LaborNET

  Ask Neale

  Tool of the Week

Women

A Checklist for Women Voters

By Gina Preston

With a mountain of demands on Australian working women, the biggest question could well be which is the biggest?

	Checklist for Women�s Voters

*************

Australian women are fortunate to live in a society where they earn equal pay, can easily balance paid work and family life, and occupy a fair share of highly skilled jobs. Right? As any working woman would know, this is far from the truth.

There are many inequities in life today for Australian women. Within months, Australians will go to the polls to elect a new Government - unions and the ACTU want to know women's views so we can campaign effectively to ensure that women's issues are high on the agenda.

Unions are calling on women to nominate their top priorities for the federal election by completing our Checklist for Women's Voters. The Checklist is part of a campaign to raise the profile of issues the ACTU and unions believe are relevant to the lives of many Australian women voters within the context of work, family, health and community services and education.

Unions will distribute the checklist pamphlet around workplaces seeking feedback from women about the key issues they expect the government to act on. Women can also send us their three key issues by email, post or fax (see below for details). The information will be used in a media campaign to highlight the importance of women's issues and women's votes in the election.

ACTU President Sharan Burrow says issues such as work-family balance, job security, family-friendly workplaces, equal pay and having more control over working hours affect all working people, but women in particular.

"We want to make sure that the major political parties are aware that these issues impact on the quality of life of most voters," said Ms Burrow.

"Women can push for change by helping us to gather this information. To speak for women, we need to know about the issues that impact on women's lives so we can all campaign for improvements."

Equal pay

Even though equal pay was awarded in an Arbitration Commission Test Case more than 30 years ago, most women are not being paid the same as men for work of equal value. While this year marks the 50th anniversary of the International Labour Organisation's Equal Pay Convention, Australian Taxation Office data released in April shows that men earn, on average, 46 per cent more than women. Figures for 1998-99 show that the average taxable income for men ($34,460) is 46 per cent higher than the amount paid to women ($23,599).

Despite women doubling their participation rate in traditionally male dominated areas such as law, accountancy and policing, the gap between men's and women's average weekly earnings has increased nationally by $64.50 over the past 10 years. Non-managerial women earn an average $17.50 an hour - $1.50 or 8 per cent less than their male counterparts who average $19.00 an hour (ABS 1999).

The daily juggle

The Australian birth rate is declining at a rapid rate. To simply sustain current population levels the average number of children born to Australian women needs to be 2.1. In 1961 the rate was 3.6 children; by 1999 this figure had dropped to 1.75, and women are now waiting longer before having children.

Part of the answer to arresting declining births levels is to look at why women are delaying having children or not having them at all. A survey of 14,000 Australian women aged 18 to 23 years revealed that nearly one in three want to return to work part-time after giving birth, and 60 per cent want to combine parenting with a full-time career. Only 4 per cent of women wanted to stay at home full-time, showing that women expect more creative solutions to the problem of balancing work and family.

She Works Hard for the Money

Women are mostly found in lower paid and lower skilled jobs and are far more likely than men to experience periods out of the labour force.

Australian Bureau of Statistics from 1999 show that 23 per cent of all women workers earn $12 or less an hour, or $23,713 a year. Nine per cent of all women workers earn $10 or less an hour, or a paltry $19,761 a year.

Forty-four per cent of all part time employees (of which 73 per cent are women) in organisations of five or more employees are paid at the minimum Award rate compared to only 13 per cent of full time employees (DEWRSB Award and Agreement Coverage Survey 2000).

Given that 32 per cent of adult women workers earn less than $12 an hour and a significant proportion of women working part-time are paid minimum award rates, it is therefore imperative the tax system be made fairer for women. The effects of the GST must be compensated for and public interest campaigns such as the Living Wage must receive government support.

Choose your priorities

In a recent ICFTU survey to which 629 Australian women responded, the three top priorities for women at work were:

� More control over working hours (accounting for 15% of all answers);

� Job security (13%)

� Career development and training (12%)

Control over working hours was one of the top three priorities for almost half of the respondents.

Please choose your top three priority areas from the list below:

� Family-friendly workplaces

� Job security

� More control over working hours

� Family leave and paid maternity leave

� Affordable and accessible child care

� Equal pay

� Fair workplace laws

� High quality health, housing, aged care and other community services

� Pay increases for low paid workers

� Equal access to quality, fully funded education and training opportunities

Send your three priorities (or alternative priorities) from the list of 10 above to: mailto:[email protected]

   You can access more information or download the Checklist at the ACTU website on

  View entire issue - print all of the articles!

  Issue 98 contents

»	Twenty Grand � The Cost of a Life in 2001
»	Compo Protest Virtually Ignored
»	Workers Tell Jodie: It's a Bit Rich
»	Disbelief at Dubai in the Sky
»	Wage Rise For Two Million Workers
»	Casuals Win Parental Leave Rights
»	Egan Budget Welcomed � But Social Audit Still on Agenda
»	Bad Rosters �Like Being Drunk�
»	Nurses Act on Ward Rage
»	Council Workers Brace for Border Skirmish
»	Meatworkers Win in Federal Court
»	Hotel Bosses Linked to Tobacco Industry
»	Workers Demand Treaty With Indigenous Australia
»	Activists Notebook

»	The Soapbox
»	The Locker Room
»	Trades Hall
»	Tool Shed

»	Pop and Politics - Where's Billy??
»	Satire is not Serious
»	Toasting May Day
»	WorkCover - Questions for NRMA

Notice Board
- Check out the latest events

Latest Issue

View entire latest issue
- print all of the articles!

Previous Issues

Subject index

Search all issues

© 1999-2000 Labor Council of NSW

LaborNET is a resource for the labour movement provided by the Labor Council of NSW

[ Privacy Statement | Disclaimer | Credits ]

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW