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Week10-WomenandIndustrialRelations.pptxWeek 10 – Women and Industrial Relations
21702 – Industrial Relations
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Today’s Lecture
Gender and industrial relations – theoretical gaps
Key statistics and indicators on gender equality – are we there yet?
The architecture of gender equality
Glass walls and sticky floors
Gender pay gap
Glass ceiling
Unpaid work
Legislation and collective institutions – have we seen improvements for women?
What does the future of work look like for women?
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In the media this week
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The Guardian
25 September 2020
AFR
2 October 2020
The Australian
2 October 2020
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Gender and industrial relations: theory
Feminist IR scholars (e.g. Barbara Pocock, Judy Wajcman, Jill Rubery – see your readings for Week 3 and Week 10) argue that gender has been an understudied theme in Australian IR theory and practice
Our analysis of IR issues has been ‘gender neutral’ or even ‘gender blind’
Feminist scholars argue that this is because the study of IR has been narrowly focused on the sphere of paid work which has, during a large part of history, excluded or marginalised women, seeing an under-representation of the interests of women
American sociologist and researcher Joan Acker famously proposed the concept of the ‘gendered organisation’ - we have constructed organisations to appear ‘gender neutral’, but this isn’t the reality
Scholars argue for greater attention around the needs and interests of women in IR debates, particularly at the level of collective bargaining and in setting the terms and conditions of employment e.g. equality bargaining
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Joan Acker
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Gender equality – are we there yet?
There has been progress in Australia (and elsewhere), BUT…..
Women are disproportionately concentrated in part-time and casual work
Labour force participation has improved, but not comparable yet (ABS, 2020)
The gender pay gap is 13.9% (ABS, 2019)
Median starting salaries for female graduates are lower than men (QILT, 2019)
Super balances are lower for women than men on retirement (ATO, 2020)
Women hold far fewer chair, director and CEO positions than men (WGEA, 2020)
The ‘marriage bar’ was only lifted (for Commonwealth public servants) in 1966
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Face the facts: Gender Equality 2018 (AHRC)
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Gender equality – why bother?
There is a strong business case for gender equality……
National productivity
Economic growth
Organisational performance
Attraction and retention
Business reputation
….but we need….
Equal pay for work of equal or comparable value
Removal of barriers
Access to opportunity, regardless of gender
Elimination of discrimination
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Glass walls and sticky floors – where do women work?
The Australian labour market is highly gender-segregated by industry and occupation (‘occupational segregation’ fuelled by beliefs, social expectations and stereotyping)
Glass walls – women channelled into particular industries and occupations
Sticky floors – women concentrated in jobs at the bottom of the pay scale
MYOB: Recruiting women into IT
Mercy Health: Encouraging men into caring
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‘A boy knows from birth that he will be a breadwinner; that is his lot in life. A girl knows that in all probability she will marry. Her work will only be an episode in her life.. the great majority live with their parents, and these should receive a wage which will relieve their parents of the whole expense of their upkeep but not necessarily one which will give their parents a profit.’
- Board of Trade, 1921
| Year | Development |
| 1912 | Women’s minimum wage set at 54% of men’s wages |
| 1950 | Women’s minimum wage set at 75% of men’s wages |
| 1972 | ACTU test case establishes principle of ‘equal pay for work of equal value’ |
| 1999 | Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act (EEOWA) |
| 2009 | Australia’s first Paid Parental Leave scheme, Pay Equity Inquiry Launched, FWA defines equal pay more broadly as ‘equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value’ |
| 2011 | ASX Corporate Governance Gender Diversity Principles and Recommendations introduced |
| 2012 | Australian Services Union wins national Social and Community Services Pay Equity Case, properly valuing community work in the social and disability sectors, Workplace Gender Equality Act introduced |
| 2013-2018 | United Voice runs equal pay case for childcare workers |
| 2018 | Gender pay gap rose to 14.8% - lowest since comparison began in 1990 |
Pay Equity Timeline
Gender pay gap
Harvester case of 1907 fixed a minimum wage, based upon the needs of a male worker
Why has the gender pay gap persisted?
