tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/gender-pay-gap-11007/articlesGender pay gap – The Conversation2024-03-07T19:24:27Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2249492024-03-07T19:24:27Z2024-03-07T19:24:27Z2024 could be the year the Fair Work umpire properly values women’s work – here’s how<p>This International Women’s Day, it is time to call on Australia’s workplace umpire, the Fair Work Commission, to finally close the gender pay gap.</p>
<p>Half a century after the commission’s predecessor granted women “equal pay for equal work” in a <a href="https://atui.org.au/2020/06/16/the-1969-equal-pay-case/">landmark case</a> in 1969, the gap remains between <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/data-statistics/ABS-gender-pay-gap-data">12% and 21%</a>.</p>
<p>Amendments to the Fair Work Act by the incoming Labor government in 2022 gave it new tools to close the gap by addressing the undervaluation of work in traditionally female-dominated occupations.</p>
<p>If it uses these tools to their full potential, 2024 will be a landmark year in the genuine achievement of equal pay for equal work. </p>
<h2>What we’ve been doing hasn’t much worked</h2>
<p>Traditionally in Australia, addressing gender-based undervaluation has relied on two approaches. </p>
<p>The first has been to argue the business case for gender equality – convincing employers they’ll be rewarded for “<a href="https://theconversation.com/now-youre-able-to-look-up-individual-companies-gender-pay-gaps-224167">doing the right thing</a>”. </p>
<p>The second has been to bring equal pay cases to tribunals. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, neither approach has been successful. In particular, pushing for equal remuneration through tribunals has been time-consuming and expensive.</p>
<p>These tribunals, historically working on models of male full-time wage earners, have <a href="https://law.uq.edu.au/files/5960/Pay-equity.pdf">struggled</a> to understand the undervaluation of work performed predominantly by women. </p>
<h2>The commission’s new tools</h2>
<p>The commission’s <a href="https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fwa2009114/s3.html">act</a> has been rewritten to require it to </p>
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<p>promote job security and gender equality. </p>
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<p>It also has the power to make <a href="https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fwa2009114/s302.html">equal remuneration orders</a> either on its own initiative or on application in order to bring about equal pay for work of equal or comparable value. </p>
<p>A further new development is the establishment of <a href="https://www.dewr.gov.au/secure-jobs-better-pay/resources/establishing-two-new-expert-panels-fair-work-commission">expert panels</a> to assist in gender-related cases. Advice from gender experts should assist in overcoming historical gender biases in commission decisions. </p>
<p>Perhaps the most promising tool is the change to the commission’s <a href="https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fwa2009114/s134.html">modern awards objective</a>, which requires it to eliminate gender-based undervaluation of work and provide workplace conditions that facilitate women’s full economic participation each time it reviews an award.</p>
<p>Among other things, this requirement is likely to result in provisions that ensure part-time work is treated equally to full-time work and ensure a better balance between work and caring responsibilities.</p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/qantas-pays-women-37-less-telstra-and-bhp-20-fifty-years-after-equal-pay-laws-we-still-have-a-long-way-to-go-223870">QANTAS pays women 37% less, Telstra and BHP 20%. Fifty years after equal pay laws, we still have a long way to go</a>
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<p>Amending awards is likely to be particularly important for women given that almost <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/wage-reviews/2022-23/profile-of-employee-characteristics-across-modern-awards-2023-03-03.pdf">three in five</a> of the workers on awards are women. Men are mainly on negotiated agreements.</p>
<p>If the commission wanted to, it could hold a wide-ranging inquiry into the many factors that have contributed to gender-based undervaluation of women’s work. </p>
<p>It could also review entire industries and occupations that are female-dominated, upgrading multiple awards at the same time. This would avoid lengthy and costly reviews of individual awards.</p>
<h2>What’s likely in 2024</h2>
<p>The Fair Work Commission’s resolve to make lasting change will be tested by several matters currently before it. </p>
<p>The commission is due to issue its final decision in the case lodged by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the Health Services Union, and the United Workers Union on the value of the work done by workers in <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/hearings-decisions/major-cases/4-yearly-review/awards-under-review/aged-care-award-review-am2014251">aged care</a>. </p>
<p>An initial <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/sites/work-value-aged-care/decisions-statements/2022fwcfb200.pdf">interim decision </a> delivered in 2022 awarded some – but not all – of these workers a 15% increase, finding that work in feminised industries had been historically undervalued and the reason for that undervaluation is likely to be gender-based".</p>
<p>Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke backed the decision, saying it was merely the “<a href="https://ministers.dewr.gov.au/burke/pay-rise-aged-care-workers">first step</a>”. </p>
<p>Another application, for nurses and midwives outside of aged care, was lodged by the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation in <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/hearings-decisions/major-cases/work-value-case-nurses-and-midwives">February this year</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/itll-take-more-than-15-to-beat-the-stigmas-turning-people-off-aged-care-206670">It'll take more than 15% to beat the stigmas turning people off aged care</a>
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<p>The commission has already started the process of grappling with gender-based undervaluation in modern awards, commissioning research that <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/consultation/gender-based-occupational-segregation-report-2023-11-06.pdf">documents</a> the segregation of women and men into different occupations and industries.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/documents/consultation/presidents-statement-stage-2-gender-pay-equity-2023-12-5.pdf">Further research</a> documenting the history of a select group of female-dominated modern awards and identifying the extent to which common elements indicate gender-based undervaluation, is due to be released in April. </p>
<p>It will feed into the <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/hearings-decisions/major-cases/annual-wage-reviews">annual wage review</a> due by the middle of the year.</p>
<h2>How to be bold</h2>
<p>Gender-based undervaluation of women’s work won’t be eradicated by incremental adjustments. </p>
<p>Here are three bold steps the commission could take: </p>
<ul>
<li><p>grant a minimum interim 12% increase (one estimate of Australia’s <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/gender-indicators">national gender pay gap</a>) across the board for female-dominated awards in this year’s annual wage review</p></li>
<li><p>develop new systems for classifying work and ascribing work value, breaking with the previous standards built around skills and qualifications in male dominated occupations </p></li>
<li><p>better consider the uneven bargaining power in industries such as nursing where governments fund care work and try to restrain costs.</p></li>
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<p>The changes to the Fair Work Act that allow <a href="https://www.fwc.gov.au/about-us/secure-jobs-better-pay-act-whats-changing/bargaining-support-6-june-2023/new-supported">multi-employer bargaining</a> are a start, but <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00221856231198880#bibr36-00221856231198880">unlikely alone</a> to correct the undervaluation of women’s work. </p>
<p>In female-dominated industries where collective bargaining is non-existent or ineffective, the commission should step in and further increase wages. </p>
<p>The Fair Work Commission has been given the tools. This should be the year it applies them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224949/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Heap is affiliated with the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute and is Secretary of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics Australia and New Zealand. </span></em></p>The Fair Work Commission has been given new tools. Among them is the power to eliminate gender-based undervaluation of work in entire awards and groups of awards.Lisa Heap, Doctoral Researcher RMIT University; Senior Researcher Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2241672024-02-25T19:16:48Z2024-02-25T19:16:48ZNow you’re able to look up individual companies’ gender pay gaps<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577311/original/file-20240222-16-7id0y4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=163%2C293%2C1652%2C856&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>There will be nervous executives all over Australia this week. </p>
<p>Come Tuesday, large private sector organisations will have their company’s gender pay gaps published for the first time for all to see, name, and shame.</p>
<p>As they brace for the fallout, let’s look at how what we will be told is changing, and what it will mean for you.</p>
<h2>What is changing?</h2>
<p>Every year, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (<a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/">WGEA</a>) collects information from every employer with more than 100 employees. Until now it has published only a summary of the findings on its website, including Australia’s overall gender pay gap, and the gap by industry and employment arrangement.</p>
<p>But for the first time legislation enacted last year also allows WGEA to publish the gender pay gaps of individual employers. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=889&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577323/original/file-20240222-16-a7ibl4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1117&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/WGEA_Communications_10_Point_Guide_2024_update_0.pdf">WGEA Guide for Employers</a></span>
