It's still a man's world when it comes to pay
June 27, 2010
RACHEL BROWNE
smh.com.au
FEMALE workers earn 17.4 per cent less than their male colleagues with the gap increasing the more senior they become in an organisation.
By the time women reach senior executive levels, they earn almost 30 per cent less than their male counterparts.
The research conducted by Macquarie University for the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency has renewed pressure on businesses to address gender inequality in the workforce.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, who launched her Gender Equality Blueprint 2010 in Canberra on Wednesday, said women suffer pay discrimination the moment they enter the workforce.
''The figures are quite shocking,'' she said. ''Many people might have believed that senior women are able to negotiate so they are comparable with their male counterparts but that's not the case.
''This is a systemic problem. It goes from the most senior women in the workforce right throughout the labour market. It's not an isolated problem based on negotiating power.''
While female graduates outnumber male graduates, when they enter the workforce they earn 4.3 per cent less.
Across the board, women earn 17.4 per cent less than men and that gap is widening.
Very few women reach senior levels and those numbers are in decline, according to the director of Macquarie University's Labour Management Studies Foundation, Associate Professor Peter McGraw.
''There are a lot of potential reasons why this is the case,'' Associate Professor McGraw said.
''Getting to the top in a large public company requires an enormous amount of dedication and I am not sure that all women are as happy to make the decision to put in those hours at the expense of things they might believe to be just as important. It's about life choices.
''The boys' club is another possible explanation. There is also evidence of some systemic discrimination.''
But the real career killer is child rearing, according to Dr Lyn Craig, of the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW.
''In Australia, women are educated in higher numbers than men but when they enter the workforce they are paid less,'' she said.
''So when they have children, it's women who withdraw from the workforce or limit their hours of work, and generally, in Australia, that means going on to part-time work.
''They go down occupationally and down in hours. Both those things combine to mean they lose seniority and conditions and the chance of promotion.''
Women occupy 10.7 per cent of executive manager positions in the ASX 200 group of companies, where they earn almost 30 per cent less than men in similar positions.
''The gender pay gap tends to increase the more senior a woman becomes,'' Associate Professor McGraw said.
Professor Marian Baird, head of the University of Sydney's Women and Work Research Group, said lack of transparency at senior levels also posed a problem for women.
''In many professions, senior executives earn additional payments in the form of bonuses, commissions and performance-based incentives,'' she said.
''Women don't get as much as men. One of the reasons which is often put forward for that is that women don't negotiate as well as men. But I think the problem is deeper than that. They don't have the information about what male colleagues are getting because it's all terribly secretive. That's a critical issue because how can you negotiate effectively if you don't know what other people are getting.''
Associate Professor McGraw also believes women and business need to work together to redress the balance.
''Women need to … figure out what can be done - skills, networking, leadership, negotiation skills come into that,'' he said.
''Organisations need to have a serious look at themselves and say, 'Are we really creating a level playing field where women can compete equally with men? What are we doing to alienate them?' A lot of the more progressive organisations are having a serious look at this by doing pay audits, career audits and so on.
''The third issue is the legislative framework. We have had … equal pay in this country for a very long time but we are still not getting equal pay outcomes.''