Week 11

Aisha Mulligan 17354266

GENDER INEQUALITY

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Women have made great strides in the workplace but inequality still continues.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, ‘whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental

human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and

have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom’ (Universal

Declaration of Human rights, 2008). Women working full time receive 17%

less than males.

MEN AND WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE

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GENDER WAGE GAPS ARE DECLINING BUT STILL REMAIN SIGNIFICANT

Mean weekly full time earning in main job

Men Women Pay gap (%)

Sales workers $1,196 $866 27.6

Community & personal service workers

$1,191 $875 26.5

Clerical & administrative workers

$1,343 $996 25.8

Technicians and trade workers

$1,210 $903 25.4

Laborers $1,029 $775 24.7

Professionals $1,764 $1,376 21.1

Managers $1,764 $1,403 20.5

All Occupations

$1,403 $1,130 19.5

Mean weekly part time earning in main job

Men Women Pay gap (%)

Sales workers

$297 $309 -4.0

Community & personal service workers

$410 $427 -4.01

Clerical & administrative workers

$487 $552 -13.3

Technicians and trade workers

$550 $436 20.7

Laborers $307 $325 -5.09

Professionals $870 $766 12.0

Managers $852 $784 8.0

All Occupations

$455 $496 -9.0

(Workplace gender equality agency, 2013.)

Women are climbing the ladder in female dominant professions, however their male peers glide straight passed them shooting to the top.

Men that enter into female dominant professions seem to escalate and be promoted at a faster rate.

They typically receive more promotions, work their way into higher levels in the organisation

and receive increased salaries.

PROFESSIONAL OBSTACLES

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• Cost of childcare is keeping women from going back into the workforce after having their child.

• There is desperate need for further government assistance. • Over the past years there has been debates over which

lifestyle is more financially feasible – working and paying for childcare or not working and staying at home.

• Although paternity leave is becoming increasingly common in families, maternity leave is still more acceptable

therefore the women are the ones to stop work to care for the children.

• Power (2009) states ‘women are still expected to carry the majority of the burden of childcare, regardless of whether the fathers want to be involved and this conflicts with their

roles as enthusiastic and fully-available workers’ (p.19).

CHILD CARE

EDUCATION

Girls are outperforming boys in schools to date.

In Australia 87.8% of girls in comparison to 84.1% of boys completed year 12.

In 2013 a commonwealth government report found that a female graduate in her first year would be paid on average $5000 less than a male graduate.

These statistics hold a deeply bias view.

(Lentin, A, personal communication, May 6, 2014)

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Eastough, K., & Miller, P. (2004). The gender wage gap in paid- and self-employment in Ausatralia. Adelaide: The university of Western

Ausatralia. 

Jacobsen,J. (2005). Choices & changes.Regional Review - Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,14(3), 16-21. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com/docview/200767282?accountid=36155 

Power, N. (2009). The feminization of labor: One-Dimensional Women. Zero Books

 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (2008). Refugee survey

quarterly. Retrieved from http://rsq.oxfordjournals.org.ezproxy.uws.edu.au/content/27/3/149?cited-by=yes&legid=refqtl;27/3/149

 Workplace Gender Equality Agency. (2013). Gender pay gap statistics. Retrieved from https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/2013-02-

Gender%20pay%20gap%20statistics.pdf

REFERENCE LIST

1. Jacki Zehner on Women, Money and the Changing World, http://www.jackizehner.com/2010/08/26/womens-equality-day-reason-to-celebrate-not-quite-yet/, 2014, May, 19.

2. 2. Bloombergbusinessweek, http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-30/gender-inequality-in-the-workplace-what-data-analytics-says, 2014, May, 17.

3. 3. The Equal Rights Amendment, http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/history.htm, 2014, May 21.

4. 4. SiliconIndia Women City, http://women.siliconindia.com/news/Why-are-Women-Halted-from-Climbing-the-Corporate-Ladder-nid-136561.html, May, 2014, 19

5. 5. Australian Businesswomen’s Network, http://www.abn.org.au/blog/alarming-statistics-about-australia-and-gender-equality/, 2014, May, 19.

PICTURE REFERENCE LIST BY PICTURE NUMBER