Application Exercise 7d: ‘The gender pay gap ’
- The value of the agenda a pay gap is $2.56 per hour, but in total value terms, It is estimated to be $966 million per week or $51.8 billion per year.
- According to the research, the main factor behind the pay gap is gender discrimination, contributing 36% of the $2.56 per hour pay gap.
- Industry and occupation segregation in the context of the gender pay gap refers to those industries or occupations that are typically dominated by female employees, where the rates of pay are relatively low. Examples include pre-school, childcare, kindergarten teachers, nursing and social/community services. Men tend to dominate high paying occupations whereas women tend to dominate in lower paying ones, where stereotyped gender norms perpetuate the gender pay gap.
- They could undertake gender pay gap audits and action the findings. They could also increase the share of women in leadership positions, and enhance availability and uptake of parental leave and flexible work.
- The glass ceiling is a metaphor referring to the barriers preventing women (or minority groups) from progressing or advancing in their careers to very senior positions. To the extent that these barriers are gender based and discriminatory, they prevents women from entering into high paying executive positions which becomes a factor accounting for the gender pay gap.
- to the extent that women are prevented from entering senior management or executive positions on the basis of gender, rather than talent, any efforts to break down the glass ceiling can be an investment. This is because Australian organisations will have access to a bigger talent pool, which improves decision making/productivity, and leads to an improvement in the quality and/or quantity of goods and services produced, lifting Australia’s economic prosperity.