55^th Session of UN Commission on Status of Women

UNESCO-ILO Side Event: Quality Education for Girls – Decent
Work for Women

23 February 2011, 1.15 –
2.30pm

Conference Room B

Elizabeth Broderick, Sex
Discrimination Commissioner and Commissioner responsible for Age Discrimination,
Australian Human Rights Commission

‘Women’s equal
participation in Australian workplaces’

I would like to thank UNESCO and the ILO for hosting this side event
today and for inviting me here to speak.

The issue of women’s equal access to and participation in education and
decent work is a critical concern for Australian women today.

With a couple of notable exceptions, such as being Indigenous and migrant and
refugee women, Australia ranks among the leading countries in terms of
women’s access and participation to education. I note however that
education is still highly segregated in Australia, with comparatively fewer
women completing degrees in sectors such as science, technology, engineering and
maths.

Further, this relative success in education unfortunately does not translate
to women’s access and participation to decent work.

The Global
Gender Gap Report 2010 shows Australia to be 24^th in the world
for economic participation and opportunity – behind Canada, New Zealand,
USA Norway, Sweden, Lesotho, Mozambique, Philippines and Mongolia among others.

This is a result of significant discrimination that still exists in
Australian workplaces – discrimination that particularly impacts on young
women as they transition from education institutions into the workplace.

And this is what I would like to talk about today. I would like to share
with you some of the key barriers that continue to plague Australian workplaces,
and prohibit women’s equal participation in the workforce.

As the Sex
Discrimination Commissioner in Australia I have been analysing what lies behind
the discrimination women face in the workplace. I have found that the barriers
to women’s workplace participation fall into three categories:

• (a) belief barriers
• (b) cultural barriers
• (c) structural barriers

So firstly belief barriers.

There continue to be deeply held cultural beliefs in Australia of what is a
‘good mother’ stereotype, and an ‘ideal worker’
stereotype. A ‘good mother’ is seen as someone who is caring for her
children, while an ‘ideal worker’ is someone who is available 24/7
and has no caring responsibilities. Working women who are also mothers with
caring responsibilities, are obviously unable to meet these stereotypes. As a
result we find that Australian workplaces fail in many respects to provide
opportunities for women who fall outside of these stereotypes.

Secondly,
we have the cultural barriers.

These barriers relate to the cultures that
operate in the workplaces. Workplace cultures can inform recruitment processes,
promotion and career development systems in ways that disadvantage women.

In some ways combating discrimination was easier when it was highly
visible. Today discrimination has shifted from being blatant, socially
unacceptable behaviour to becoming an endemic less visible
form.^[1] Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, CEO
of 20-First, one of the world’s leading gender consulting firms. Describes
this as ‘gender asbestos’ – a term she uses to describe the
discriminatory attitudes, stereotypes and toxins that are hidden and embedded in
the walls, cultures and mindsets of many
organisations.^[2] This idea that the
problem of gender equality can be traced to the institutional arrangements of
organisations is one which has been put forward persuasively for many years but
I think the term ‘gender asbestos’ captures the issue well.

Unfortunately such cultural barriers can be the hardest to change.

For example, one of the concerning aspects of the Australian workplace
cultures is the prevalence of sexual harassment that exists. Sexual harassment
has been prohibited under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth) for over
25 years. Yet there remains a high level of acceptance and tolerance for it
within the workplace.

The Australian Human Rights Commission runs a national survey to identify the
prevalence of sexual harassment every five years.

I was dismayed, but not surprised, at the results of the 2008 survey which
showed that one in four women had experienced sexual harassment in the workplace
in their lifetime.^[3]

I spoke recently to a man who said that he thought showing graphic images on
phones at the workplace doesn’t constitute sexual harassment because
everyone doesn’t have to look at it:

‘There are always guys showing each other stuff on their phones,
happens all the time at lunch ..... Doesn’t affect anyone, if you
don’t want to look at it, don’t look at it. The phone is more
discreet than women on the
wall’^[4].

What disturbed me about this comment was the level of acceptance that existed
in this particular workplace for sexual harassment.

Through my work I have heard countless stories of women trying to deal with
the sexual harassment and the sexualised atmospheres which permeate their
workplaces.

What I also hear about is women not knowing what is appropriate behaviour in
the workplace, not knowing where to go or who to talk to if you have been
harassed, and most concerningly, women not making a complaint because they need
to keep their job. Unfortunately, however, what most commonly happens is women
resign from their jobs and look for employment elsewhere.

Sexual harassment is therefore a significant barrier to women participating
in the Australian workforce.

Thirdly I want to talk about the structural barriers.

These relate to issues such as the gap in equal pay and the lack of flexible
arrangements for accommodating women’s caring responsibilities and
work-life balance.

Indeed, 100 years after women first marched in the streets
demanding equal pay and four decades after the first Federal pay case, the
gender gap lingers malodorously in Australian workplaces. Even more alarming is
that, over the last four years the gender gap in pay has actually
widened^[5] to 17 per
cent^[6] and, if current earning
patterns continue, the average 25 year old male will earn $2.4 million over the
next 40 years, while the average 25 year old female will earn only $1.5
million – that’s almost $1 million
less.^[7]

The opportunity for
more progress on this issue has arisen recently in Australia through a test case
that has been brought by the Australian Services Union. The case examines the
lower levels of pay among female-dominated community sector workers. The
Australian Human Rights Commission has intervened in this case. If this
application succeeds it will be a major advance for recognising the gap in equal
pay between men and women at a sectoral level.