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<p>Tuesday’s release will include each large company’s median gender pay gap, and the share of women it employs in lower- and higher-paid jobs. </p>
<p>Employers will have the chance to publish a <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/data-statistics/data-explorer">statement</a> alongside their results to provide context.</p>
<p>That means from Tuesday you will be able to look on the <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/">WGEA website</a> and find the median gender pay gap of your large private sector organisation, or of an organisation you are thinking of joining, and how it stacks up against its competitors.</p>
<h2>Why the change?</h2>
<p>Australian women, like women elsewhere, have made astounding progress in the workforce in recent decades. </p>
<p>Women are both working and earning more than ever before. But progress has stalled, and the gender pay gap remains stubbornly persistent.</p>
<p>The Albanese government has shown its commitment to gender equity by increasing the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/child-care-subsidy">childcare subsidy</a> and extending <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/parental-leave-pay">paid parental leave</a>.</p>
<p>But beyond this, the options for governments are limited. Most of the barriers to women getting better-paid jobs can only be broken by employers.</p>
<p>The public naming and shaming that will begin on Tuesday will push accountability onto employers, holding them responsible for the conditions in their workplaces.</p>
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<p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/four-big-lessons-from-the-uks-new-gender-pay-gap-reporting-rules-100924">Four big lessons from the UK's new gender pay gap reporting rules</a>
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<p>Workers and bosses are going to take notice: when employer gender pay gaps were released in the UK in 2018 it was the <a href="https://www.genderpay.co.uk/wp-downloads/moving-forward-may-2018/presentations/Gender_Pay_Gap_Moving_Forward_May_2018_Studio_2_5_Nick_Bishop.pdf">biggest business news story of the year</a>, with coverage rivalling the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.</p>
<p>At a time when companies are fighting for top talent, it is going to make it more difficult for employers with large pay gaps to hire talented women.</p>
<p>Research shows that on average women are willing to accept a <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3584259">5% lower salary</a> in order to avoid working for the employers with the biggest gender pay gaps.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Workplace Gender Equality Agency.</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Let’s not rush to judge</h2>
<p>While <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/about/our-legislation/publishing-employer-gender-pay-gaps">naming and shaming</a> will help make this policy effective, we should be careful about rushing to judgement.</p>
<p>It is possible for an employer to be making serious efforts to improve while its gap remains large. </p>
<p>And some actions aimed at improving things, such as implementing a gender quota on entry-level positions, can worsen a company’s apparent gender pay gap in the short term by temporarily increasing the number of lowly-paid women.</p>
<p>Also, there will be firms that have a low gender pay gap because they pay both men and women poorly.</p>
<p>On Tuesday, we should instead look closely at whether the organisation has outlined clear steps it will take to improve, and how it compares to its competitors. In future years, we will be able to see how things have changed.</p>
<h2>What will matter is what employers do next</h2>
<p>Since the UK reforms were introduced in 2018, the gender pay gap has narrowed by <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3584259">one-fifth</a>, with the biggest improvements coming from the worst offenders.</p>
<p>UK companies have also become more likely to include wage information in their job ads, equalising the starting point of wage negotiations for all applicants.</p>
<p>But for existing employees, the narrowing of the gap has been caused more by slower growth in men’s wages than faster growth in women’s wages, which isn’t good news for anyone looking for a pay rise.</p>
<p>The full effects of the Australian reforms won’t be seen for some time. </p>
<p>It is likely that making high-paid jobs more accessible to women will allow employers to tap into a new talent pool and encourage more highly credentialed women into the workforce, adding to productivity growth.</p>
<p>What is clear now is that if we want to narrow the gender pay gap, we need to know what’s happening. The avalanche of data due on Tuesday will be a start.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/224167/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Grattan Institute began with contributions to its endowment of $15 million from each of the Federal and Victorian Governments, $4 million from BHP Billiton, and $1 million from NAB. In order to safeguard its independence, Grattan Institute’s board controls this endowment. The funds are invested and contribute to funding Grattan Institute's activities. Grattan Institute also receives funding from corporates, foundations, and individuals to support its general activities as disclosed on its website.</span></em></p>For the first time, Australians will be able to look up the gender pay gap and the proportion of women employed at every major Australian company.Natasha Bradshaw, Senior Associate, Grattan InstituteLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2202072024-02-06T21:56:31Z2024-02-06T21:56:31ZThe motherhood pay gap: Why women’s earnings decline after having children<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572551/original/file-20240131-19-fg2aeg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=760%2C416%2C7407%2C5003&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The birth of children results in large earnings losses that are not equally distributed within heterosexual couples.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Inequalities between men and women persist in many areas, with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1787/4ead40c7-en">women still earning less than men on average</a>. An even more striking difference is the “motherhood pay gap” that happens when women have children. Also known as the “family gap” or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180010">child penalties</a>, women’s earnings plummet after the birth of a child, while men’s barely budge.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.12.1.137">Many studies</a> have investigated the causes of gender inequalities and concluded that women have been unable to catch up to the earnings level of men in part <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/684851">because of parenting responsibilities</a>. </p>
<p>Why does this happen? Children have a negative effect on women’s productivity in the labour market by substantially reducing their <a href="https://www.britannica.com/money/human-capital">human capital</a>, which translates into a significant <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/260293">decrease in their earnings</a>. </p>
<p>After the birth of children, mothers tend to turn towards part-time jobs, roles with flexible working hours or positions that offer work conditions more favourable to family life — all of which tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cje/23.5.543">pay lower wages</a>.</p>
<p>Employers, in return, may see part-time employees as less committed and productive, especially when relying on <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/heuristics">heuristics</a> — mental shortcuts for solving problems — to judge worker quality, as opposed to actual information about their performance. This can result in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2911397">fewer bonuses and promotions</a> for these employees. </p>
<h2>The effects of parenthood</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/app.20180010">Evidence from Denmark</a>, one of the most egalitarian countries in the world, points to a long-term child penalty of around 20 per cent in earnings. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2023-015">Our research</a> reveals a similar situation in Canada. We used data from Statistics Canada’s Longitudinal and International Study of Adults coupled with historical administrative records from 1982 to 2018. </p>
<p>We compared what happened to men’s and women’s earnings after the birth of their first child for Canadians who had their first child between 1987 and 2009. Using an event study methodology, we followed individuals’ employment income over a period of five years before the birth of the child to 10 years after.</p>
<p>We observed large and persistent negative effects of parenthood for mothers, but not fathers. Mothers’ earnings decrease by 49 per cent the year of birth, with a penalty of 34.3 per cent 10 years after. Fathers’ earnings appear largely unaffected.</p>
<h2>Unequal effects of children</h2>
<p>The birth of children results in large earnings losses that are not equally distributed within heterosexual couples. Fathers stay on the same earnings track, while women experience penalties that persist over the years. This is especially true for <a href="https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2023-015">mothers of multiple children or those with a lower education level</a>. </p>
<p>This impoverishment triggered by the birth of a child can have significant economic impacts <a href="https://espace.inrs.ca/id/eprint/13576">should the couple separate</a>. In Canada, nearly <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/3910005101-eng">one-third of marriages</a> end in divorce. </p>
<p>Women are typically <a href="https://doi.org/10.4054/DemRes.2016.35.50">financially disadvantaged</a> following a separation. This disadvantage may be attributable to pre-separation factors, such as the unequal division of labour during the marriage and lower earnings for women, but also to women’s prolonged absences from the labour force due to family responsibilities.</p>
<h2>Equal pay for equal work</h2>
