This week gender equality has enjoyed some decent airtime on the national agenda. On Sunday the Labor party announced it would seek to achieve 50% representation for female MPs by 2025. On Monday Christopher Pyne called for the Liberal party to make it easier for women to enter politics.
On Tuesday NEEOPA and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency hosted an event about pay equity at Channel 10. Liberal MP Dr Sharman Stone spoke out strongly about the need for action from the coalition and that night Lateline interviewed Kelly O’Dwyer and Kate Ellis on the issue of boosting the number of women in politics.
On Wednesday the ANZ released a comprehensive white paper outlining the price females pay for gender inequality and hosted an event to launch the findings which garnered national coverage. That the former Prime Minister Julia Gillard, former Army Chief Lt General David Morrison, the bank’s CEO Mike Smith and chair David Gonski were in attendance underscores the prominence this issue was afforded.
That night Queensland Liberal MP Teresa Gambaro echoed the sentiments shared by Kelly O’Dwyer and Sharman Stone in an interview with ABC 7.30’s Sabra Lane saying it’s time for action.
On Thursday the Human Rights Commission launched a new website called Supporting Working Parents, with the aim of enabling Australians to balance their caring responsibilities with their working responsibilities.
What does this all mean? Is it just a coincidence that these topics have each received public billing this week? Or could it be that Australia is catching on to the fact we have a rather significant problem with gender inequality? I’m hoping for the latter.
It’s starkly evident and has been for some time, that gender inequality is a growing problem. Yet it’s been consistently dismissed as a side issue, a cause of faux concern expressed by women, or simply non-existent.
Let’s take a look at a few of the key facts the ANZ compiled:
- The majority of university students enrolled in bachelor degrees are women
- Female university graduates earn on average $3,000 less per year than men
- Women make up 35% of the full-time workforce
- Women make up 70% of the part-time workforce
- Women earn an average of 18.8% less than men
- Women spend almost twice as much time on unpaid work than men which is the equivalent of 30 days per year
- 49% of mothers experience workplace discrimination
- Women account for 20.4% of ASX200 board members
- Women represent 31% of all Federal, State and Territory Parliamentarians
A few other relevant facts are these:
- Australia is the best country in the world for educating women but ranked 52nd in the world for female workforce participation.
- We were recently 20th in the world for female representation in politics, we’re now 48th.
Earlier this year Australia earned the dubious honour of being the worst performing country in the OECD for women at work. Truly. We dropped six places to 15th position – the largest drop out of the 27 OECD countries measured – in the PwC Women in Work Index that ranks female economic empowerment.
Global head of PwC’s People Business Jon Williams told Women’s Agenda at the time. “I’m surprised by the extent of the movement in one year but I’m not surprised by where we sit. There has been plenty of surface attention around this issue in Australia but have we taken significant action to properly fix it? No.”
That is the kicker. Whichever metric you consider, Australia has structural problems which disadvantage women and they won’t be solved without a structural solution.
“We know women are at a financial disadvantage, however this research also confirms what’s really restricting the financial future of women is the inherent structural bias in the way the workplace, education, social and legal systems are established,” ANZ CEO Global Wealth Joyce Phillips said.
Is this the week we finally accept we have a “women problem”? In business, in politics, in society. Awareness is the first step to recovery isn’t it?