The Pay Gap Between Men and Women in Australia - Annotated Bibliography Example

Annotated bibliography: Pay gap between men and women in Australia 24 August Annotated bibliography: Pay gap between men and women in Australia Australian government. (2012, May 17). Gender pay gap statistics. Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency. Retrieved from http://www.eowa.gov.au/Information_Centres/Resource_Centre/Statistics/Gender_Pay_Gap_Fact_Sheet_May_2012.pdf The Australian government used the Australian Labour Market Statistics to analyse wage gap differences between men and women across sectors, ages, and job positions. It reported that as of February 2012, the gender pay gap is 17.4%. Western Australia had the largest gender pay gap (25.8 %), while Australian Capital Territory posted the lowest at 12.0 %. The gender wage gap is larger for the private sector than the public sector, and it is highest in the health care and social assistance sector. As women grow older, the wage gap also increases. This item is relevant to the study because it provides statistics for existing wage gap differences and where they can be found. It is also linked with other statistics and studies that determines that gender discrimination is the predominant cause of the gender wage gap. BPW International. (2011). Equal Pay Day International Campaign 2011. Retrieved from http://www.bpw-international.org/about-bpw/policy-based-initiatives/equal-pay-day/epd-latest-news?start=20 Dr. Lena Madesin Phillips established The International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW International) in 1930. BPW International is part of international networks of business and professional women with affiliates in 95 countries. This web page offers numerous articles regarding gender pay gap across the world. It shows that Australia’s wage gap is lower than Austria, Germany, and Belgium, but higher than New Zealand and France. This item is important because it depicts international comparisons of gender pay equity and how different nations are addressing this global concern. Eveline, J., & Todd, P. (2010). Gender mainstreaming: The answer to the gender pay gap? In C.L. Bacchi (Ed.), Mainstreaming politics: Gendering practices and feminist theory (pp.163-190). South Australia: University of Adelaide Press. Eveline and Todd (2010) examined if gender mainstreaming is an effective policy in decreasing wage gaps between men and women. They conducted a systematic review of gender mainstreaming in Australian states. They defined gender mainstreaming as a strategy for embedding gender concerns into studying and developing institutional arrangements, market structure, wage policies, and social norms. They stressed that the application of the enterprise bargaining system since the 1990s worsened gender wage gap in Australia. They noted from their review that gender mainstreaming cannot be effective as a gender wage gap corrector without supporting industrial relations policy changes. This item is relevant to the topic because it studies the effects of gender pay gap in Australia and focuses on the role of gender mainstreaming in correcting this inequity. It shows that gender wage gap is more prominent in the private sector, but because of modern industrial relations policy changes, the latter is experiencing a greater wage gap between men and women. Iyer, P. (2012, June 2). Average pay gap remains too high. The Australian. Retrieved from http://www.theaustralian.com.au/careers/average-pay-gap-remains-too-high/story-fn717l4s-1226377475401 Iyer (2012) reported that women working in Australia earn 17.4% less than male counterparts. She noted that since the wage gap stayed at above 15% for the past twenty years, it seems that the effort of the government and public sectors are not enough to resolve this pertinent issue. She interviewed Helen Conway, director of Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), who said that making wage levels transparent and allowing discussion between the management and workers can help address gender wage inequity. This item is important to the topic because it shows updates regarding gender pay equity. It also discusses the long-term effects of gender pay equity for women and the nation. Lyons, M., & Smith, M. (2008). Gender pay equity, wage fixation and industrial relations reform in Australia: One step forward and two steps backwards? Employee Relations, 30 (1), 4-19. Lyons and Smith (2008) aimed to talk about the effect of the new federal wage fixing system on gender pay differences in Australia. They supported their findings with studies on the Australian industrial relations policies and effects on wage differences in general and in the childrens services in particular. Their findings showed that industrial relations reform since the WorkChoices administration had exacerbated the gender pay gap. They concluded that shifting away from centralised bargaining system constituted two steps backward for the resolution of gender pay inequity in Australia. This item is important to the topic because it supports the general view that decentralising the bargaining system is not conducive to removing the gender wage gap, because it eradicates collective bargaining policies and practices. Ryan, P. (2012, August 11). Finance workers face widening gender pay gap. ABC News. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-11/finance-workers-face-widening-gender-pay-gap/4192342 Ryan (2012) summarised the report from the Financial Services Institute (FINSIA). According to FINSIA, the gender wage gap widened in the financial services industry. Its wage gap is 31% compared to the national average of 17%. The news article indicated that financial services firms are working to address this matter, but the gender wage gap persists because of salary marking differences. This item is important to the topic because it shows how the financial services seem to be differentiating the pay between men and women. Sawer, M., Abjorensen, N., & Larkin, P. (2009). Chapter 4: Economic and social rights. In M. Sawer, N. Abjorensen, & P. Larkin (Eds.), Australia: The state of democracy (pp.73-98). North South Wales: The Federation Press. Sawer, Abjorensen, and Larkin (2009) explored the weaknesses of economic and social rights of women in Australia, which makes them vulnerable to wage gap differences and other gender inequity challenges in their workplace conditions. They stressed that the issue of wage gap inequity is often explored through industrial policy mechanisms. Like Eveline and Todd (2010), they discovered that shifting away from Australia’s centralised bargaining system exacerbates the gender pay gap, particularly since women have less bargaining power, as they work in less organised occupations, such as in the human services industry, and because they often work as casual employees. Their study showed that the wage gap is 16% for male and female employees, who work full time (p.77). They also learned that the gap is higher for managerial than non-managerial levels and worst in Western Australia. This item is important to the topic, because it studies existing wage gap conditions in Australia. It mentions statistics and patterns of gender wage differences, while discussing potential causes. Read More