<p>In this context, it’s crucial to ask ourselves if there are measures that could eliminate, or at least reduce, the economic impact associated with family responsibilities on mothers’ earnings and employment. </p>
<p>We investigated the role of family policies, since they were in part designed to encourage maternal employment and promote more equal sharing of parenting responsibilities between partners. </p>
<p>Specifically, we focused on the extension of parental leaves in Canada and the introduction of <a href="https://www.mfa.gouv.qc.ca/en/services-de-garde/programme-contribution-reduite/Pages/index.aspx">reduced contribution child-care services for families in Québec</a>. We found suggestive evidence that these policies can help reduce child penalties. </p>
<p>“Equal pay for equal work” policies, such as the federal government’s <a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/human-rights/overview-pay-equity-act.html">Pay Equity Act</a>, also have the potential to make a substantial difference. These policies can raise the fairness and attractiveness of the labour market for women and reduce the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.20160995">potentially negative impact of experience-based pay</a> for mothers. </p>
<h2>More benefits down the line</h2>
<p>In addition to having a positive effect on the economic situation of women, encouraging employment for mothers could help eliminate the stigma around the division of labour within couples by exposing children to a more symmetrical model of remunerated and unpaid work. </p>
<p>A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017018760167">recent study</a> using data from 29 countries showed that employed mothers were more likely to transmit egalitarian values to their children both at work and at home. Girls with employed mothers ended up working more themselves: they worked more hours, were better paid and held supervisory positions more often than girls with stay-at-home mothers. </p>
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<img alt="A toddler sits on the lap of a women, presumably her mother, in front of a desk. She is smiling and touching a laptop while her mother smiles down at her." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/573140/original/file-20240202-17-6ybyzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Employed mothers are more likely to transmit egalitarian values to their children both at work and at home.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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<p>The result was not observed in boys. However, boys who grew up with employed mothers were more involved in family and domestic responsibilities as adults than men whose mothers were not in the labour market. The girls also spent less time doing household chores. </p>
<p>Working mothers appear to have an intergenerational impact favouring gender equality, both within the family and in the labour market.</p>
<p>We all know raising children is time-consuming. Children, of course, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1086/675070">benefit from this parental time investment</a>. But bringing up children is also costly. Our research quantified one kind of cost: the lower earnings trajectory. Knowing how these costs are shared among the two parents is key to enable better decision making, for policymakers, but ultimately, for parents, future parents and their children.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220207/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marie Connolly received funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture and CIRANO. The analysis in this article was conducted at the Quebec Inter-university Centre for Social Statistics, which is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Statistics Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and Québec universities.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Catherine Haeck received funding from the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture and CIRANO. The analysis in this article was conducted at the Quebec Inter-university Centre for Social Statistics, which is supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Statistics Canada, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et culture, the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Santé and Québec universities.</span></em></p>New research shows that women’s earnings are negatively impacted by having children, while men’s aren’t. The effects can be long-lasting and contribute to the gender pay gap.Marie Connolly, Professor of Economics, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Catherine Haeck, Full Professor, Economics Department, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164992023-10-27T15:19:42Z2023-10-27T15:19:42ZWhat the anti-woke backlash against liberal feminism misses about causes like the gender pay gap<p>This week, thousands of women across <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/23/icelands-first-full-day-womens-strike-in-48-years-aims-to-close-pay-gap">Iceland</a> went on strike to demand greater gender equality. That’s right, Iceland: the country that has <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/06/global-gender-gap-parity/">ranked highest</a> in the world for gender equality for the past 14 years in a row. </p>
<p>So even in places such as Iceland that have focused on narrowing the gender pay gap, women are still concerned about how housework and caregiving falls on their shoulders, is undervalued in society and impacts their careers. </p>
<p>Indeed, this is <a href="https://kvennasogusafn.is/index.php?page=womens-day-off">Iceland’s seventh</a> <em>kvennaverkfall</em> (<a href="https://kvennafri.is/en/womens-strike-2023/">women’s strike</a>). The first, in 1975, saw <a href="https://apnews.com/article/iceland-women-strike-equal-pay-970669466116a2b1a5673a8737089d46">90% of the country’s women</a> stop working, cleaning and minding the kids to <a href="https://kvennasogusafn.is/index.php?page=womens-day-off-1975#:%7E:text=A%20flyer%20in%20English%20from%20the%20day.">draw attention to gender inequality</a>.</p>
<p>The country passed a law guaranteeing equal rights the following year, but the gender pay gap <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/06/global-gender-gap-parity/">still stands at about 10%</a>.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/jcs53l0F1LE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Footage from Iceland’s first women’s strike in 1975.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>My <a href="https://www.cubsucc.com/faculty-directory/dr-lauren-bari/">research</a> explores how sex and parenthood can result in wage gaps, among other outcomes. This is not just a simple comparison of male and female earnings; it’s symptomatic of wider societal structures in which women often end up poorer than men. </p>
<p>But the topic of gender pay gaps has increasingly been the subject of scepticism. I’ve recently heard it described as “<a href="https://twitter.com/jordanbpeterson/status/1633230507193384963?lang=en">a radical leftist lie</a>”, “<a href="https://youtu.be/HSvLnlX-VG4">a crazy thing to argue</a>”, and not to mention “<a href="https://twitter.com/GrantCardone/status/1680249117224648708">a myth</a>”. I try not to take it personally. </p>
<p>Feminists and feminism have always been <a href="https://sites.uni.edu/palczews/postcard_archive.html">the subject of ridicule</a>, blamed for everything from the breakdown of the family to <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/01/30/whats-the-matter-with-men">a crisis of masculinity</a>. </p>
<p>Whether or not the word “feminist” makes you wrinkle your nose, the movement has achieved a great deal in the century or more since it began. Feminism should continue to evolve, to keep protecting and promoting the rights of women now and in the future. </p>
<h2>The rise of liberal feminism</h2>
<p>Because of my interest in wage gaps and labour market outcomes, you might put me in the “liberal” feminist camp. This strand of feminism has traditionally been concerned with equal opportunities, legal, political and economic equality and the promotion of more egalitarian gender roles within households. </p>
<p>These concerns have helped to usher in policy and legislative change since feminism’s “<a href="https://www.gale.com/primary-sources/womens-studies/collections/second-wave-feminism">second wave</a>” in the 1960s and 1970s. </p>
<p>The type of feminism that developed tended to work within prevailing structures and systems, rather than trying to overthrow them, and so aligned itself with <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/n/neoliberalism.asp">dominant neoliberal value systems</a> that developed in the late 20th century. </p>
<p>By its early 2000s zenith, the liberal feminist message of freedom and empowerment, typified by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Cosmopolitan-magazine">Cosmopolitan</a> magazine and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0159206/">Sex and the City</a>, chimed with a broader message of individuality in a free market. </p>
<p>The realities of motherhood, caring and family - key aspects of the second wave - were increasingly disregarded, the assumption being that care could be outsourced or that men would take up caring roles.</p>
<p>While still forming the basis of gender equality policy at national and EU/regional level, what are perceived as liberal feminist values have been falling out of fashion with the wider public. </p>
<p>In line with a wider “anti-woke” backlash, criticism of liberal feminism as unworkable, elitist or irrelevant is coming from across the political and ideological spectrum.</p>
<h2>Criticism of liberal feminism</h2>
<p>The manosphere has been described as “<a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2056305119872953">loosely unified by an anti-feminist worldview</a>”. Growing numbers of social media personalities promote notions of masculinity centred around strict, often toxic, gender roles based on female inferiority. </p>
<p>There are even calls for the rollback of basic freedoms, such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHs7p6o5oBo">women’s right to vote</a>. Such an extreme withdrawal of rights is unlikely, but these voices and their millions of followers should not be ignored. </p>
<p>The popularity of “<a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2023/07/14/trad-wife-meaning-controversy/70407456007/">trad</a>” ideas online (traditional sex roles within families) is not necessarily aligned with the exaggerated hyper-masculinity of the manopshere. </p>
