The labour force participation rate of women in Australia has increased significantly over the last 30 years. Between February 1978 and June 2009, the labour force participation rate of women increased from 43.5 per cent to 58.7 per cent 1.
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.
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2.1 Barriers to equal employment opportunity
Despite the significant increases in women’s workforce participation, women continue to spend less time in the paid workforce than men, and to fare less well than men on a number of key indicators while at work. The nature of women’s work is also quite different to men’s.
While the labour force participation rate of women was 58.7 per cent in June 2009, for men it was considerably higher at 72.1 per cent 2. Women are much less likely to work full-time than men (54.9 per cent compared to 84.1 per cent), and comprise over 70 per cent of the part-time workforce 3.
Workforce participation rates for women by age show a marked dip between the ages of 25 and 44, which is not evident for men. Australia also has a lower participation rate for mothers with young children than the OECD countries of Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States 4.
These key indicators suggest that having children significantly impacts on Australian women’s workforce participation, as well as their experiences while in paid work and their capacity to save for a financially secure retirement.
Sole mothers are less likely to be in paid work than partnered mothers. Sole mothers may also face additional barriers to workforce participation and job opportunities, given the greater responsibilities and reduced flexibility often associated with parenting alone.
Indigenous women, women with disabilities, regional and rural women, and women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may also face distinct obstacles and challenges in the labour market and in the workplace.
Despite gains in participation rates over time, women’s earnings remain persistently lower than men’s.
Chart 1 shows trends in the gender pay gap based on the average weekly ordinary time earnings of full-time employees from May 1984 to May 2009. It is clear that the gender pay gap has improved only slightly over the last 25 years, narrowing just 1.1 percentage points from 18.5 per cent in May 1984 to 17.4 per cent in May 2009 5.
Chart 1: Gender pay gap based on the average weekly ordinary time earnings of full-time adults, May 1984 to May 2009
Source: ABS Average Weekly Earnings, May 2009, Cat No 6302.0, seasonally adjusted data
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Over a lifetime, pay inequity places women at a considerable disadvantage compared with men. According to the AMP/NATSEM Income and Wealth Report, a 25-year-old man is likely to earn a total of $2.4 million over the next 40 years, more than one-and-a-half times the $1.5 million prospective earnings of a woman 6.
Women are less likely to be in leadership positions within organisations. Only 10.7 per cent of executive managers in the ASX200 are women. At the board director level there are more than 10 men to every one woman, and at Chief Executive Officer level there were 49 male CEOs for every female CEO in the ASX2007 7.
Occupational segregation between men and women continues to exist, and male dominated occupations tend to earn more than female dominated occupations. Women are more likely to be clerical, sales and community and personal service workers, while men are more likely to be technicians and trades workers, machinery operators and drivers and labourers. Women are still substantially under-represented in the manual trades in Australia, with the number of women in manual trades being less than 2 per cent 8.
Australia does not perform strongly on some key international indicators for equal employment opportunity. When compared to other OECD countries with similar tertiary education levels, Australia has the fifth largest pay gap 9. Australia’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum was 21st place in 2008. This incorporates measures of workforce participation, remuneration and opportunity. On these measures Australia is significantly behind New Zealand (which is in 5th place) and is also behind the United Kingdom (13th) and Ireland (8th) 10.
Achieving equal employment opportunity does not necessarily mean equal outcomes for men and women. It does however require the removal of obstacles and barriers to women’s participation, including by removing discrimination, valuing women’s work appropriately, and by enabling all workers to better manage their work and family responsibilities.
It is clear that a major obstacle to equal employment opportunity is the capacity for women and men to manage their work, life and family responsibilities. Long and inflexible working hours may preclude many workers with family responsibilities from pursuing particular career paths or job opportunities.
The proportion of female full-time workers working 50 or more hours a week (‘very long working hours’) almost doubled from 9 per cent in 1985 to 16 per cent in 2005. Almost one third of men now work very long hours 11. Australian full-time workers work amongst the longest hours of OECD nations 12.
Men are far less likely to access flexible work opportunities, and women continue to engage less in paid work. While families must be free to choose how they organise their lives, these choices should not be circumscribed by discrimination or stereotypes based on sex. A recent study suggested that men’s requests for flexible working hours are more likely to be denied than women’s 13. It is necessary, for the wellbeing of the economy and community, that both women and men are able to enjoy the different benefits that both caring and paid work can deliver.
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Questions for consideration
- What factors and measures have contributed to improving employment opportunities and outcomes for women?
- What are the obstacles that may impede further progress towards equal employment opportunity within organisations and in Australia generally?
- Should there be a greater focus on enabling men and women to share paid work and caring responsibilities more equally? How can men be provided with better opportunities to participate in the care of their children and other dependents?
- What regulatory role should government play to achieve equal employment opportunity for women?