Unions recently marked International Women’s Day with a wide variety of events based on the theme of “accelerate action”. It is useful to remember that the origins of this day are rooted in marches and protests for the purpose of advancing women’s rights at work. It is important to continue this fight.
Abusive behaviour towards teachers
In 2019 the ABC quoted a report from La Trobe University that revealed women teachers were almost 20 per cent more likely to experience abusive behaviour from parents, with 60 per cent of women and 41 per cent of men reporting incidents.
In a 2024 report by Collective Shout, which campaigns against the objectification of women and girls, nearly 47 per cent of Australian teachers encountered sexual harassment within school environments – 80 per cent of these involved student perpetrators and female teachers were predominantly affected.
We need improved statistics from the Catholic dioceses to give us a better understanding of how widespread the issue is in our schools. Last year, the IEU wrote to all the dioceses seeking meetings to address this growing concern and calling for better reporting methods.
While some positive steps were made to address the issues, school staff still need a better mechanism to report these incidents.
School systems need a detailed picture of parent and student abusive behaviour towards staff so that they can act accordingly. We must protect our staff and provide safe workplaces for them.
EA improvements
Negotiations for working conditions are continuing for the Catholic systemic dioceses (other than Broken Bay) and one of the claims is for improved long service leave and personal/carer’s leave for general employees.
This includes administrative positions, teaching assistants and specialised aides – roles that are mainly filled by women. We must continue to push for these improvements.
Gender pay gap across the dioceses
Recent gender pay gap data for several Catholic dioceses ranges from 3.4 per cent to 13.3 per cent. This is based on the average total remuneration gender pay gap (that is, the gender pay gap based on total earnings). It was published by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) in March 2025.
The average base salary gender pay gap across the Catholic dioceses ranges from 2.3 per cent to 12.5 per cent, indicating that women earn less than men on average across the dioceses.
Women make up a large proportion of the workforce in the dioceses, ranging from 73 per cent to 83 per cent. Despite women making up a majority of the workforce, there is still a gender pay gap across all dioceses.
The proportion of women in management roles varies across the Catholic dioceses, from 47 per cent to 73 per cent. Only three dioceses have a female Director (Canberra & Goulburn, Sydney, and Bathurst).
Leadership representation for women is still low, which may suggest disparities in leadership progression.
I hope the next reporting cycle shows an improvement in these statistics so that our Catholic schools can better reflect equality and equity for all.