care to another person in 2007 and yet had limited flexibility in their work. A significant proportion have no access to paid leave.
Men and women contribute unequally to unpaid work, including child care, and this has not changed for the past 15 years. Child care remains a critical issue to women’s employment and Australia under-invests in child care relative to many OECD countries.

From these findings, it is clear that women continue to face significant barriers to full and equitable workforce participation and that South Australian women have even worse outcomes on many indicators than women nationally. PCW believes the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency and Act are crucial to addressing these barriers.

In the circumstances, we recommend the following:

Strengthening the agency’s powers to require more effective workplace plans.
The Act be amended to apply in a modified way to medium and small enterprise.
That reporting mechanisms be made simpler and more strategic to ensure information gathered is used to effect change.
The resources saved from the above streamlining of reporting be devoted to:
1. working directly and pro-actively with selected poorer performing employers;
2. working with companies in non-traditional areas (such as defence and mining industries), including promoting women in leadership positions in these industries; and
3. encouraging private sector companies to include women on boards.
That the EOWWA Employer of Choice award be bolstered. For example, employers could be awarded a certificate of accreditation at platinum, gold or silver levels, similar to that which is provided to superannuation funds. This could be displayed on their business promotional material.

The PCW commends the Australian Government for conducting this review and hopes that the complex but essential elements necessary to improving women’s status in the workplace will be addressed through this review.

Yours sincerely,

Emeritus Professor Anne R. Edwards
Chair
Premier’s Council for Women

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