What is the gender pay gap and why is it so important for IEU members? This year Equal Pay Day was on 29 August, marking the 60 additional days from the end of the previous financial year that women must work to earn the same amount as men earn in 12 months.
The current gender pay gap in Australia is 14.1 per cent, an increase of 0.3 per cent over the past half year. Over a working life, the gender pay gap and patterns of employment due to family and care commitments result in a retirement income gap for women of over 40 per cent.
Equal Pay Day is an important reminder of the continuing barriers women face in accessing the same opportunities and benefits as men in Australian workplaces. Women currently comprise 47.4 per cent of Australian workers and more than 77 per cent of IEU members, but there are still many equity challenges confronting women at work.
In the sectors covered by the IEU, the gender pay gap is particularly evident for early childhood teachers, hence the union’s previous Equal Remuneration Order case in the Fair Work Commission (FWC). It’s also evident for school support staff, as reflected in the joint IEU working party with Catholic systemic employers to progress pay equity with the NSW government schools sector.
The IEU has welcomed the Federal Government’s commitment to a national drive to close the gender pay gap and to ensuring simpler and fairer processes to bring pay equity cases to the FWC. This commitment includes making pay equity an object of the Fair Work Act and strengthening the ability of the FWC to order pay rises for underpaid women workers.
During the current ‘Hear Our Voice’ campaign in NSW/ACT Catholic systemic schools, there is a strong focus on a fair deal for support staff, which means enhancing pay equity and valuing the work of these vital staff in schools. Employment security is also a key concern for many support staff members whose ongoing employment is often affected by funding or other factors. Insecure employment is unfortunately a major issue contributing to the gender pay gap and the subsequent retirement income gap which affects many women.
As part of the IEU’s ongoing efforts to address pay inequities, the union values opportunities to engage with diocesan workplace equity committees, as well as monitoring the annual reports from non-government sector employers to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). This includes a focus on addressing gender pay gap issues in classifications and opportunities for progression.
The International Labor Organisation (ILO) has called pay equity a “key driver of gender equality”. For IEU members, pay equity is both an industrial issue and one of justice and fairness for themselves and their families, now and into the future.