Women's Labour Market Participation in Regional Australia

Women's Labour Market Participation
in Regional Australia

By Susan Halliday, Sex Discrimination
Commissioner to the 11th Annual Women on Farms Gathering, Yarra Valley,
Vic 1 April 2000

Introduction
- Women in Rural and Regional Areas

• Despite the multi-faceted
  contributions of rural women, a recent university study finds that for
  many the traditional sexual division of labour on farms continues, and
  states "housework is women's work and men's work is farming ..."
• The study found
  that men perform most of the farm work in over 80% of families. About
  60% of women undertake some farm work as well as household tasks. The
  study concluded that while in most families women are solely responsible
  for managing the household and raising the children, a significant number
  of women also undertake farming activities and engage in paid work and
  community activities off the farm.
• A 1998 Department
  of Primary Industries and Energy (DPIE) report supports these figures,
  finding that men spend about twice as much time on livestock care
  as women, and that women spend twice as many hours on business management
  and bookkeeping compared to men.
• The DPIE report
  also noted women do most of the housework (almost 15 hours a week compared
  to 6 hours for men), and most of the childcare (45 hours a week compared
  to almost 11 hours for men).
• In 1996, 13% of
  all Australian women lived in rural areas. In addition 3 843 000 people,
  or almost 9% of the population are involved in the agriculture, forestry
  and fishing industries. Of this 9%, women make up 3.4%. Of all the people
  involved in this sector, 32.2% are women.
• It appears that
  little has changed in terms of "who does what on the farm"
  since Australia was colonised. Farming is one of the oldest professions,
  yet there is limited interest, scatty and poor historical records of
  the role and achievements of rural farming women, yet they have been
  essential to its success.
• The struggles
  of farming women in previous eras may seem familiar to contemporary
  farmers. Elizabeth Macarthur's commentary on her experience of farming
  is illuminating. She stated

" ...our
Gardens produce nothing, all is burnt up, indeed, the Soil must be
allow'd to be most wretched and totally unfit for growing any European
production ..."

• Despite initial
  set backs and managing the farm by herself for 13 years (which seems
  to have escaped the content of school history texts), Elizabeth's farm
  prospered.
• It appears not
  a lot has changed for single women wishing to be farmers. Today as in
  the past they faced additional difficulties overcoming restrictive attitudes
  and stereotypical assessment about their role and capabilities, as evidenced
  by Eliza Walsh. By 1821 Eliza Walsh already had a small farm in NSW,
  and requested a land grant from Governor Macquarie. He refused, saying

"I cannot
comply with your request, it being contrary to the Regulations to
give Grants of Land to Ladies."

• A male farmer
  in a comparable situation would have been successful. Walsh persevered
  however, writing and lobbying politicians, and finally securing land
  5 years later.
• The tenacity and
  determination demonstrated by these historical figures continues today.
  Change is being led by women, many of whom are denied equal access,
  yet these women embrace new technologies, develop new enterprises and
  continue to add value to existing farm activities.

Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission Bush Talks

Background

• Bush Talks came
  about after there was an overwhelming response to a paper published
  in May 1996 on human rights in rural Australia. The Human Rights and
  Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) then decided to look comprehensively
  at what was happening to human rights in rural, regional and remote
  Australia.

• A wide range of
  consultations were held - welfare and advocacy groups, Indigenous people,
  women's organisations, business leaders, local government councillors,
  government agencies, parents, families, police, teachers and other individuals.

The Objectives of Bush
Talks include:

1. to inform country
   Australians about their human rights and the role of HREOC;
2. to provide a forum
   for country Australians to voice their human rights concerns;
3. to identify key
   human rights issues for rural Australians on which HREOC can do further
   work and
4. to develop practical
   solutions to human rights problems raised.

• The access of
  rural Australians to health, education and essential services have consistently
  been raised throughout Bush Talks.

Bush Talks
- Issues facing rural Australians Health

• Rural Australians
  more often suffer from serious disease, illness and injury, and die
  earlier than urban Australians.

• In rural Australia,
  there has been a decline in health services, accessing services that
  exist can be time consuming and difficult, there is a shortage of health
  professionals, and depressed economic circumstances are reportedly resulting
  in increased family stress, poorer mental health and worsening health
  status.

• Declining services
  are exemplified by the lack of health professionals in rural areas.
  Nationally, residents of the major urban areas have access to one GP
  for every 830 people, but in country areas access averages out to one
  GP for every 1 247 people. In addition only one in five specialists
  reside in rural areas.

Case study
- HREOC heard how in Euroa, Victoria, as a consequence of there being no
publicly funded beds in hospitals, residents of this town had a choice of
either taking out full private health insurance or being prepared to travel
long distances for hospital treatment.

