According to a recent poll of 1065 voters, commissioned by independent lobby group WomenVote, 71 per cent of Australians believe the government should be doing more to address the gender pay gap.
It’s hard to tell how many of those believe the best way to address the gender pay gap is to deal with what one Liberal candidate has identified as the root cause of the difference between what men and women make: women’s business skills.
Not the gender segregation that defines much of Australia’s workforce. Not the entrenched biases in our businesses and institutions and organisations that perpetuate inequality between men and women. Not the structural factors that continue to limit women’s capacity to engage in paid work.
Nope. None of that.
New: Women lack the ‘business skills’ to get a pay rise: Liberal candidate says https://t.co/EKzqlvQSRi via @smh #auspol
— Eryk Bagshaw (@ErykBagshaw) May 1, 2019
According to Sachin Joshi, the Liberal candidate for the NSW seat of Paterson, it’s that men more actively seek business skills and responsibilities to boost their pay packets than women.
“The main reason for the gender gap lies in the ‘active interest (or lack of it) towards business skills/responsibilities’,” he wrote on LinkedIn in October of last year.
Isn’t it cute that he believes it’s the superior ‘business skills’ of men that deliver them higher pay packets rather than the inherent advantage the patriarchy lends them??? https://t.co/frY7i7UAsG
— Georgie Dent (@georgiedent) May 1, 2019
It is heartening and clear that a large majority of voters are interested in progressing women’s issues. My inkling is that those who genuinely want to see the inequality between men and women in Australia addressed in meaningful and substantial terms recognise the barriers standing in the way.
One of the critical barriers to addressing gender inequality in Australia is the ignorance – wilful or otherwise – of those in positions of power. The ill-informed views of Sachin Joshi about the pay gap are not remotely surprising. Blaming women for situations they find themselves in – having limited super for example – is a popular, almost prolific, proposition.
But it’s had it’s time. If we want change for women we cannot afford for Canberra to be home to individuals who are inclined towards that line of thinking.