Page 655 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 24 February 2010
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women aged between 45 and 59 have $8,000 or less in superannuation, with 2.8 million women aged 15 years and over reportedly not covered by superannuation. Current superannuation payouts for women are one-third of men’s, being $37,000 compared to $110,000.
The Australian Human Rights Commission’s submission to the Australian government Office for Women inquiring into the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act 1999 and Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency tells us that entering the paid workforce for the first time is a key point in the life cycle for determining future earnings and workforce participation patterns. Consequently, the point of entry into the paid workforce also influences women’s capacity to accumulate retirement savings. Despite equal educational outcomes, a significant gap between the superannuation balances of women and men aged 25 to 34 still persists. This highlights the early years in the paid workforce as a point of great significance in the life cycle in terms of impact on future retirement savings.
The commission acknowledges that the reasons for the gender pay gap are complex and interconnected. It reports that the Australian paid workforce is highly gender segregated and female-dominated industries have been historically undervalued. For example, industries such as aged care, childcare, health and community services are all female dominated and generally lower paid compared to male dominated industries such as engineering, banking and finance. Consequently, women working in lower paid female-dominated industries will inevitably accumulate lower retirement savings.
The report from the commission goes on to explain that entering the paid workforce for the first time is a key point in the life cycle for determining future earnings. Experiences of inequity at this point, such as an inability to secure permanent full-time employment and the gender pay gap, have lifelong consequences for the capacity of women to accumulate those retirement savings, and this leaves women more vulnerable to poverty in their later years.
Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Elizabeth Broderick, has issued a “call to action” to reform the retirement income system to make it better and to reflect the reality of a women’s life cycle—to reward unpaid caring work perhaps through a national social insurance scheme and an expanded co-contribution scheme.
Madam Deputy Speaker, the reporting of all of these alarming statistics brings me to the content of my motion that calls upon the ACT government to conduct a pay equity audit of the ACT public service. A pay equity audit is an important first step in addressing workplace gender issues, as after undertaking a pay equity audit organisations are better able to identify where gender pay inequities exist within their workplace and can then adopt strategies to remove barriers to workforce participation and career progression for female employees.
A pay equity audit tool is an automated spreadsheet that aids in the data analysis process by creating tables and charts based on payroll data, showing gender pay gaps and other indicators such as the prevalence of flexible working arrangements. Using the tool streamlines the technical process of data analysis so that the organisation can instead focus on other aspects of a pay equity audit. The broader review process
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