<p>However, it reflects a reignited trend towards conservatism or at least a rejection of the perceived progressive attitudes to gender equality of the last two decades. The rejection of feminist values coming from more hardline or conservative forms of religiosity add further weight to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277539523000079">growing anti-progressive sentiment</a>. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, a new wave of both radical and more conservative or “<a href="https://swiftpress.com/book/feminism-against-progress/">reactionary</a>” feminists believe liberal feminism has lost its way. The freedom-first, choice-based narrative, some say, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDU3A_MU7rQ">undermines women’s material interests</a> by championing an “elite” set of values that commodify the bodies of poor women, devalue care work and ignore important differences between the sexes.</p>
<p>They argue liberal feminism is <a href="https://www.dubraybooks.ie/product/feminism-for-women-9781472132628">too mainstream</a>, too in bed with the system and too sidetracked by relative trivialities such as microagressions, boardroom representation and, yes, the gender pay gap.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Woman carrying a tote bag that says march like a girl." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556191/original/file-20231026-15-fnheng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556191/original/file-20231026-15-fnheng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556191/original/file-20231026-15-fnheng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556191/original/file-20231026-15-fnheng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556191/original/file-20231026-15-fnheng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556191/original/file-20231026-15-fnheng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556191/original/file-20231026-15-fnheng.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recently, feminist messaging sometimes takes a more commercial direction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/girl-tote-bag-claiming-womens-day-2064158204">Laura Libran/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The empowerment message of liberal feminism seen in “smash the patriarchy” tote bags and “girls just want to have FUNdamental rights” t-shirts rings almost embarrassingly corporate – out of touch with the more complex issues facing women and girls today.</p>
<h2>Reclaiming feminism</h2>
<p>I think it’s time to step back and reclaim feminism’s original purpose and ask how can it contribute to positive change in a tumultuous world. </p>
<p>In Europe at least, feminism has brought us <a href="https://www.eurodev.com/blog/maternity-leave-europe#:%7E:text=Maternity%20leave%20in%20Europe%20is,the%20national%20sick%20pay%20level.">maternity provision</a>, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gender-pay-gap-reporting-guidance-for-employers/overview#:%7E:text=Equal%20pay%20means%20that%20men,holiday%20entitlement">equal pay</a> and drastically expanded opportunities outside of the home. </p>
<p>Women’s <a href="https://ourworldindata.org/global-education?insight=the-gender-gap-in-school-attendance-has-closed-across-most-of-the-world#key-insights:%7E:text=of%20the%20world-,The%20gender%20gap%20in%20school%20attendance,-has%20closed%20across">education levels have increased</a> globally and (despite a few Tik Toks promoting the virtues of “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/mar/23/the-bimbo-is-back-and-as-a-feminist-i-couldnt-be-more-delighted">bimbofication</a>”) women will continue to want to be educated, have careers and contribute to public life.</p>
<p>Liberal feminists care about women’s economic independence and, in lieu of some massive structural shift in how our societies are run, money still matters. Women across the social and economic spectrum still grapple with issues of work, care and family. </p>
<p>Feminism still has a role to play in analysing these issues and developing policy solutions that make life easier for women and families. </p>
<p>The gender pay gap is not the most important issue facing women, but as a symbol of wider issues it’s worth addressing. Yes, liberal feminism has some soul-searching to do. It ignores changes in the zeitgeist at its peril. But in the rush to embrace something more radical, let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216499/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Bari does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Longstanding concerns like the gender wage gap remain important but second-wave feminism must listen and evolve to continue to protect and promote women’s concerns.Lauren Bari, Lecturer in Management, University College CorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2153302023-10-10T12:36:46Z2023-10-10T12:36:46ZClaudia Goldin’s Nobel Prize win is a victory for women in economics − and the field as a whole<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552868/original/file-20231009-15-dk22qh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=48%2C0%2C7982%2C5345&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The world's newest Nobel laureate takes a bow.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/claudia-goldin-the-henry-lee-professor-of-economics-at-news-photo/1715805293">Carlin Stiehl/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Economic history has long been chronicled through a male lens, emphasizing the contributions of men and their viewpoints. For proof, just look to the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. It’s been awarded to 90 men since 1969 – and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/nobel-prize-economy-224c204c0cc20843636e5525d6a61673">just three women</a>.</p>
<p>The third woman to win the prize, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/claudia-goldin-wins-2023-nobel-economics-prize-2023-10-09/">distinguished Harvard labor economist Claudia Goldin</a>, was honored on Oct. 9, 2023, for her <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2023/goldin/facts/">decades of work studying the gender pay gap</a>. It wasn’t a victory just for her but for women in the field. </p>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=GyTN5PYAAAAJ&hl=en">As an economist</a>, I take this issue personally. My field has <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gender-gap-in-economics-is-huge-its-even-worse-than-tech-156275">a huge gender gap</a>. Only 24% of tenure-track faculty in economics are women. In contrast, women make up 43% of tenure-track faculty across academia as a whole.</p>
<h2>More than just stocks and bonds</h2>
<p>Part of the problem is that economics is often stereotypically associated with finance, money and banking. This narrow perception might not appeal to everyone. Women in particular tend to be drawn to areas that have <a href="https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/why-having-more-womendiverse-economists-benefits-us-all">direct bearing on social challenges</a>. </p>
<p>But economics is about much more than just the stock market. In fact, vast areas of the discipline deal with social issues – <a href="https://theconversation.com/health-insurance-coverage-for-kids-through-medicaid-and-chip-helps-their-moms-too-178249">health</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-drives-chinese-migrants-to-ghana-its-not-just-an-economic-decision-177580">development</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/teach-all-young-people-universal-basic-skills-by-2030-it-will-give-huge-boost-to-gdp-41792">education</a> and, yes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-tips-for-women-to-negotiate-a-higher-salary-200415">gender inequality</a>. </p>
<p>For instance, labor economists study issues like <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w26617/w26617.pdf">family leave policies</a> and the <a href="https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/GenderGap.html">gender pay gap</a> – areas that directly affect women’s lives. </p>
<p>It shouldn’t come as a surprise, then, that women have had a greater presence in labor economics than in other subfields. </p>
<p>Women have also historically been drawn to <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w23953">health economics, development economics and education economics</a>. But those fields don’t get as much attention, and the public sometimes doesn’t even recognize them as being part of economics at all.</p>
<p>They may even get the short shrift in Econ 101. A study of introductory economics textbooks found that <a href="https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/01/19/women-are-underrepresented-economics-textbooks-says-new-analysis-implications-fields">75% of people named</a> in them were men. Women weren’t even equally represented in hypothetical examples.</p>
<h2>Where are the women?</h2>
<p>Not only are women underrepresented as economists, economics as a field has historically ignored the role women play in the economy. Even as the study of family economics gained traction in the 1970s, the pivotal roles of women <a href="https://www.imf.org/en/News/Podcasts/All-Podcasts/2023/06/09/claudia-goldin-on-family-economics">were often sidelined</a>. </p>
<p>Traditional models often oversimplified households’ decision-making processes and overlooked women’s contributions. This led economists to undervalue the unpaid labor women provided in households and perpetuate <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/chapters/c2970/c2970.pdf">stereotypical gender roles in their analyses</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A young reporter in a suit is shown speaking to economist Claudia Goldin, who stands with her hands clasped." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/552869/original/file-20231009-23-jkaxfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nobel Prize winner Claudia Goldin takes a reporter’s question after a press conference on Oct. 9, 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/claudia-goldin-the-henry-lee-professor-of-economics-at-news-photo/1715805733">Carlin Stiehl/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Goldin has challenged these traditional male-centric narratives. Through her groundbreaking research – particularly on wage inequalities and the “<a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w30323">motherhood penalty</a>” – Goldin has turned the spotlight on women’s economic roles and challenges.</p>
