More work must be done to address Gender pay gap issues in Tasmania

We need to work on a cultural shift that values women, the occupations they work in, and their contributions, write Ami Seivwright and Libby Lester

GENDER inequality at work is in the spotlight again, with major reports finding substantial and persistent gaps between Australian women’s and men’s incomes. A large proportion of the gender pay gap is explained by discrimination on the basis of gender alone, with much of the rest accounted for by other gendered factors such as career interruptions, unpaid housework, and industry and occupational segregation.

Particularly concerning, in addition to the persistence of the pay gap over time, is that women’s representation in an industry’s workforce does not translate to management and executive roles, leading to larger than average pay gaps in many female-dominated industries. Further, across the whole economy, the gender pay gap widens as income increases, indicating that women are still locked out of high earning positions, despite women overtaking men in terms of educational attainment.

So how do women in Tasmania fare? The gap between the average weekly earnings of Tasmanian men and women is 26 per cent. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ quarterly Labour Force statistics, in the May 2022 quarter, unemployment was lower among women than men (3.5 per cent versus 5 per cent) in Tasmania. However, only 58 per cent of women (compared to 65 per cent of men) were participating in the workforce and, among those who were employed, 49 per cent of women (compared to 77 per cent of men) were employed full-time.

The pandemic-induced flexibility in the workplace allowed many women to enter the workforce, particularly those with children. A survey at the start of the pandemic from The Tasmania Project found that women were slightly more likely than men to have become unemployed but also more likely to have found additional work. Women were much more likely to be taking the lead on home schooling children, with 34.5 per cent reporting that they were taking the lead and 1.7 per cent saying their partner was taking the lead.

There are many, intertwined dimensions to gender inequality at work, not just part-time work or career interruptions. Is it any surprise that many Tasmanian women work part-time or not at all when, according to the latest Census, they are more than twice as likely to have undertaken 15 or more hours of unpaid domestic labour?

But these are just some direct barriers to women’s participation and thriving at work. Gender discrimination can be much more insidious

and harder to spot and therefore stop. In a report released last week, ‘She’s Price(d)less’, KPMG suggests that more than a third of the gender pay gap is unexplained by “contextual” factors and is attributable to gender discrimination. It describes gender discrimination as “including the systematic undervaluation of women’s economic contribution, the allocation of less meaningful tasks to women or fewer opportunities for promotion” and links it to workplace culture, hiring, promotion and access to training.

Its effects are far reaching and detrimental. In recent interviews undertaken as part of The Tasmania Project, several women cited workplace experiences including comments on their appearance, being made to feel bad or their performance assessments being negatively affected because they needed flexibility around children’s schooling and illness, and feeling overlooked for employment opportunities because of their age and sex.

The cumulative result of these experiences, both subtle and overt, is a sense of lowered career expectations and a degree of internalisation of these beliefs about women and their place. These striking comments from two separate women express clear understanding about the overt gender discrimination they have experienced:

“I was promoted in my job and then about a month later I found out I was pregnant and they took the promotion from me straight away … I didn’t make a big fuss about it because I knew where they were coming from.

“I understand because if I was in [the hiring manager’s position] and I walked in and next to me walked in a man with three kids but who had his wife at home, I’d pick him too because it’s just easier.”

These beliefs and experiences among Tasmanian (and, indeed, Australian) women fly in the face of a substantial, longstanding international body of literature that organisations with more women in their top management teams and/or with “family friendly” policies report greater organisational performance. Workplace gender inequality in Australia is also stubbornly persistent despite myriad policies, strategies, committees and commitments, and some of the world’s best data collection on the matter.

Levers to increase gender equality have been identified by government, economists, other researchers, and community organisations, including in the state government’s draft Tasmanian Women’s Strategy 2022-2027. Among them are childcare affordability, quotas for executive positions, increased pay and hiring transparency, and addressing violence against women.

We need to work now for a cultural shift that values women, the industries and occupations they tend to work in, and their contributions to workplaces and society.