Why the Gender Wage Gap Persists in Australia - Term Paper Example

Download file to see previous pages In other words, gender wage gap is a phenomenon in which females get lower salaries compared to their male counterparts in similar professions in the same organization. It is seen across the world and no country seems to be free from it. Even in advanced countries like Australia, America and Great Britain, gender wage gap is a fact rather than a myth. Gender wage gap is severe in Australia despite the fact that Australia succeeded recently in appointing its first woman prime minister. The gender pay gap is experienced at every level in the workplace in Australia, the land of the great Fair Go. In 2010, on average, women lag some 17 per cent behind in pay for equal work or work of same value and in some sectors, like finance and insurance this gender pay gap expands to a ripping 32 per cent. It is regularly reported that the top 200 companies listed on the Australian Stock Exchange pay their female Chief Financial and Chief Operating Officers on average 50 per cent less than their male equivalents (Dr. Stone, 2010). In Australia, any effort made to “decrease the gender wage gap would be significantly associated with an increase in women’s hours of work” (Vidyattama et al, 2009, p.13). In other words, organizations force the women employees to work more hours if they demand for more wages. Many of the Australian organizations are of the view that the productivity of men and women are different and therefore it is difficult for the women to deliver same results if they work same hours as that of men. There are many reasons cited for the widespread gender wage gap in Australia. However, gender factor and industry segregation are two of the major reasons for the gender wage gap in Australia. Gender factor as a reason for the persistence of gender wage gap in Australia An artifact of economic, industrial relations, social and cultural factors, combined with the biological and psychological attributes of all involved in decisions before and in the workplace. As much as action is taken in the legal and political arena to create equality, the players in the industrial relations system, consciously or not, both male and female, say that they have helped to (re)construct the gender wage gap (Christine, Ph.D, 2006). According to a report released by National Centre of Social Economic Modeling (NATSEM) in 2010, the gender factor accounted for 60 per cent of the wage gap between men and women (Australia's gender wage gap 'costs $93b', 2010). As in the case of other countries, one of the major reasons for gender wage gap in Australia is the wrong perceptions about the less productivity or fewer abilities of women employees compared to male employees. Biologically, it is believed or assumed that men are stronger both physically and mentally than women. There are many cases in which women succeeded in showing equal or more mental abilities than men. However, the general perception about women abilities in excelling in critical positions is very weak. That is why Australia forced to wait till recent times to have its first woman prime minister. It should be noted that countries like Israel, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka had women prime ministers in the twentieth century. But Australia forced to wait till twenty first century to have its first woman prime minister because of the wrong perceptions of the Australian public about the capabilities of women. It should be noted that India has a woman president at present for the first time in its history. Moreover, Germany also has a woman chancellor at present. In short, other countries pushed Australia far behind in recognizing the abilities of women. It should be noted that even women CEO’s in Australia are not ready to pay equal salaries to men ...Download file to see next pagesRead More