Page 404 - Week 02 - Thursday, 8 March 2007
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It really does make you stop and think about how fortunate we are in comparison to those women abroad who daily face violence and death in lots of cases, that being much more common than it is in our country. It is important that we continue to work for gender equity for women in the ACT and Australia as a whole, but also do what we can to improve the lot of women in other countries.
Mr Speaker, gender equity for women is an important issue. The rights of women have come a long way in the past century, and the ACT government is committed to improving these rights. This commitment is evidenced through the many programs and strategies we have established to achieve equality in our community. I would say that that does not apply just to the current ACT government. All ACT governments have done their bit, some with more enthusiasm than others.
Disappointingly, I have to say, I do not feel that the same can be said about the federal government at the moment. Women have fought long and hard for equal pay and working conditions but, as a result of John Howard’s WorkChoices laws, the gradual trend towards reducing inequality in the workplace has been reversed and the gains that have been made are being threatened.
In just over 10 months since their introduction, WorkChoices laws have been found to have had an overall negative effect on women in the work force. Findings released in Queensland’s Griffith Business School report Brave new work choices: what is the story so far? revealed that women’s conditions and pay sank in the first six months of WorkChoices, especially in the private sector. The real value of women’s wages since the new laws came into effect has fallen by about two per cent.
The report’s author, Professor David Peetz, found that women who were already very vulnerable in the work force were likely to be more vulnerable under WorkChoices compared with men. Whilst the public sector is somewhat more protected, the average weekly ordinary time earnings in the private sector, taking account of inflation, have fallen by 1.7 per cent for females, compared to a rise of 0.6 per cent for males.
Working women are more reliant on industrial awards and are less likely to be unionised or under collective agreements. Overall, 20 per cent of the work force is reliant on awards, around 25 per cent of women and 15 per cent of men. We know that WorkChoices is aimed at getting people off collective agreements and on to AWAs and breaking down the collective strength of unions. Past studies on negotiation behaviour have suggested that women are less likely to ask for more money and to be less confident and less likely to be successful in negotiations for individual agreements. I know that personally from having represented a predominantly female industry for five years.
John Howard’s WorkChoices laws have effectively reversed the many gains women have made in the work force and have assisted in the widening of the gap to achieving gender equity. Women are faced with many challenges, particularly in the workplace. Many have work, home and family responsibilities to juggle, but, rather than making it easier for women, the federal government has disadvantaged them and made their working conditions less secure and less equitable.
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