Case study
- HREOC was also told:

"Some rural
hospitals, which do not have extended care facilities, view themselves
as acute institutions only, providing 'acute' care to medical and surgical
and maternity cases and do not tolerate well the care of the disabled
and frail aged who often need to be in their care for extended periods
of time while they await the availability of full time care in an appropriate
nursing home." HREOC was also told that, "these people waiting
for nursing homes are 'bedblockers' and we have to get them out".
In addition, a person waiting for a nursing home place wants to remain
near family and friends - and is waiting for someone else to die so
that a place is freed up.

Case Study
- HREOC was also told about a similar situation in Corryong in Victoria,
a town of 1 500 and a town on which another 1 500 in the region depend.
A former nurse at the hospital wrote

"Heaven
help anyone who has a heart attack, major accident or haemorrhage from
now on, because with the downgrade of the hospital services our one
and only ambulance with its one and only driver will have to get that
person to hospital in Albury or Wodonga 125 kms away [it takes 90 minutes
at least]. How can he drive and care for a seriously ill patient?"

Education

• Early childhood
  and primary school services in rural communities were reported as deficient
  during Bush Talks. Schools were seen to be neither adequately
  equipped to perform effectively, nor positioned to attract high calibre
  teachers.

• While rural schools
  generally have lower student-teacher ratios than urban schools, rural
  schools faced other difficulties in providing education, including lack
  of specialised staffing, limited choice of classes and curriculum options,
  fewer computer facilities and limited resources for library, sports
  and other activities.

• Other rural communities
  had no schools at all. Children being forced to attend school in neighbouring
  communities was seen to waste time and energy, as well as discourage
  educational aspirations.

• This situation
  worsened at secondary school level. Many rural schools do not offer
  classes beyond Year 10, again forcing students to travel extensive distances
  to schools in other towns or to go to boarding school.

 

Case study
- one parent told HREOC:

"Distance
education is available to Year 12 but subject choices are very limited
and there is no interaction between students. Children need social contact
and social education beyond the formal education curricula. They also
need sport, music and social activity. Because of the difficulties children
in remote areas have only 52% retention to Year 12, with boys less than
50%. It is heartbreaking for parents not to have enough money to ensure
the proper education of their children."

Other issues

• Currently it is
  estimated that there are 600 plus communities in the bush without access
  to a financial institution, according to Dr Wendy Craik from the National
  Farmers' Federation. When a bank closes, it costs the community an estimated
  $350 per person per month as people transfer their shopping to their
  banking town. From 1993 to 1998, 481 non-metropolitan bank branches
  shut, with the loss of about 10 000 jobs.

• The closure of
  service centres such as banks and post offices, limited access to telecommunications,
  poor services for people with disabilities and aged care issues, poor
  access to public transport, and limited services for children and young
  people were also raised as particular concerns facing rural communities.

Projects arising from Bush Talks

• HREOC has and
  will continue to undertake several projects, focusing on areas of health,
  education, essential services, children and young people and disability
  services as a result of Bush Talks.

• HREOC has recently
  released Emerging Themes, the first in a series of reports arising
  from the National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education. The inquiry
  examined issues of the availability, accessibility and quality of the
  provision of education for children in rural and remote Australia.

• Other future projects
  include further inquiries, publications, seminars and networking. HREOC
  is particularly interested in detailing positive initiatives that already
  exist in rural areas. Each project will be undertaken in partnership
  with country people, whether through rural service organisations, representative
  bodies or with rural leaders.

Women's Labour
Market Participation in Regional Australia

• Although there
  has been much research on women and their work since the 1970s, studies
  generally have focused on a picture at a national level. The lack of
  analysis of women in regional labour markets is overwhelming, yet the
  different employment and training opportunities between capital and
  non-capital cities, towns and rural areas is considerable.

• A new report entitled
  Women's Labour Market Participation in Regional Australia was
  commissioned by HREOC and was written by Dr Glenda Strachan and Dr John
  Burgess from the Employment Studies Centre of the University of Newcastle.
  This report is the first in a planned three part research project.

• Women's Labour
  Market Participation in Regional Australia contains information
  and data on women and employment in different rural and remote regions,
  including a case study of women's labour market participation in the
  Hunter region. Recommendations for future research are also included.

• As evidenced by
  Bush Talks, this report reveals significant concern over changes
  in rural communities due to widespread withdrawal of services. There
  is little doubt that the removal of government and banking services
  from Australian towns has a major impact on employment opportunities
  - particularly in relation to women's employment which remains concentrated
  in the service sector.
• Women's Labour
  Market Participation in Regional Australia quotes a recent Victorian
  report which noted that

"service
closures and cutbacks have caused widespread job losses. Public service
retrenchments in health, education, local government, community services
and transport have been extensive."

