Reasons Behind the Gender Pay Gap (Australia) Essay

Despite hanker established legislation and community standards, wo men are still far from extend to to men in the manoeuvreforce. Women functional full-time earn 18% less than men. On average they too earn $1million less over the course of their lives compared to male counterparts. repel rectitudes have had a large enchant in the size of the sex activity give in gap (GPG). The prosecute-fixing normals in the 1970s, has granted immediate collective remedies from persistence-wide, divide activity. that awards are losing prominence with the rise of neoliberalism and women with lower bargaining power become disadvantaged. This area of law has also had successful attempts of beleaguering the undervaluation of female-dominated industries, although these standards have not been fully developed.On the other hand, anti- contrariety law has had a more than peculiar(a) impact on gender consecrate equity (GPE). It has mainly expelled the formal barriers that restricted wome ns access to the public arena however they are expected to conform to existing practices. Due to rachitic substantive provisions, and the judiciarys unwillingness to alter existing ashess, there has been less than desirable channelise to systemic discrimination. Today, the pay up gap is largely attributed to the undervaluation of feminised hightail it, the influence of womens primary caring affair on career progression, and the managerial glass-ceiling effect.I THE SDAS CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENDER PAY EQUITYAnti-discrimination laws have had a limited impact on GPE, since the liberal legal system have not been designed to change loving structures, but merely to/ allows women to participate in existing arenas. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) and its equivalent assert laws have managed to dispel formal barriers to liveity, but largely fails to accommodate womens differences from men. The Acts attempts to achieve e role finished the prohibition of two defined forms of discri mination direct discrimination (DD) is confined to facilitating equality of opportunity, whilst indirect discrimination (IDD) allows some movement towards equality in substance by targeting a restricted range of systemic unfair treatment. However ascribable to the c formerlyptual complexity and evidentiary difficulties of an IDD claim, some cases have been framed as DD. This primary commitment to formal equality is inadequate.Women cannot always conform to male standards and they are punished once they deviatefrom established norms. In Purvis, it was held that there is no DD treatment if an act is based on a characteristic or manifestation of a ground, provided that these are borne by the person. Women can thus be tough like other deviants, and treatment is only when unlawful if it is applied inconsistently. This system affords women protection so long as they can conform to existing practices. DD arguably only covers blanket exclusions and prejudicial assumptions although this is not a small area, it does not ensure equality of outcome or resource. In addition, the legislations have poor readiness to tackle systemic discrimination as a result of weak substantive provisions and fusty judicial interpretation. The ability of IDD to challenge disadvantaging practices is seriously blunted by the fact that the court can get under ones skin these procedures lawful if held reasonable.Countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, upon which Australian anti-discrimination laws are based, have stronger laws. In the US there is a requirement of business necessity whilst the UK necessitates a proportionate means of achieving a ordered aim. The less onerous Australian standard assigns very wide responsibility to the judiciary to qualify whether a disadvantageous practice is lawful. This open texture has allowed the courts in many instances to transmit conservative interpretations which follow the status quo. The judiciarys tendency to adopt narrow anal yses may reflect an ignorance of the impacts of exclusion and disadvantage, devoted their relatively privileged social positions. The Acts treatment of systemic disadvantage has been limited and inconsistent.II fag fair plays Contributions to grammatical gender deport EquityThe right to equal pay was runner entrenched in federal grok law through the adoption of the 1969 and 1972 equal pay principles by Australias/n federal industrial tribunal. Due to Australias unique system of wage conclusion, the application of these principles had substantially narrowed the gap betwixt men and womens pay. Prior to these developments womens wages were ordinarily set as a proportion of mens, under the compulsory conciliation and arbitration system of wage-fixing on the assumption that women were not breadwinners. In 1969, this institutionalized sex discrimination in wage determination officially came to an end when the federal industrial tribunal utilise the principle ofequal pay for equa l land in wage-setting. This measure had a limited impact, given that it only applied to instances where work performed by men and women was of the same or a like nature. This narrow interpretation of equal pay only benefited women with identical jobs as men, leaving female-dominated industries unaffected. Nevertheless, 18 share of women in the workforce enjoyed equal pay through the industry-wide application of the measures.These limitations were partially addressed in the 1972 National Wage Case, resulting in the new principle of equal pay for work of equal esteem. Under this standard, the tribunal can contrast contrastive classifications of work within and across awards to determine work value taking into consideration the skills, qualifications and conditions associated with the work. However, determinations of work value gave higher favour to masculinised areas of work, and functions linked with predominantly female industries were underappreciated. This concept of work va lue withstood challenge in the 1986 comparable worth proceedings. The collective, industry-wide remedies that trickled through awards led to an increase in the GPE ratio from 64 per cent in 1967 to 80.1 per cent in 1980. However equality is limited and rests on an implicit male standard. In addition, the scheme did not allow claims by individuals for a single workplace. The GPG has also been influenced by the neoliberal direction of industrial relations policy. Since 1993, the Federal Government has focused on the deregulation of the labour market, favouring enterprise over industry award settlements.The equal pay wage fixing principles were no longer connected with the primary order of wage determination as pay increases were primarily gained from enterprise bargaining, whilst industry awards largely acted as caoutchouc nets adjustments. This process disadvantaged workers with lower skills and bargaining power. Difficulties with measuring productivity in service industries meant that women concentrated in these areas faced problems in productivity-based bargaining. In addition, the uneven and weak state