Women still fall behind on wages

Industrial Officer Suzanne Hammond examines the link between maternity leave and low wages.

While women's labour force participation rates have increased both in Australia and internationally equality in the workforce still eludes women workers. There have been many positive developments in women's employment. Women are better educated, have access to a wider range of occupations and are breaking into senior and management positions. However while women's employment has grown, much of this growth has been in casual and part-time work, and in insecure, low paid and informal sectors of the workforce. So while women's workforce participation rates have increased, about 70% of world's female population still live in poverty. The link between low wages, unemployment and poverty still determines the lives and experiences of many women workers.

Some policy makers and governments have tried to address the issue of gender inequality by introducing equal pay and equal opportunity programs for women workers but sadly we find that many inequalities still persist. Women are still paid less than their male counterparts and they are channeled to low paid, insecure forms of employment. Women hover around the lower and middle levels of many occupations and they are poorly represented in training schemes and professional development programs.

There are many reasons why gender inequality persists but we can link much of this to the social, economic and biological affect of childbirth and child rearing. Women still bare much of the responsibilities of family and child caring. When we examine women's wages, promotions and workforce participation we find that in child bearing years women's employment suffers. The birth of a child imposes immediate financial pressures on women and their families and often results in their dislocation from work and impedes their future work experience. In order to advance equity, security and human dignity women workers need to be able to resolve the problems associated with childbearing and workforce participation. Paid maternity leave will promote workforce equality and improve the health and safety of mothers and their children.

In June 2000 the International Labour Organisation adopted a new standard for Maternity Leave. Convention No 183 and Recommendation No 191 sets a standard that all married and unmarried employed women receive 14 weeks paid maternity leave with no length of service condition. It also has provision for maternal health and employment protection and for protection against discrimination. As yet Australia has not ratified this convention.

In Australia most women workers have access to unpaid maternity leave through a myriad of state and federal industrial laws and awards. However the situation with paid maternity leave is much different. Paid maternity leave is only available to less than one third of Australian women workers. More than 120 countries around the world provide paid maternity leave through either the social security system, employer or insurance funded schemes. It is hard to believe that Australia and the United States lag behind most industrialised countries in the provision and access to paid maternity leave. Of the women in Australia who do receive some benefit, they receive it through employer funded schemes negotiated by trade unions, they usually work in the public sector and in large corporations. Many occupations where women work such as retail, hotels and offices do not have access to paid maternity leave.

In order to heighten awareness of Australia's poor record in this area and to bring Australia in line with the rest of the world, women's organizations, trade unions and policymakers must organize and debate the issue so that we can make maternity leave a reality. There are a range of models that can be examined, employer funded, government funded or a combination of both - but the options must be explored and debated. WEL, NPEC, BPW, PSA, and HREOC are collaborating in this forum to have this issue publicly debated. This forum will give women the opportunity to discuss the options and strategies, to hear how groups are pursuing maternity leave, and to examine the report into paid maternity leave soon to be released by HREOC.

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April 2002 contents