Women losing pay battle

19 June 2009

THE gender pay gap has exploded in just two years for teachers, financial and healthcare workers - and the Howard Government's anti-union push could be to blame.

Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) released yesterday showed women on full-time wages were paid on average less than men across all industries examined.

In six out of the 17 work categories the gap had actually increased since May 2006 - in the case of teaching by as much as 15 per cent.

A workplace expert yesterday said the increased use of individual agreements by employers, encouraged by the Howard Government's Work Choices legislation, was a key reason for the wage gap increase.

Dr Trish Todd, director of the University of Western Australia's Consortium for Diversity at Work, told news.com.au that industries with a high number of employees on collective agreements tended to have smaller pay gaps.

Many bosses also subconsciously saw women as weaker individual negotiators and drove a harder bargain, Dr Todd said.

"When you've got collective agreements, you tend to have more equality," she said. "A high proportion of the workforce is now on individual agreements."

The average full-time female teacher received $1104.50 before tax a week in May 2006 - 8 per cent less than their male colleagues - with the gap blowing out to 15 per cent in August last year.

Women working in finance and insurance received about 28 per cent less than men last year, despite the gap being 24 per cent two years before.

The pay gap in the arts and recreation industries grew from 14 per cent to nearly 20 per cent in the same period.

In healthcare and community services, the gap rose from 26 per cent to 27.5 per cent.

Hospitality had the smallest pay gap, reaching 3.7 per cent last year. But in 2006, the average full-time female hospitality worker actually received 40 cents more each week than males.

Dr Todd said hospitality workers have traditionally been employed according to union awards, which is why the wage gap was smaller than in other industries.

The pay gap in the traditionally heavily-unionised teaching profession was the main surprise packet, she said.

"That is an industry where there's a high level of collective bargaining."

Original article The Courier Mail - http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/