<p>Her findings reveal the complexities of wage disparities, emphasizing issues like the challenges women face after childbirth. For instance, <a href="https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/goldin/files/dynamics_of_the_gender_gap_for_young_professionals_in_the_financial_and_corporate_sectors.pdf">career interruptions such as maternity leave</a> or reduced work hours to care for children and other relatives can reduce women’s earnings and job prospects in the long term. </p>
<p>It’s vital to note that Goldin’s research doesn’t attribute the gender pay gap to employer discrimination. Instead, her insights advocate for the establishment of robust support systems. </p>
<p>Strengthening child care facilities, improving parental leave policies, offering workplace flexibility and otherwise bolstering policies that support families with kids can play a pivotal role in addressing the wage gap, her findings suggest. In the absence of such supports, women are bound to keep earning less than men after they become parents.</p>
<h2>A win for one, a victory for many</h2>
<p>Goldin’s Nobel recognition isn’t merely an honor for her individual achievements. It serves as a beacon for women in economics and academia as a whole. </p>
<p>First, her win challenges the historical gender imbalance in such prominent awards, signaling a long-overdue recognition for women’s contributions to economics. It provides hope for young female economists that their work can also achieve such renown.</p>
<p>Beyond this, her Nobel nod underscores a crucial point: Economics is a rich and complex discipline that goes beyond traditional monetary and financial issues. It’s about parenthood. It’s about child care. It’s about people’s struggles. It’s about social change.</p>
<p>In essence, Goldin’s win shows the world just how expansive, inclusive, diverse and interconnected the field really is. Economics isn’t just <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_dismal_science">the dismal science</a>. It’s a human science.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215330/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Veronika Dolar does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Goldin is showing the world that economics is about more than just finance.Veronika Dolar, Associate Professor of Economics, SUNY Old WestburyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2153392023-10-10T07:11:36Z2023-10-10T07:11:36ZSidelined no longer, Claudia Goldin wins the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for examining why gender pay gaps persist<p>In an astonishing act of timing, Harvard University’s Professor Claudia Goldin published a paper on Monday titled <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w31762">Why Women Won</a>. It mapped milestone moments in women’s rights in the United States from 1905 to 2023. </p>
<p>A few hours later, she was awarded the 2023 <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2023/press-release/">Nobel Prize in Economics</a> “for having advanced our understanding of women’s labour market outcomes”.</p>
<p>Goldin became only the third woman to win the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and the first to win it in her own right, not sharing it with a man.</p>
<p>For countless women in economics, and for advocates of gender equality more broadly, her recognition adds to the milestone moments she has documented in her own work.</p>
<p>Decades of research have seen Goldin methodically collate data and archival stories, detective style, to uncover explanations for the rise and fall (and rise again) of women’s paid employment over the centuries, including:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>the empowering effect of the contraceptive pill </p></li>
<li><p>the removal of legal restrictions on the employment of married women</p></li>
<li><p>the influx of women into higher education</p></li>
<li><p>the shift towards a services economy.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Uncovering reasons for the gender gaps that remain, Goldin has scrutinised contemporary work culture to identify the unhealthy phenomenon of “greedy work” in which employers demand excessive hours and 24/7 availability. </p>
<p>This creates a gender divide by penalising those workers – predominantly women – whose caregiving role collides with excessive employer expectations.</p>
<p>A practical takeaway from Goldin’s research is that gender gaps in economic outcomes can’t be merely attributed to women’s “choices” or “preferences”. </p>
<p>Her comprehensive account of women’s experiences shows these gender gaps arise from an interplay of wider factors; among them, societal norms, technological breakthroughs, institutional structures, and policy settings that push or pull women’s workforce participation in different directions. </p>
<h2>Why Goldin’s Nobel matters</h2>
<p>These insights are critical for policymakers, as they point to the need to improve systems and cultures, rather than placing the onus on individual women to change their behaviour.</p>
<p>This recognition is also a <a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2023/10/popular-economicsciencesprize2023.pdf">validation of Goldin’s style of research</a>. </p>
<p>The Economics Nobel prize is not usually awarded for the generation of new knowledge, but instead prioritises new theoretical and conceptual methods. </p>
<p>Goldin contributes both new insights and innovative methods through her investigation style, where she combs through historical archives and pays attention to the personal stories of women in order to make sense of the data. </p>
<p>Lived experiences and personal stories are often squeezed out of science. Goldin’s work affirms that economics – as a social science – requires them.</p>
<h2>It also matters to economics itself</h2>
<p>Goldin’s research carries important implications for addressing gender equality within the economics profession.</p>
<p>Economics has a longstanding history as a male-dominated discipline. </p>
<p>Despite improvements in recent years, women are still underrepresented in economics and a growing body of evidence shows that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1759-3441.12367">gender bias</a> persists.</p>
<p>The research questions that Goldin has dedicated her career to are topics that have long been sidelined in mainstream economics, labelled by many in the profession as “special interest” topics not to be taken seriously. </p>
<p>In my earlier <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/1475-4932.12716">review</a> of Goldin’s book, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691201788/career-and-family">Career and Family : Women’s Century-Long Journey Toward Equity</a>, I reflect on the importance of Goldin’s pioneering role for gender equality researchers like myself:</p>
<p>“As an economist who also researches gender equality issues – and is similarly motivated by the simple quest to better understand the reasons why we see such stark gender disparities in our economy – I find myself often confronted by accusations that my research is subjectively motivated by an ideological agenda; accusations designed to denigrate its value and question my research integrity. </p>
<p>"I am aware that other researchers in the field of gender equality, particularly women, encounter these disparaging blights on their professionalism too. </p>
<p>"The rich wealth of research and insights that Goldin has contributed to the economics profession throughout her career – arguably worthy of Nobel recognition – affirms that this stream of work <em>is</em> important.” </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/nobel-prize-in-economics-claudia-goldins-work-is-a-goldmine-for-understanding-the-gender-pay-gap-and-womens-empowerment-215302">Nobel prize in economics: Claudia Goldin's work is a goldmine for understanding the gender pay gap and women's empowerment</a>
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<p>Goldin’s contribution extends beyond her academic papers. </p>
<p>In her role as President of the American Economic Association in 2013, Goldin put in place <a href="https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/what-undergraduate-women-economics-challenge-did-economics">initiatives</a> to more fully understand women’s low numbers in economics and to support more to join and stay in the field.</p>
<p>She did not merely research gender inequity from afar – she recognised where it prevailed within her own discipline and (as would be expected of an economist) took evidence-based action to address it. </p>
<p>While we have not yet achieved gender equity, awarding the Nobel to a female economist for dedicating her career to understanding gender inequity – and helping to solve it – counts as a win for women in economics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215339/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The author spent time at Harvard University as a Research Fellow in the Kennedy School of Government.</span></em></p>Goldwin’s key insight is that it makes no sense to blame women’s choices for the gender pay gap. What women choose depends on norms and the demands of employers.Leonora Risse, Senior Lecturer in Economics, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2080212023-08-31T20:00:11Z2023-08-31T20:00:11ZUnder-counting, a gendered industry, and precarious work: the challenges facing Creative Australia in supporting visual artists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540941/original/file-20230803-21-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C14%2C4909%2C4843&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Earl Wilcox/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When Arts Minister Tony Burke launched the bill introducing Creative Australia, the new organisation at the heart of the Revive Cultural Policy, he did so with <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id%3A%22chamber%2Fhansardr%2F26698%2F0005%22">a bold statement</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Creative Australia recognises that artists and creatives throughout our great landscape, from metropolitan cities to the red desert, are workers. In exchange for what they give us, they should have safe workplaces and be remunerated fairly.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2022, we surveyed 702 visual and craft artists and arts workers, making this the largest single scholarly survey of this cohort in Australia to date. We were interested to find out the ways artists combined income from various sources, within and beyond their art practice. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.visualartswork.net.au/">Our new research</a> identifies three key areas that need to be addressed to ensure fair remuneration for all visual and craft artists. We need to acknowledge the likely under-counting of the number of artists in Australia, the gendered nature of this population, and the complex ways artists earn an income.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/arts-are-meant-to-be-at-the-heart-of-our-life-what-the-new-national-cultural-policy-could-mean-for-australia-if-it-all-comes-together-198786">'Arts are meant to be at the heart of our life': what the new national cultural policy could mean for Australia – if it all comes together</a>
