Alison Preston

Australia's “Other” Gender Wage Gap: Baby Boomers and Compulsory Superannuation Accounts

Government budgetary pressures and demographic trends have made retirement income policy a priority in developed economies. One option for policy reform is to increase private saving. In Australia, legislation requiring compulsory employer payments for the purposes of retirement savings addresses this option. This system poses particular difficulties for women who have broken patterns of paid employment and relatively low wages. When simulations that project likely employment participation and retirement outcomes incorporate a gendered approach and focus on the “baby boomer” cohort, the results highlight the low probability that women will accumulate adequate independent private retirement income. Over their lifetimes, Australian women baby boomers will spend around 35 percent less time in paid employment than their male counterparts. The projected average gender gap in compulsory accumulations is of a similarly large magnitude. The results emphasize the continuing need for publicly financed redistribution schemes, such as the Australian age pension.

The structure and determinants of wage relativities : evidence from Australia

Reflections on wage theory human capital model - a theoretical overview wages in practice - wage fixing in Australia human capital and earnings - a review of the literature determinants of male relative earnings determinants of female relative earnings equitable comparisons and spillover forces in wage determination summary and conclusion. Appendices: human capital and earnings, a summary of Australian empirical literature measuring gender wage discrimination definition of variables used in Chapter 5 and 6 variable definitions and computations associated with Chapter 7.

Equal Pay: Is the Pendulum Swinging Back?:

The literature on female pay suggests that a key determinant of female relative pay is the overall system of wage determination. The more deregulated the system the greater the gender inequality, reflecting the fact that women occupy a greater share of low wage occupations and, relative to men, are in a weaker bargaining position. Using the unique character of the Australian industrial institutional arrange ments, this paper conducts a within-country test of the hypothesis that labour market deregulation adversely affects female relative pay. Since the early 1990s institutional arrangements for pay determination and labour market regulation in Australia have undergone considerable change, although the reforms introduced vary. At one end of the spectrum there are regulatory systems based on individualism (e.g. Victorias). At the other there are collective systems, such as in New South Wales. The research in this paper shows that women in highly deregulated systems have experienced the greatest deterioration in their relative earnings when compared to more collectivist systems. The paper thus cautions against further labour market deregulation, noting also that the results shown here may just be the tip of the iceberg with respect to gender earnings inequality.

Contrasting Economic Analyses of Equal Remuneration: The Social and Community Services (SACS) Case

Industrial tribunals and stakeholders involved in wage hearings are sometimes called upon to consider and weigh contrasting evidence that, due to its technical nature, may be inaccessible to non-specialists. This article investigates the example of two different economic analyses of gender and pay that were submitted to Fair Work Australia as part of an ‘equal remuneration’ case for workers in the social and community services sector. It demonstrates how the different analyses partly reflect the different theoretical approaches to the analysis of labour exchange implicit in the alternative submissions, and investigates the strengths and weaknesses these approaches posed when attempting to explain gendered patterns of pay in the care sector. The article argues that understanding the key assumptions and definitions underlying each type of economic analysis can contribute to an improved comprehension of the different viewpoints on gender pay equity among economists. Of particular importance are: the contrasting approaches to understanding differences between specific jobs and a group of jobs categorized as occupations; the meanings attached to the terms ‘value’ and ‘productivity’; and the distinction between discrimination and undervaluation.

State of Pay: Female Relative Earnings in Australia

Abstract Over the 1990s there have been a number of significant transformations in the Australian labour market, many of them likely to affect female relative earnings. This article examines the impact of changes in the regulatory industrial relations systems on gender earnings inequality. The paper begins with an overview of the regulatory development in the various state and federal jurisdictions. This analysis is followed with a short discussion of why decentralised wage fixing may fail women. The remainder of the article offers new empirical insight into Australian gender earnings differentials via a disaggregated state analysis.

Is Australia Really a World Leader in Closing the Gender Gap

Abstract In the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2006 Global Gender Gap report, Australia was highlighted as a world leader in closing the gender gap. With reference to the Economic Participation and Opportunity Index (one of four components in the WEF Gender Gap Index (GGI)), this article assesses whether or not Australia is deserving of this recognition. Closer analysis shows that convergence in the participation gap flowed from increased participation in part-time, low-paid, and precarious jobs. Research also shows that womens entry into professional jobs has led to the feminization of some positions and that vertical segregation remains an ongoing problem. In highlighting these disparities, this article questions the capacity of the GGI to provide an adequate understanding of womens labor market participation and economic attainment.

Women, work and welfare: globalisation, labour market reform and the rhetoric of choice

Australias social, economic and political order continues to undergo fundamental change. Since the 1980s, the benefits of globalisation and associated micro-economic reforms have dominated the public agenda and continue to generate contentious debate.! In particular, the deregulation of Australias product and labour markets, alongside the increased emphasis on competition and the dismantling of the welfare state, are subject to critical analysis. Within the labour market the increasing wage and income inequality, the growth in relative poverty, the increased use of flexible employment contracts (part-time, temporary, casual and selfemployment) and the persistently high levels of unemployment have been noted as particularly alarming.2 Concerns have also been raised in relation to the restrictions placed upon peoples access to government-provided income support through social security, particularly within a labour market characterised by job insecurity and irregular income} While such changes have had profound implications for both women and men, this paper argues that the patriarchal context within which globalisation, labour market deregulation and welfare reforms occur exacerbates the economic, social and political vulnerability of many women. Given this predicament, the case for further deregulation of the labour market is far from compelling, in fact from a feminist perspective, the argument in favour of competitive labour markets is virtually non-existent. Using feminist economic and social framings, this paper explores the consequences of deregulation as they affect womens participation in the Australian labour market and the parallel relationship with womens access to social security. Beginning with a brief overview of

Trends in Australia's Gender—Wage Ratio

ABSTRACT Contrary to expectations, Australias gender-wage ratio (GWR) has remained remarkably stable throughout a prolonged era of significant labour- market deregulation. This article examines recent trends in Australias GWR and cautions against its use as an accurate measure of womens and mens labour-market experiences. In particular, three key issues need to be considered: (i) womens patterns of workforce participation and over-representation in parttime work; (ii) different methods of pay-setting relevant to different labour-market sectors; and (iii) data limitations on our capacity to fully monitor developments in some labour-market sectors.

Worker Participation and Firm Performance

Assessing the robustness of empirical estimates, and thus the generality of theoretical models, is an important objective in applied research. Accordingly, this paper offers a further test of the Freeman-Lazear employee involvement model. The theoretical model posits that the form and level of bargaining has an important bearing on levels of employee involvement chosen by management. Sub-optimal levels of employee involvement are predicted for firms engaged in workplace level distributive or competitive bargaining. In contrast to earlier tests of the model based on British and German data, findings in this paper (based on the 1995 Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey) provide little support for the theorised relationships.

Understanding leadership experiences: the need for story sharing and feminist literature as a survival manual for leadership

This paper uses an auto‐ethnographic storytelling approach to connect an individual’s experience in leadership with the literature on women in leadership as a way of further exposing and understanding gendered organisational practices. Whilst the paper details only one women’s experience it was through the connection to the literature that most ‘sense making’ occurred and a realisation (on the part of one of the authors) that the experience was not unique or individualised but, rather, systematic of masculine, gendered, organisational cultures. The paper offers some ‘strategies for survival’ for other women who may find themselves in similar situations. It concludes with a call for programmes and strategies to bring about fundamental change. Although the setting is the higher education sector in Australia the paper’s findings and recommendations have much broader applicability.