Gender Situation (more on Australian story cont. a)
Some More Background
“...Women's workforce participation has risen steadily since the mid-1960s. More than three-quarters of Australian women of working age now do some paid work each week, compared to less than 50% in the early 1980s…”
Danielle Wood, 2024
In addition to helping women financially, it also helps the country, ie
“...The economic dividend has not just been through the increase in hours worked. Rising women's workforce participation has improved productivity, especially in those sectors where people skills - what economists call human capital - matter to performance…..estimate that 20% to 40% of the growth in US living standards between 1960 and 2010 was due to ‘better allocation of talent’ as more women and members of minority groups participated in the workforce, including in roles previously closed to them…”
Danielle Wood,2024
“...In 2021, Australian women worked on average 8 hours less a week then Australian men, one of the highest gaps in the OECD. This reflects much higher rates of part-time work; 36% of employed Australian women worked less than 30 hours a week compared to 25% for Canada, 28% for New Zealand and the OECD average of 24%. This is mostly due to the ongoing barriers to women's participation, both economically and socially prescribed…”
Danielle Wood, 2024
Part-time work is usually associated with lower pay rates and contributes to a continuing pay differential that widens as careers progress.
“...Employees tend to reward experience, and by definition, workers with a history of part-time work have accumulated less experience…… rightly or wrongly, may also be seen as less committed to their jobs and careers, which again will be reflected in fewer opportunities for career advancement…”
Mark Wooden, 2024
This is mainly due to the entrenched gender norms around work and care.
“...Australian women spend less time in paid work and more time undertaking unpaid care than women in many OECD countries. The reverse is true for Australian men. Unpaid work is valuable and necessary, but Australia's very gendered division is notable…”
Danielle Woods, 2024
Generally Australian women are not satisfied with this division but it is the default position.
Furthermore, most executive roles require long hours and being available 24/7; this favours men as women tend to have more caring/family responsibilities.
Linked with this are difficulties accessing childcare that is affordable, available and convenient.
In addition to the restrictive gender-based barriers of entry, we need to remove the invisible structural barriers that may stop women surviving and thriving once they are in the workplace. For example, the legal profession has
“...long hours, systematic sexism and historic conservatism, it is not an easy place for women at the start or during their careers……I've experienced my fair share of sexism, sexual harassment and garden variety misogyny… “
Hannah Wootton, 2024
However, on the positive side
“...The number of female entrepreneurs is growing three times faster than their male counterparts, and women are now one third of Australia's small businesses…”
JBWere as quoted by Lucy Dean 2024
Some of the reasons for this include more flexible working hours, the ability to work from home and the lower cost of starting a business.