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<h2>Counting the artists</h2>
<p>It is impossible to provide a single estimate of the number of visual and craft artists in Australia as different surveys use different definitions of “artist”.</p>
<p>According to the 2021 ABS census, there are 6,793 <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/websitedbs/censushome.nsf/home/tablebuilder?opendocument&navpos=240.">visual art and craft professionals in Australia</a>, 64% of whom identified as female. </p>
<p>But the criteria used to count being an artist as a profession in the census require art to be the “<a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/income-and-work-census/2021#key-questions-in-2021-census">main job</a>” of the respondent in the week before the census. This leads to an under-counting of artists, as most visual art and craft artists support themselves through other work – either related to their artwork, such as in academia or in arts management, or in an entirely different field. As such, they would not be identified in the census as visual or craft artists.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman weaving." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540942/original/file-20230803-25-d2dnt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Many artists are excluded from the census, because art making is not their ‘main work’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">ALAN DE LA CRUZ/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>A more accurate estimate is likely provided by the ABS Survey of Cultural Participation. In this survey, <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/people-and-communities/cultural-and-creative-activities/latest-release">106,000 Australians</a> reported earning some income from a visual art activity, and 94,800 from a craft activity, in the 2021–22 financial year. These figures cannot be totalled as those engaged in both activities were counted separately. Nonetheless, at a minimum the survey identifies an additional 100,000 visual and craft artists not captured within the census definition. </p>
<p>If all artists are to be remunerated fairly, it is critical Creative Australia ensures support mechanisms extend to the around 100,000 visual and craft artists for whom art making is not their primary occupation. </p>
<h2>The gendered nature of the industry</h2>
<p>In our survey, we did not impose any requirements that respondents devote a certain amount of time to their art making, nor earn a particular level of income. Instead, we left it open to respondents to self-identify as an artist. </p>
<p>This inclusive definition produced a much higher proportion of female artists than the census, with 73% identifying as female. This aligns with <a href="https://sheila.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/2019_COUNTESS_REPORT_FINAL.pdf">other estimates</a> of the gender breakdown of the industry. The ABS Cultural Participation Survey estimated 67% of people who earned income from visual art activity and 79% who derived income from craft activity were female.</p>
<p>In our survey, 3.1% of respondents identified as non-binary, and so we were not able to collect enough data for further analysis of this cohort.</p>
<p>We found a distinctive experience of female artists compared to their male counterparts, suggesting policy responses need to recognise the gendered nature of art making. </p>
<p>Female artists in our survey reported an average annual income of A$8,507 from their arts practice, compared to the annual income reported by male artists of $22,906. </p>
<p>While earning 37% of male artists’ earnings, women spent 76% of the time male artists spend on their practice (29 hours compared with 38 hours per week). </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A man paints." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540944/original/file-20230803-29-ypizoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">On average, male artists earn more than female artists.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Antonio Francisco/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>So, male artists earn more from their art practice than female artists, and proportionately even more when accounting for the hours spent on their practice. </p>
<p>Our research suggests the shadow cohort of visual and craft artists who do not show up in census results are predominantly female. The gendered nature of the visual arts and craft sector must be front of mind in the design of remuneration policies for artists undertaken by Creative Australia.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-gender-pay-gap-is-wider-in-the-arts-than-in-other-industries-87080">The gender pay gap is wider in the arts than in other industries</a>
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<h2>How artists earn a living</h2>
<p>For many artists, the practice of visual art and craft making does not readily align with traditional concepts of an employee and is not attached to a single workplace. </p>
<p>In our survey, only 30% of respondents spent 100% of their working time as an artist, with 60% receiving at least some income from non-artistic work within and outside the arts sector.</p>
<p>The life of an artist is more likely to look like a combination of multiple part-time, casual and contract jobs, with occasional grant income and artwork sales. </p>
<p>Many visual art and craft artists conduct their practice from their home and operate as a sole trader. For many, outside work is the only way they can support their art practice. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Three people in an office" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540943/original/file-20230803-29-nsdn8q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Most artists support themselves with a job other than art making.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arlington Research/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>Achieving the goal of remunerating artists fairly is not just about payment for art making. It is also about the other work these artists must undertake to make a living, much of which consists of part-time employment elsewhere in the arts and cultural sector. </p>
<p>Any policy interventions from Creative Australia to support visual and craft artists’ incomes will need to take a sector-wide approach.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/male-artists-dominate-galleries-our-research-explored-if-its-because-women-dont-paint-very-well-or-just-discrimination-189221">Male artists dominate galleries. Our research explored if it’s because ‘women don’t paint very well’ – or just discrimination</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208021/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Grace McQuilten receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.'</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chloë Powell receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.'</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jenny Lye receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project Ambitious and Fair: strategies for a sustainable arts sector (LP200100054)"</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate MacNeill receives funding from the Australian Government through the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project Ambitious and Fair: strategies for a sustainable arts sector (LP200100054)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marnie Badham receives funding from the Australian Research Council for the Linkage Project 'Ambitious & Fair: Strategies for a Sustainable Visual Arts Sector.' She is affiliated with Res Artis. </span></em></p>Any policy interventions from Creative Australia to support visual and craft artists’ incomes will need to take a sector-wide approach.Grace McQuilten, Associate professor, RMIT UniversityChloë Powell, Research Assistant, RMIT UniversityJenny Lye, Associate Professor/Reader in Economics, The University of MelbourneKate MacNeill, Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts, The University of MelbourneMarnie Badham, Associate Professor, School of Art, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2102472023-07-26T22:47:09Z2023-07-26T22:47:09ZThe progress of women in the workplace is at a standstill. How can we break through the glass ceiling?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/539041/original/file-20230724-27-ph4kyq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C1899%2C1200&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The progression of women in organizations is undermined by stereotypes and prejudices.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women are promoted less than men because they are deemed to have less leadership potential than men. </p>
<p>These are the findings <a href="https://danielle-li.github.io/assets/docs/PotentialAndTheGenderPromotionGap.pdf">of a study published in 2022</a> by professors Alan Benson of the University of Minnesota, Danielle Li of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and Kelly Shue of Yale University and the NBER. Their conclusion is based on the consultation of 30,000 performance evaluation forms of employees working in a large American retail chain.</p>
<p>According to <a href="https://insights.som.yale.edu/insights/women-arent-promoted-because-managers-underestimate-their-potential">Prof. Shue</a>, performance assessment is generally very factual and based on very concrete evaluation criteria. Assessing leadership potential, on the other hand, is more subjective and can give free rein to the biases that shape the perception of leadership as conceived by those who carry out these assessments.</p>
<p>“What we commonly talk about in terms of management and potential are characteristics such as assertiveness, execution skills, charisma, leadership and ambition. These are, I believe, real traits. They are also very subjective and stereotypical, associated with male leaders. What we have seen in the data is a fairly strong bias against women in assessments of potential.”</p>