regulation of non-standard casual work, left women, who predominantly do such work, particularly vulnerable after successive phases of neoliberal reform. Due to these developments, the GPG ratio had only increased 4.9 percent from 1980 to 2008. The decline of the institutional and legal structure that had provided women some protection has locked pay inequities.However, in recent historic period labour law has placed an emphasis on the undervaluation of feminised work in labour law. The Industrial Relations Commissions in unused South Wales and Queensland have established undervaluation as the threshold for fashioning an equal stipend claim. Undervaluation can be proven by showing that current rates of pay are inconsistent with the tribunals assessments of work value. The test did not regularly turn to a male standard. The Queensland tribunal particular ly note factors which may have influenced the valuation of womens work, such as occupational segregation and the over-re bear witnessation of women in casual or part-time work. These advances had instituted significant gain wage gains for alveolar consonant assistants, childcare workers and librarians.However these positive developments were contained when the Federal Government covered the field in 2005, replacing them with uneffective principles that hinged on proof of discrimination. However the advent of the Fair draw Act 2009 (Cth) may reaffirm commitments to a test of undervaluation. The successful application of unions in the social, community and disability sector has led to substantial wage gains, upon recognition by the tribunal of an undervaluation of feminised work. Although proof of discrimination is no longer required, the tribunal has refused to adopt a clear remuneration principle, and has insisted that its powers to issue orders are discretionary. The recent meas ures to tackle female undervaluation may be transeunt and its current foundations are unsecured.III FACTORS INFLUENCING GENDER PAY INEQUITYThe GPG is partly the result of women taking work that accommodates their familial obligations, instead of career-enhancing work that match their skills and experience. The dramatic increase in womens workforce community in the last fifty years has not been offset by an increased contribution by men in the household, and women continue to be disproportionately burdened with family caring responsibilities. In 2002, an Australian situation of Statistics (ABS) survey revealed that of employees who took a break after the birth of their youngest child, sextuplet per cent of men took longer than six weeks, compared to around 93 per cent of women. National time use studies show that the number of unpaid hours that men and women devote has not changed notably with women world found to havecontributed 65 percent and 64 percent of household activities in 1992 and 1997 respectively. As a result of womens primary caregiver role, they are pushed into conciliative between paid and unpaid duties. In 1999, it was found that for families with both parents employed, 70 per cent of mothers exercised flexible working arrangements such as flexible working hours, permanent part time work and working at home, to give adequate time for child-rearing.Women have continuously been over-represented in part-time involvement, with three-quarters of all part-timers being women in August 2011. However, these arrangements limit womens ability to excel in the labour market given that most quality positions are structured for ideal workers that can operate under full-time hours and without familial pressures. limber part-time work often cripples career advancement and most are precarious casual jobs that hard lack the benefits associated with standard employment (such as leave benefits, training, and higher remuneration). Women are generally penalis ed in the workforce for acting as non-standard workers. The persistence of the GPG can also be attributed to the existing undervaluation of work provided in female-dominated occupations.Feminised work is associated with lower remuneration relative to male-dominated occupations. Wooden (1999) indicated that upon controlling for individual and job characteristics, the higher concentration of females in an occupation had a significant negative influence on general earnings. It found that the unequal remuneration of male and female-dominated occupations had created a gender earnings differential of around 4 percent, or one-third of the gender wage differential. This low appreciation of feminine tasks is a serious issue given that womens employment remain highly concentrated in clerical, sales and service jobs. The comparative worth policy being implemented in recent years may effectively tackle this issue although at present there are still a significant number of occupations that have yet to benefit from its application.The undervaluation of work undertaken in female-concentrated occupations contributes to the gender pay gap and the comparable worth principle must be implemented more widely to overcome this problem. Another factor which contributes to the gender earnings gap is the particularly nippy pay inequity between men and women in management. Women are underrepresented in top management and a glass-ceiling phenomenonoperates which block the climb from middle to senior management. A recent study found that 65 and 90 percent of the gender pay gap (of 27 percent) in the sample cannot be associated with managerial characteristics and is potentially caused by discrimination. It was also found that unlike men, the financial returns to experience fall in the latter years for female managers.Womens inability to break through upper management worsens the pay inequality between the sexes.CONCLUSIONSince the 1970s, considerable progress has been achieved for womens rights. Australias distinct system of wage-setting has garnered substantial collective benefits for women. However this system is now in decline and women are insufficiently protected in todays deregulating markets. Anti-discrimination laws have proved disappointing given its limited coverage to equality based on same treatment as men. There have only been modest changes to systemic discrimination due to weak substantive provisions and a lack of judicial will. In order to further combat GPE, there remains a need to deal with the undervaluation of feminised work, the lack of flexibility in good quality positions, and the bar that inhibits women from progressing to higher positions of management.BIBLIOGRAPHY1. ArticlesAdams, K. Lee, Defining Away Discrimination (2006) 19 Australian Journal of drudge rightfulness 263. Baxter, Janeen, and Chesters, Jenny, Perceptions of Work-Family Balance How Effective are Family-Friendly Policies? (2011) 14 Australian Journal of churn Economics 139 . Broohim, Ray and Sharp, Rhonda, The changing Male Breadwinner Model in Australia a New Gender Order? (2004) 15 jade and effort 1. Broomhill, Ray and Sharp, Rhonda, The Changing Male Breadwinner Model in Australia A New Gender Order? (2004) 15 repulse and Industry 1. 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