There are plenty of amusing stories regarding employers attempting to wiggle out of reporting to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency on their workplace gender programs, according to the woman responsible for dealing with them, Helen Conway.
There are organisations continually making excuses for why they can’t report, and then there are those that submit a report one year, only to change the date and submit the exact same report the next year, Conway said recently.
But you don’t need to hear these excuses to know that while EOWA’s reporting regime may have raised awareness regarding workplace gender inequalities, it hasn’t been able to improve on the headline figures. Women working full-time still earn, on average, 17.5% less than full-time working men, according to ABS stats.
Around 64% of graduates are women, and yet these women earn $2000 less than men who graduate at the same time. Women earn a staggering $7400 less than men five years after graduation. By the age of 45, women will earn 26.7% less than men. As for superannuation, women will retire with less than half that accumulated by their male counterparts.
So it’s welcome news that the new Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, to be debated in the Senate this week, is set to ramp up the influence and prominence of EOWA.
The impending legislation requires non-public sector organisations with more than 100 employees to report against gender equality indicators. These include on the availability and take up of flexible work arrangements for women and men.
If passed, it stands to benefit EOWA in building on its existing work — a significant step forward, but no magic solution to making that 17.5% figure disappear.
The legislation won’t give EOWA a great big stick to beat up on organisations. Rather, it will provide EOWA with something completely different: data.
Given the legislation requires organisations to focus on the gender composition of their workplaces, the EOWA’s refreshed mandate will give it access to industry specific information that can help it address problem areas and identify solutions.
More importantly, it will provide a means to crack down on the excuses of organisations in the future.
So while the information won’t provide an overnight fix, it will be help EOWA to influence and educate on the issues where needed, and hopefully allow Australian workplaces to see the value of flexible work.
Discriminating against those with caring responsibilities is not just an issue affecting women, but one that matters to both genders. So it’s telling that the changes will also see EOWA remove ‘women’ from its name altogether: to be known as the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
What do you think? Will more data help workplaces in the future? Or should EOWA be granted more powers?