• The report identifies
  that many job losses have been concentrated in single communities
  such as the Latrobe Valley where the restructuring of the electricity
  industry saw 16 000 people out of work. The research also revealed
  that communities feared local unemployment would increase when the
  policy of compulsory competitive tendering in local government took
  full effect.
• The report stated
  that the loss of jobs in regional Victoria was keenly felt:

"Employment
in the public service, banks or utilities used to offer workers and
young people a career path. They provided on-the-job training, and
had inbuilt programs to develop workers' technical and interpersonal
skills. The loss of the types of jobs that offered Victorians a solid
working future is a great one."

• Lack of work and
  future employment prospects were cited as the main reasons why people
  left country Victoria. For example, in the town of Dunmunkle, a rural
  farming community in the Wimmera north of Horsham, young people were
  seen to have one of two choices: go to Melbourne or a large regional
  centre, or be unemployed. Precedent showed that once they left, few
  returned. Dunmunkle is suffering a severe population decline and this
  community is at a loss as to what it can do to turn the situation around.

Report Findings

• To date the national
  policy focus towards women in the Australian labour market has been
  based on the premise that policies such as equal employment opportunity
  and equal pay will apply fairly to all women regardless of location.
  This assumption is simplistic and unwarranted - policies need to address
  the significant differences that exist across the labour market and
  in particular the relatively limited employment opportunities available
  to women in certain non-metropolitan areas.

• Job opportunities
  in rural areas are often constrained by the specific nature of the region.
  Overall, occupational segregation limits women's employment choices,
  which are concentrated in service industries. There is no doubt that
  women's choices of employment remains constrained to those of men.

• While there has
  been a great deal of analysis of the separate labour markets for women
  and men, little recognition has been given to gender differences within
  the labour markets of disparate geographical locations.

• The widest range
  of opportunities for education, training and employment exists in large
  cities and the statistics used in Women's Labour Market Participation
  in Regional Australia indicate the profound difference in employment
  opportunities between city and non-metropolitan areas.

• In general as
  the size of the location diminishes, so too do the labour market options.

• National average
  labour force data conceals large differences between regions. There
  are some notable differences between women by location, for example:

• the part-time
  employment ratio: from 50% in Tas to 4.8% in ACT;

• the unemployment
  rate: from 10.7% in Tas to 4.8% in NT & ACT;

• the proportion
  of the unemployed seeking part-time employment: from 39.6% in WA to
  25.6% in NT;

• the labour force
  participation rate: from 65.1% in the ACT to 47.9% in Tas, and

• average full-time
  weekly earnings: from $699 in ACT to $560 in WA.

The report found that
women in regional locations generally have:

• lower employment
  to population ratios;
• lower labour force
  participation rates;
• higher part-time
  employment ratios;
• higher unemployment
  rates;
• a higher proportion
  of the unemployed looking for part-time work;
• lower average
  personal income;
• similar patterns
  of gender occupation and industrial segregation, and most importantly,
• that the influence
  of the local region is critical in determining women's labour market
  opportunities.

Case Study -
Hunter Valley Dr Strachan and Dr Burgess analysed the employment
profile of women in the Hunter region of NSW. They used census data and
information from selected organisation reports submitted to the Equal Opportunity
for Women in the Workplace Agency. A broadly representative sample of 25
organisations was analysed. For the Hunter Valley it was found that:

• there is clear
  occupational segregation. The majority of clerks and sales & service
  workers and para-professionals and professionals are women;
• women predominate
  in the lower levels of organisations;
• the percentage
  of women managers is not equivalent to the percentage of women employees
  in 21 organisations;
• part-time and
  casual employment was more likely to be utilised by employers in female-dominated
  industries;
• women were the
  overwhelming majority of all permanent part-time employees, and
• women were the
  majority of casual employees except in the manufacturing and transport
  sectors.

Conclusion

• The Women's
  Labour Market Participation in Regional Australia report confirms
  profound differences in employment opportunities between city and non-metropolitan
  areas and as expected as the size of the location diminishes, so too
  do the labour market options.
• The geographical
  area of the operational labour market for women is smaller than that
  available to men. Australia is characterised by regions centred on towns
  which form separate labour markets because the distances between towns
  are too far for daily travel. There is some evidence that women are
  constrained in terms of job opportunities or may not be prepared to
  travel as far as men for work due to family and child care responsibilities.
  Social attitudes and access to appropriate transport appear to contribute
  to this outcome.
• National average
  labour force data conceals the large differences between regions. Analysis
  of ABS data shows that female employment to population ratios are at
  least 10% below those for males. However, the labour force participation
  rate for women outside of capital cities is up to 10% below that for
  capital cities and is applicable across all age groups.
• Within non-metropolitan
  regions there can be significant differences in the distribution of
  employment opportunities available for women. The Hunter region analysis
  found considerable variation in employment opportunities within this
  large region which is effectively made up of a number of separate labour
  markets.
• Overall it is
  clear that the influence of the local region is critical in determining
  women's labour market opportunities and participation.

Last
updated 1 December 2001