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Women must work a day without pay to achieve pay equity

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Have you ever had the feeling you have to work harder and longer just to get the same opportunities as your male peers?  Well the latest ABS data shows you also have to work longer just to earn as much as men do.  About a day extra every week - for free - in fact.

The Australian Financial Review reported on Friday that - according to the latest Australian Bureaus of Statistics data - the overall full-time average weekly earnings pay gap for all industries is 18 per cent (‘Women work longer to earn a man’s pay’, by Marsha Jacobs, www.afr.com, 21/8/09).

At this rate, my calculations show women need to work more than 8 hours longer than their male peers every week, just to earn as much as they do.  This of course is on top of women still doing the lions share of domestic duties and assuming the primary parenting role in most working families.

Which makes me wonder, where on earth would we even find these extra 8 hours?  


It’s a mystery to me.  Which is probably a good thing.  In my experience, the more outrageous a situation is, the more likely we are to demand action from the powers that be.  So I wonder: are you ready to stand up and be heard when it comes to pay equity in your workplace.  I believe we all deserve better than this, and I also believe nothing will change until we put up our hands and ask for more.  


Are you ready to ask for pay equity now?

Comments (2) | Permalink
N commented on 16-Mar-2011 09:03 AM
I am lucky enough to work for an employer that employs a high proportion of women and strives to accomodate flexibility in the workplace for women and men; with children and without. The difficulty I have found in previous employment is that professional staff sign indivdual contracts and are not allowed to discuss their wage with their colleagues. We have no way of knowing whether we are paid well or whether we are being ripped off! It is dissappointing then to find out inadvertantly that you are working longer and harder than the person next to you and they are being paid the same or more than you - man or woman. I have noticed however that men do back themselves better than women, speak with greater authortity and I think would be in a better position to negotiate a higher wage. I agree that women need to learn to promote themselves better.
The SheEO commented on 24-Mar-2011 05:25 PM
Yes N... agree, it's tricky. My tip? We can all ask our employers: am I being paid the same as my male peers? If we were all to ask, perhaps we'd start seeing a diminishing margin on what women are paid, compared to men.
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