‘Harvester Man’
Lower pay in female-dominated occupations
Undervaluing of work
Care work
Discrimination and bias
IR policies on pay
Harvester Case
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Glass ceiling
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Why we have too few women leaders – Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook COO (TED talk)
“Managers of both sexes must project an image of the authoritative manager. My research shows that to be successful, women have to learn to tailor and adapt how they manage to the dominant masculine culture. Rather than patenting a new management style, they must ‘manage like a man’.” (Wajcman, 1998)
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Women’s Agenda
15 January 2020
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Unpaid work
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Division of household labour in Australia is highly gendered
Women are spending less time in paid work, and more time in unpaid work
The most recent HILDA survey (Household, Income, Labour and Dynamics) shows that, per week, men spend 13.3 hours on unpaid work, while women spend 20.4 hours
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The Fair Work Act and gender equality
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Key advancements
Right to request flexible work arrangements
Orders for equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value
But there is concern that legislative changes have not substantially improved conditions experienced by working women
Paid parental leave
Only legislated for in Australia in 2010 (at minimum wage) and only in 2012 for fathers (2 weeks leave at minimum wage)
Enables women to remain in the labour force
But the taking of parental leave remains highly gendered
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Bargaining, negotiation and women
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‘Equality bargaining’ – collective bargaining for inclusion of family provisions into workplace agreements (see your reading by Williamson, 2012 for more on equality bargaining)
Unions, over the last 30 years, have played a more active role in bargaining for gender equality provisions
But, with pay-setting increasingly at the individual level, pay negotiation may be a contributor to the gender pay gap, with women losing out
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Women and the future of work
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Gig economy
Gender segregation also replicated in ‘tasks’ or ‘gigs’ that women and men engage in
Flexibility is a key motivator for women in choosing gigs
See Churchill and Craig (2019) in the slide reference list for more on gender and the gig economy
Automation and artificial intelligence
Expectations that women will need to re-skill or up-skill and move into industries in demand
Policymakers and business need to better support women to make this transition
Sexual harassment and domestic violence
Increased attention on these issues, particularly through global #MeToo movement
More work needs to be done at a policy and organisational level to support these gendered issues
More to come next week’s topic on the Future of Work….
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Where to next for gender equality?
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How can we work towards gender equality?
Transparency in remuneration policy and practice
Gender pay equity audit
Additional consideration for those working flexibly
Gender-neutral policies
Men working flexibly and taking parental leave
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Summary
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Our theorising of industrial relations issues, events and institutions need a gender lens
Workplaces and collective institutions have been framed and constructed around the male worker
Employment relations (and other) legislation has made significant progress in closing the gender equality gap, but regulatory ‘gaps’ remain, particularly around how legislation is operationalised in practice in the workplace
Increasing policy and organisational attention has been afforded to the domains of ‘work’ and the ‘home’
We need deeper and broader understanding of the historical, cultural, structural and political constructs in work and broader society to understand the barriers to gender equality and how to redress these inequalities through IR practice
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Reference List
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Liddy, M. and Hanrahan, C. (2017) Fewer women run top Australian companies than men named John – or Peter, or David, ABC News 8 March. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-08/fewer-women-ceos-than-men-named-john/8327938
Wilson, F. (1996) Organization Theory: Blind or Deaf to gender?, Organization Studies, 17(5): 825-843
Wajcman, J. (1998) Managing Like a Man: Women and Men in Corporate Management, Cambridge: Polity Press
https://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/downloads/academic/The_Future_of_Employment.pdf
Churchill and Craig (2019) ‘Gender in the gig economy: Men and women using digital platforms to secure work in Australia’, Journal of Sociology
https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Negotiation-Paper-Final.pdf
McKinsey Global Institute (2019) The future of women at work: Transitions in the age of automation (Executive summary)
Klettner A, Atherton A, Clarke T and Winterford K (2020) Improving Gender Diversity in Companies, Commissioned by Stewart Investors
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