<p>According to these researchers, women’s evaluations of their promotion potential are getting progressively lower than men’s as they rise through the ranks of the organization, leading to an increasingly solid glass ceiling.</p>
<p>This is what we’ve seen when we’ve looked at the presence of women in senior management positions for decades, notably as I have, as dean and executive-in-residence at the John Molson School of Business, as well as co-director of the Barry F. Lorenzetti Centre for Women Entrepreneurship and Leadership. Things are not changing fast. <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2022">According to a recent World Economic Forum report on gender inequality in the world</a>, at this rate, it would take another 132 years (compared to 136 in 2021) to close the gender gap.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
À lire aussi :
<a href="https://theconversation.com/avec-les-nouvelles-generations-il-faut-voir-autrement-les-cheminements-de-carriere-surtout-ceux-des-femmes-200201">Avec les nouvelles générations, il faut voir autrement les cheminements de carrière – surtout ceux des femmes</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<h2>A better work-life balance</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/ca/%7E/media/mckinsey/locations/north%20america/canada/gender%20diversity%20at%20work/gender_diversity_at_work_in_canada.pdf">the consulting firm McKinsey</a> illustrates, only 30 per cent of senior management positions and only five per cent of CEO positions in Canada are held by women, <a href="https://www.securities-administrators.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/2022oct27-58-314-avis-acvmWOB.pdf">according to a census by the Canadian Securities Administrators</a>.</p>
<p>In addition to perception issues, there are a number of other factors that explain the scarcity of female talent in senior management. These include the demands of balancing work and family, women’s choices for a better life balance, disillusionment about their chances of accessing these strategic positions, and so on.</p>
<p>However, we will be focusing on the following two questions, which were addressed <a href="https://women-initiative-foundation.com/en/the-foundation/">at our last master’s class for the Women Initiative Foundation</a>, which took place in May at the John Molson School of Business:</p>
<p>1) Is there a trend towards a new conception of leadership that is more multidimensional and parity-based and that fosters greater equity?</p>
<p>2) Can women be more proactive in their quest to make a greater impact at the highest levels of decision-making?</p>
<h2>For a new leadership type</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/pandemie-les-femmes-font-elles-de-meilleures-leaders-137048">In an article published on <em>La Conversation</em></a> in April 2020, which I co-authored with Anne-Marie Croteau, dean of the John Molson School of Business, we reflected on the challenges of the 21st century that will characterize the evolution of leadership. </p>
<p>More specifically, we referred to climate change, health, the environment and the depletion of the Earth’s resources, the aging population, the shortage of talent and the development of new technologies. All these major factors are reshaping the game and calling for a new type of leadership, different from the command-and-control approach which marked the last century.</p>
<p>This new type of leadership draws heavily on resilience, courage, flexibility, listening, empathy, collaboration, benevolence and recognition of the collective contribution. The involvement of everyone’s intelligence becomes the key to success. As parity in management functions is gradually taking place, these other leadership characteristics are emerging.</p>
<p>In order to overcome the obstacles of the 21st century and achieve success, organizations need to diversify their pool of talent as much as possible, particularly in terms of gender. It is now high time to review the definition of leadership to make it more multidimensional, referring to all the qualities it must include and promote.</p>
<h2>Career-boosting mandates</h2>
<p>Given this move towards a new approach to leadership among today’s managers, we can ask ourselves about the opportunities that women can seize to raise their profile within organizations and develop their expertise. </p>
<p>One of the strategies that deserves attention <a href="https://hbr.org/2014/06/21st-century-talent-spotting">is the acceptance of mandates that we will call career boosters</a>, and which can be defined as follows: a short-term role that enables the acquisition of new strategic knowledge while creating significant added value for the organization.</p>
<p><a href="https://hbr.org/2014/06/21st-century-talent-spotting">According to a study carried out among senior business executives</a>, 71 per cent of respondents identified these types of mandates as having been their career boosters. Another <a href="https://www.kornferry.com/insights/this-week-in-leadership/strategy-activation-planning-leadership-development-journey">study by the consultancy Korn Ferry</a> even described these types of roles as the most valuable career acceleration experience, ahead of mentoring, training and even networking with more experienced leaders.</p>
<h2>Raising awareness in organizations</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, this type of special assignment is offered more frequently to men than to women, with administrative assignments (note-taking, event organization, making coffee for meetings) being the most frequently offered to women <a href="https://www.huffpost.com/entry/women-serve-coffee-at-work-how-to-say-no_l_5d35c9bfe4b004b6adb352a5">as well as those that do not lead to promotion</a>.</p>
<p>Organizations have a duty to be mindful of this discrepancy by documenting the assignment of such mandates by gender, highlighting the inequities that such an assignment process can engender, linking the granting of such mandates to individual performance and, above all, consciously offering more such mandates to women in order to correct these unconscious prejudices.</p>
<p>It’s possible to break through the glass ceiling, but succeeding in this major challenge requires a fresh look at leadership. Opportunities for career acceleration must be offered to people of all genders. Our organizations also need to become more aware of the hidden inequities embedded in promotion processes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210247/count.gif" alt="La Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>To counter stereotypes and prejudices of women at work, we need to take a fresh look at leadership and encourage career-boosting mandates.Louise Champoux-Paillé, Cadre en exercice, John Molson School of Business, Concordia UniversityAnne-Marie Croteau, Dean, John Molson School of Business, Concordia UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2066702023-06-13T06:05:56Z2023-06-13T06:05:56ZIt’ll take more than 15% to beat the stigmas turning people off aged care<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531540/original/file-20230613-15-xoaghj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C939%2C5742%2C2888&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Aged care workers will see their award wages increase <a href="https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/news/15-per-cent-wage-increase-aged-care-sector">by 15% at the end of this month</a>. It’s recognition that their work has been undervalued, and that something needs to be done to solve the looming critical shortage of aged care workers as the population ages. </p>
<p>Higher wages was <a href="https://theconversation.com/4-key-takeaways-from-the-aged-care-royal-commissions-final-report-156109">a key recommendation</a> of the aged care royal commission. But how much money is enough to compensate for the stigma associated with aged care work? </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/62/7/994/6501332">research</a> shows that aged care work is burdened by three types of stigma – physical, social and moral. </p>
<p>Physical stigma refers to work performed under particularly dangerous conditions, or being exposed to dirt, bodily fluids and death. Examples of jobs with high physical stigma include firefighting, working with sewage and being an undertaker. </p>
<p>Social stigma is associated with <a href="https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/PR-08-2017-0244/full/html">work</a> seen as low-status, because it involves being in a servile relationship and working with people belonging to marginalised group – in this case, older people. </p>
<p>Moral stigma involves work that is viewed as deceptive or unethical. Examples include used car salespeople and loan sharks. Our findings point to a moral stigma around aged care work, which is reinforced by media coverage of elder abuse and neglect.</p>
<p>All three stigmas put aged care work in a select group of maligned occupations. Higher wages may ameliorate some of these stigmas, but more will be needed to address them all.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/overseas-recruitment-wont-solve-australias-aged-care-worker-crisis-189126">Overseas recruitment won't solve Australia's aged care worker crisis</a>
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<h2>Physical, social and moral stigmas</h2>
<p>Our research is based on surveying 159 health professionals who do not currently work in aged care about their perceptions of the sector and the work. </p>
<p>Many occupations are stigmatised. For example, being a miner carries a high physical stigma, a welfare worker a social stigma, and a real estate agent a moral stigma. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Care worker helping man from wheelchair to bed." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531516/original/file-20230613-25-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5751%2C2880&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531516/original/file-20230613-25-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531516/original/file-20230613-25-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531516/original/file-20230613-25-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531516/original/file-20230613-25-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531516/original/file-20230613-25-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531516/original/file-20230613-25-wcvsxn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Reports of abuse and neglect have contributed to a moral stigma of aged care work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Some occupations have two strong stigmas, such as being a prison guard (physical and social stigma), being in the military (physical and moral stigma), or being a debt collector (social and moral stigma). The following graph shows how US researchers Blake Ashforth and Glen Kreiner categorised different occupations in their 2014 study, <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-09760-008">“Dirty work and dirtier work: Differences in countering physical, social and moral stigma”</a>. </p>
