Pay gap between women and men comes under scrutiny

ANY employer, including small businesses, would need to disclose what female staff earn relative to men to a Pay Equity Unit with a ”sticks and carrots” approach to solving the gender pay gap, a Federal Government report recommends. Describing the main industrial relations system as ”steeped in gender assumptions”, the committee chaired by the Labor MP Sharryn Jackson found most women worked in low-paid and casual work that was reliant on the minimum wage and award safety nets, and wants the ”modern” awards also re-examined on gender grounds. The Committee found that Australian women are paid on average 17 per cent less than men because of social assumptions about the role of women as parents, because women disproportionately work in part-time and casual work and because typically female ”caring” work is undervalued. Plain sex discrimination was also to blame. Source: Sydney Morning Herald www.smh.com.au Comment: Ms Jackson and her committee seem to me to have based their argument on a somewhat shaky foundation. If one works in a low paid or casual job, one will obviously earn less than someone who works full-time in a highly paid job. I don’t see that as discrimination, or a gender assumption, just a pragmatic example of cause and effect. And although I agree that caring work is undervalued, I would argue that is the result of market forces of supply and demand, rather than discrimination. The answer? To educate ALL children about the commercial realities and long term implications of their work and life choices at an early age, so they are able to make informed decisions at each of their life transition points.