Lower pay a workplace gender issue

A WORKPLACE gender inequality survey found 35 per cent of Tasmanians believe it was no longer an issue.

However, more than half of Australians believe it is still an issue in the workplace.

The least optimistic workers were in regional South Australia (67 per cent), regional Western Australia (62 per cent) and metropolitan Victoria (58 per cent), new research commissioned by contact centre recruiters Citrus Group revealed.

At the other end of the spectrum, as well as Tasmania, respondents in the Australian Capital Territory (33 per cent), metropolitan South Australia (33 per cent) and regional Queensland (31 per cent) were most likely to believe gender inequality was in the past.

Citrus Group joint managing director Gordana Smith said the most surprising finding was that 81 per cent of women had not personally experienced gender inequality in their workplace yet many still believed it was an issue for others.

Australian women (62 per cent) were more likely to perceive gender equality than men (43 per cent).

“Although women may not necessarily be experiencing these issues themselves, they are still witnessing discrimination in the workplace when it comes to their colleagues,” Ms Smith said.

“We, as a nation, have a way to go to wipe this behaviour out to ensure that the treatment of women improves on the whole.”

About one in five women (19 per cent) and one in eight men (12 per cent) believed they had been a victim of gender discrimination in the workplace.

The most common complaint from both genders in this group was that they were not given the same career opportunities as the opposite gender (53 per cent of men, 37 per cent of women).

Other common complaints were being paid less for the same role (25 per cent of women, 7 per cent of men) or not being taken as seriously (30 per cent of women, 25 per cent of men).