The other major example of
structural barriers is the lack of flexible working arrangements. There has
also been some good news on this front Australia.

Recently the right to
request a flexible working arrangement was introduced as part of the National
Employment Standards under the (Fair Work Act). This is a good first
step in that it encourages employers to focus on the issue of workplace
flexibility.

The government has also introduced a Bill in parliament to
amend the Sex Discrimination Act that is designed to broaden the family
responsibilities provisions to cover indirect discrimination in all areas of
employment.

However, despite these advances the lack of provision for
flexible work arrangements still remains a problem.

• In a week where 3.2 million employees provided unpaid care to someone, only
  15% used flexible working arrangements to help them provide that
  care.^[8]
• 40% of parents say they want greater flexibility in their job or their
  partner’s
  job.^[9]

One of the
most common reasons that women and a growing number of men struggle to stay in
paid work is because of their responsibility for the care of children and other
loved ones.

In many workplaces, caring is still seen as an individual
choice. Workplaces do not adequately support employees who have caring roles.
Many workers are not able to obtain the flexible work arrangements they need.
When it gets too hard to juggle their various responsibilities, some have no
option but to resign.

There has been a lot of talk about the importance
of ‘flexible work’ and getting the ‘work-life balance’
right.

However, the simple reality is that quality flexible working
arrangements are still not common in Australian workplaces. Where flexible work
policies are available, unsupportive workplace cultures mean that many workers
– and men in particular – report being reluctant to use them. Men
report concerns about money, concerns about adverse effects on careers, fears
about job security, negative attitudes of supervisors and a lack of awareness
about leave as reasons for their low
take-up.^[10] While women report
having better access to family friendly employment conditions, using these often
comes at the expense of job quality, pay, number of hours worked and career
progression.^[11]

To be
effective, flexible work arrangements need to be an accepted part of all
Australian workplaces. They need to be available to both men and women and cover
all forms of caring responsibilities, not just young children.

This is
particularly important as our population ages and the need for workers to care
for older parents and family members increases.

A number of laws,
policies and programs are needed to address these issues, and I make some key
recommendations to this end in my Gender Equality Blueprint for Australia. In
particular I call for:

• the development of a National Pay Equity Strategy
• increased provision of appropriate and affordable childcare, including
  early childhood education and care and school age care; and an independent
  inquiry into recognising unpaid caring work within Australia’s
  superannuation and pension schemes should be undertaken.

To conclude
I am happy to say that as of 1 January 2011, Australia did introduce a national
paid parental leave scheme, which provides for 18 weeks pay at a minimum wage.
The introduction of this scheme will be critical to support women and their
partners during and immediately after their pregnancies, as well as ensuring
women remain connected with the workforce.

So it is on a positive note that I can conclude that there are strong signs
of the progress that can be made in addressing these issues.

Thank you.

^[1] Louise Marie Roth, 2006 Selling Women Short (2006) p 2. Preston University press Available at http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8246.html (viewed 13 July 2010).

^[2] Avivah
Wittenberg-Cox, Why Focusing on the Gender Pay Gap Misses the Point (12
April 2010). Available at http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/04/why_focusing_on_the_gender_pay.html (viewed 13 July 2010).

^[3] Australian Human Rights Commission, Sexual harassment: Serious business
Results of the 2008 Sexual Harassment National Telephone Survey (2008), p
1

^[4] Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission, 'Men's focus group 1'
(2007)

^[5] ABS, Average Weekly
Earnings, Data Cube, Australia, February 2009 Catalogue No 6302.0 (2009)
cited in R Cassells, Y Vidyattama, R Miranti & J McNamara, The impact of
a sustained gender wage gap on the Australian economy (2009), National
Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, p v. At www.canberra.edu.au/centres/natsem/publications?sq_content_src=%

2BdXJsPWh0dHAlM0ElMkYlMkZ6aWJvLndpbi5jYW5iZXJyYS5lZHUuYXUlMkZuYXRzZW0lMkZpbmR

leC5waHAlM0Ztb2RlJTNEcHVibGljYXRpb24lMjZwdWJsaWNhdGlvbiUzRDEyNzAmYWxsPTE%3D (viewed 6 April 2010).

^[6] ABS,
above.

^[7] Rebecca Cassells,
Riyana Miranti, Binod Nepal and Robert Tanton, She works hard for the money:
Australian women and the gender divide, AMP NATSEM Income and Wealth Report
issue 22 (2009) p 1. Available at http://www.apo.org.au/research/she-works-hard-money-australian-women-and-gender-divide (viewed 6 April 2010).

^[8] ABS, Employment
Arrangements, Retirement and Superannuation, Australia, April to July 2007
(Re-issue), Catalogue No. 6361.0,(2008). At www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Latestproducts/6361.0Main%20Features2Apr%20to%20Jul%202007%20(Re-issue)?opendocument&tabname=Summary&prodno=6361.0&issue=Apr%20to%20Jul%202007%20(Re-issue)&num=&view.

^[9] Newspoll Market Research, Out of School Hours Care Study (2008). At www.nfaw.org.au/assets/Socialpolicy/080807-Out-of-School-Hours-Care-Study-2.pdf (viewed 5 March 2010).

^[10] Australian Human Rights
Commission, It’s about time: women, men, work and family (2007), p
86.

^[11] Australian Human Rights
Commission, above, p 87.