ASU Pay Equity Survey

Complete the ASU Pay Equity Survey here

When will pay equity become a reality?

At the 2008 ASU Women’s Conference, resolutions were reached to conduct a pay equity survey throughout all sectors, highlighting the problem women face in regards to remuneration compared to men.

Pay equity is about achieving equal remuneration outcomes, eliminating sex discrimination from the wage-setting system by ensuring that employers use gender-neutral and gender-inclusive criteria to determine the value of job components such as skill, responsibility, qualifications and working conditions. It is, however, about more than just pay through wages. It also includes discretionary pay, allowances, performance, merit, bonus payments and superannuation.

Equal pay for work of equal value involves comparing the value of jobs performed by one group of workers with that of jobs performed by another group of workers, where the jobs may be of a different nature but are comparable in other ways such as skill and responsibility.

Pay inequity in your workplace can be caused by the uneven gender distribution of your workforce, in which, for example, more men occupy senior and therefore higher-paying jobs than women, and more women may work part-time or casually.

Discovering what type of pay equity problem you have is the first step. The solution will be different depending on what conclusions you arrive at.

The labour market has been distorted by historical, social constraints and prejudices. While there may be no intention on the part of employers to act unfairly towards their female employees, market rates incorporate historic distortions and assumptions about what skilled work is and what women’s work is worth. Without some means of addressing the social components in these market rates, labour markets will continue to operate in a discriminatory way.

The main reason for the inequitable pay gap is the uneven distribution of the workforce, in which more men occupy well-paid jobs than women and more women work part-time or casually. The second contributor is the value placed on traditionally female work versus traditionally male work. The third contributor is the difference in the amount paid to men and women undertaking the same job, simply because of gender (which often occurs unconsciously).

Other factors contributing to the earnings gap include:

• Undervaluation of women’s work and skills
•  Greater numbers of women at the bottom of organisations where pay is the lowest and greater numbers of men at the top where pay is higher and where discretionary pay and bonuses are more likely to be made
•  Gender expectations that make women’s ‘natural’ skills seem to be worthless
•  Different levels of discretionary payments paid to male and female occupations (eg, over-award payments, bonus payments, commissions, allowances, etc)
•  Explicit and implicit views and values that men need and deserve to be paid more
•  Over-influence of existing job hierarchies
•  Failure to recognise that current pay hierarchies may reflect social power or industrial muscle
•  Job descriptions that do not include the full range of actual skills employed
•  Equal opportunity factors contributing to the earnings gap include:
•  Differential in working times, as women have less access to paid overtime and are more likely to be in part-time or casual positions
•  Occupational segregation of labour into ‘men’s work’ and ‘women’s work’ across industries and within occupations
•  Less access to training for women workers
•  Inflexible structures and workplace practices which restrict the employment prospects of workers with family responsibilities
•  Greater likeliness of women to take time off work for family responsibilities

The latest average weekly earnings data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that there is still a gender wage gap of around 16 per cent. Furthermore, this gap has been fairly static despite developments that could have been expected to reduce it, including increased education, increased share of professional jobs, longer workforce duration and the related increased experience.

The figures, based on full-time adult ordinary earnings, shows that in 1994 women were earning 83.9 cents for every dollar men earned. By 2004, they were earning 84.8 cents. The pay gap in men and women's total earnings is even more pronounced. In 1994, men's total average weekly earnings were $643.10, compared with $424.90 for women - a difference of 34%. Ten years later, men's total weekly earnings had risen to $911.60 compared with $604.00 for women - once again a pay gap of 34%.

Clearly, there is still a long way to go in achieving pay equity in Australia.

The ASU wants to gather information from our members to access the pay equity gap at workplace. We ask that you complete the attached survey to help evaluate this critical issue.

To fill out the Pay Equity Survey, click here

For more information, go to http://www.eowa.gov.au/

For further enquiries, contact Maria Kaplanis at mkaplanis@asuvic.com