In 2023, I was awarded a bursary with the 888 Co-operative Causeway and RMIT FORWARD. This bursary allowed me to explore the transition from paid employment to contractor or freelance work, specifically focusing on mid-career shifts.
What emerged was women and gender-diverse people moving from paid employment to contractors as a strategy to mitigate the harm of toxic workplaces.
I had the privilege to interview women and gender-diverse people who moved into contracting work mid-career. Nearly everyone felt they had made the right decision in becoming a contractor. The common thread among all the narratives was that becoming a contractor was a strategy to gain greater control over their professional environment and earn a living whilst doing something they enjoyed and felt important. The flexibility to manage unpaid care duties was also a significant factor for those with unpaid caring responsibilities.
However, it was also evident that the decision to become a contractor was often a protective response to harmful workplace environments characterised by workplace toxicity, which included sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia and ableism. As a contractor, you do not own the marketplace in which you operate, and being a contractor does not magic away harmful discrimination such as sexism and racism, but it does offer different options to navigate them.
This realisation led me to coin the phrase highlighting the limitation of becoming a contractor as a harm mitigation strategy. Contractors may be driving their own cars, but they don’t own the road. We need to change the road – the system of harm that operates in all our labour markets.
Leaving paid employment to become a contractor because you can’t stand the workplace toxicity and microaggressions or being looked over for another opportunity is not a choice but a forced alternative. Those most vulnerable to biased systems and cultures are often the ones who leave to maintain their mental health.
The 2021 Women of Colour, Workplace Survey Report, found that ‘most respondents (57%) felt they had faced challenges in the workplace related to their identity as a woman of colour’. And the Diversity Council Australia’s (DCA) Racism at Work report, found less than a quarter of 1,547 workers surveyed nationwide believed their employers took immediate action against workplace racism, while just 27 per cent said their organisations were proactive in preventing it.’
Many contractors are still engaging with organisations and systems that cause harm. A contractor may be less likely to sit across the lunchroom from a toxic coworker or battle rigid organisational systems, but the systems and culture of harm remain and do impact. Some contractors, such as gig workers working in aged and personal care and deliveries, lack some of the basic employee protections and rights and are afforded less power over their work environment and conditions than employees.
If the primary motivation for a contractor is the flexibility to manage unpaid care work, it reflects a societal failure to value care work, traditionally considered women’s work. It is predominantly women who compromise their financial and job security for the sake of others.
In Australia, women shoulder a significantly larger share of unpaid care work than men. Women spend 30.2 hours per week on average on unpaid care and housework, compared to men, who spend 21.8 hours. This unequal distribution perpetuates gender stereotypes and contributes to labour market inequalities that see women choosing insecure contract work over exhaustion and that constant feeling of being spread too thin.
While contractors told me they were attracted to contracting because of its flexibility, this came with the supply line of work being precarious at times, requiring people to take work on when offered, even if that means juggling unpaid and paid work demands and working long hours.
Contracting work can be wonderful. As a contractor, I have enjoyed working with great clients, and I can attend all the family medical appointments I need to without working until midnight the day before and after. However, the uncertainty of a steady pipeline of work is a reality that many contractors, including myself, face. I’ve been advised that this is normal and to learn to roll with it. Is it complaining to wonder what work, be it as a paid employer or as a contractor, would look like if unpaid care work was valued and equally distributed by gender? Would fewer primary unpaid carers need to just roll with it?
Many of the women I spoke to who were new to contracting often expressed uncertainty about how much they should charge. This impacts women’s short and long-term financial security. Australian women gig workers are likely to receive 10% – 37% less per hour than their male counterparts and work fewer hours due to caregiving responsibilities. Throughout my career as a manager, I have encountered situations where I had to renegotiate contractor rates with women because they were too low. In fact, their proposed rates were so low that they would earn less per hour than a regular employee in a similar role.
After engaging in this unexpected reverse negotiation, there would be guilty confessions of fearing that they would price themselves out of jobs with potential clients who would perceive them as not worth the cost. However, this issue extends beyond simple mathematics. Women, despite experience and expertise, are more likely than men to have their value diminished and their expertise overlooked. This is even more so for women of colour. Recent research sponsored by the Victorian Gender Equality Commission for the Public Sector reveals a significant underrepresentation of culturally and racially marginalised women in managerial roles within the public sector[v]. It’s a societal issue rooted in sexist and racialized gender norms, where media and societal norms often condition people of all genders to expect women to be less valuable and need to be grateful for whatever they receive.
We need change
Genuine Choice, Not a Forced Alternative
Becoming a contractor should be a genuine choice, not a consequence of employers shifting costs and care responsibilities onto their workforce.
Safer and More Inclusive Workplaces
There is an urgent need for more effort by employers and government to make workplaces psychologically safer, flexible for people with unpaid carer responsibilities and more inclusive for all genders, particularly those experiencing multiple forms of discrimination.
Break down Gendered Stereotypes
Continue and expand programs that seek to normalise men as unpaid carers and promote the value of all caring work.
Listening and Taking Action
We must actively listen to the experiences of those who have been harmed in Australian workplaces and take decisive action to address these issues.
Building Equity in Workplaces
Employers and government should expand programs that build equity and inclusion by valuing the work of women and gender-diverse people, ensuring that people of all backgrounds have access to career development and promotion opportunities.
Government Reforms and Fair Work Statement
The federal government should expand its reforms by developing a mandatory Contractor Fair Work Statement. This statement would outline contractors’ rights.
Spaces for Mutual Support
There should be support and funding for spaces online and physical where contractors can share information and provide mutual support.
Intersectional Research
Funding should be allocated for intersectional research into the pay gap and contractors’ experiences. This research should explore various factors, including gender, profession, migrancy status, ethnicity, and disability.