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<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Examples of physical social and or moral dirty work." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531538/original/file-20230613-17-wcvsxn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=742&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Examples of physical social and or moral dirty work categorised by Blake Ashforth and Glen Kreiner.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/management-and-organization-review/article/abs/dirty-work-and-dirtier-work-differences-in-countering-physical-social-and-moral-stigma/3872AF1374E73E3C6D45139E691E6883">Management and Organization Review</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Our research shows that aged care work carries the burden of all three stigmas.</p>
<h2>How can higher wages help?</h2>
<p>Attracting more people to aged care work requires challenging all three of these stigmas. The question is to what extent higher wages can do this. </p>
<p>It’s generally the case that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8551.12272">higher pay</a> means higher occupational prestige.</p>
<p>Higher pay can’t reduce physical stigma, but it can compensate for it – just as high salaries compensate people willing to do <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-01/gold-fields-big-pay-rise-for-wa-/100045834">mining work</a>. </p>
<p>It can certainly help to diminish the social stigma, by signalling that society values this work more than <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0432.2010.00512.x">it has done in the past</a>. But the relatively small wage increase will not overcome the fact that society puts greater value on occupations that focus on <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jan.15623">“curing” rather than “caring”</a>. </p>
<p>Higher pay may reduce the moral stigma, but only if other royal commission recommendations regarding better training and management are also implemented. The cases of abuse and neglect highlighted in media stories aren’t just about “bad apples”, but <a href="https://agedcare.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/final-report">broader systemic issues</a> such as staffing ratios and time allocated to direct care. </p>
<p>More fundamentally, the stigmatisation of aged care work reflects a structural deficiency of the economy, which fails to celebrate and remunerate caring work. </p>
<p>The federal government has taken a number of steps to address this, including giving the Fair Work Commission greater powers to address systemic low payment of female-dominated work, and expanding the potential for <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-compromise-ir-deal-means-for-wage-negotiations-and-pay-rises-195545">multi-enterprise enterprise bargaining</a>. </p>
<p>But much more will need be done before all care work is valued the way it needs to be.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wages-and-women-top-albaneses-ir-agenda-the-big-question-is-how-labor-keeps-its-promises-183527">Wages and women top Albanese's IR agenda: the big question is how Labor keeps its promises</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206670/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asmita Manchha is employed as a Research Fellow in the Bolton Clarke Research Institute. Her views are her own as a researcher and do not represent the views of the aged care provider she is affiliated with. </span></em></p>Our research shows that aged care work is still stigmatised by other health professionals as dirty, difficult and low-status – more than most other jobs.Asmita Manchha, Research fellow, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2032572023-05-16T16:36:28Z2023-05-16T16:36:28ZGender pay gap: how new EU pay transparency laws will make men and women’s wages more equal<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525706/original/file-20230511-36633-n0e6sy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=35%2C29%2C934%2C705&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Pay transparency.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/transparent-see-through-piggy-bank-filled-623871074">stockphoto-graf/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Even though <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_17_4711">90% of Europeans</a> think it’s unacceptable for women to be paid less than men, the average EU gender pay gap remained <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/SDG_05_20/default/line?lang=en">close to 13%</a> in 2021. And there has been only a 4 percentage point decrease over the previous decade. This is despite the EU encouraging member states to implement <a href="https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality/equal-pay/eu-action-equal-pay_en">legislation and policies</a> to improve gender pay equality for decades. </p>
<p>Fortunately, a new <a href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/04/24/gender-pay-gap-council-adopts-new-rules-on-pay-transparency/?utm_source=dsms-auto&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Gender+pay+gap%3a+Council+adopts+new+rules+on+pay+transparency">EU pay transparency directive</a>, adopted in April, will help to close this gap further. But even with this new law, this will not be an easy task. It will mean overcoming some significant drivers of wage inequality between men and women, including unconscious bias and stereotyping, differences in negotiation tactics and even new technology such as artificial intelligence.</p>
<p>The gender pay gap is the difference between the average gross hourly earnings of the total number of female and male workers. It covers all workers employed within a country, sector or organisation. So, it differs from the right to equal pay, the right of an individual female worker to be paid the same as a male worker doing equal work or work of the same value.</p>
<p>The causes of the gap are complex and interrelated. The <a href="https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257%2Fjel.20160995&source=post_page">unequal division between genders</a> of paid and unpaid work (impacting career choices and working patterns) has been blamed. <a href="https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/economics/sticky-floors-or-glass-ceilings-the-role-of-human-capital-working-time-flexibility-and-discrimination-in-the-gender-wage-gap_02ef3235-en">And so have</a> conscious and unconscious biases, gender stereotypes that influence educational and occupational choices, and the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3888793/14368632/KS-TC-22-002-EN-N.pdf/4951104b-f01d-0964-717a-be0ea3dfd9e4?t=1662728236409">concentration of women</a> in low-paid jobs. </p>
<p>There is also evidence that the pay gap has been partly driven by <a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article-abstract/137/1/215/6352976">gender differences in pay negotiation styles</a>, as well as so-called “<a href="https://www.cesifo.org/DocDL/CESifo-Forum-2022-2-boeheim-gust-gender-employment-and-pay-gap-march.pdf">information asymmetries</a>” – when employers have more information about salaries than job applicants and workers. </p>
<p>Fears are also growing that the use of AI technologies to shortlist job applicants will only deepen the gap since they may be <a href="https://www.igi-global.com/gateway/chapter/291431">biased towards male applicants</a>.</p>
<h2>What is the pay transparency directive?</h2>
<p>The right to equal pay has been recognised by EU law since 1957. And although eliminating the gender pay gap is not formally required by EU law, reducing it is part of the “<a href="https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32017C1213(01)&rid=2#:%7E:text=3.-,Equal%20opportunities,services%20available%20to%20the%20public.">European pillar of social rights</a>” (pillar 2), a priority in the EU 2020-2025 gender equality strategy, and part of <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8">the United Nations’ sustainable development goals</a> to be achieved by 2030.</p>
<p>The EU’s new directive includes <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4323032">individual and collective measures</a> to improve accessibility to pay information, as well as to support enforcement of these rights. It will help workers or jobseekers better understand their position in the wider pay structure of a company or industry. It also includes collective measures to ensure employers share aggregated pay data broken down by gender, both internally and publicly.</p>
<p>The EU has designed its directive to <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4111185">avoid disclosing sensitive personal data, as well as ensuring costs</a> for employers are not excessive.</p>
<p>Among the directive’s individual measures is the right for workers to obtain pay information about other workers doing equal work from an employer. This helps people take action if their right to equal pay is not respected by their company. </p>
<p>During recruitment, job candidates also have a right to be informed about pay levels they can expect at the position they are applying for. The directive also ensures their right not to be asked about their pay history. This aims to help overcome gender biases and ensure <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4323032">more equitable pay negotiations</a>.</p>
<p>The directive’s collective measures will require organisations with more than 100 employees to publish their gender gaps regarding total pay and variable pay (such as bonuses). Employers will also have to publicly disclose the proportion of workers receiving bonuses by gender and the proportion of women among the highest, upper-middle, lower-middle and lowest earners. </p>
<p>Employers will also have to disclose their internal gender pay gap by job category. This will facilitate comparisons between companies for current and prospective workers, consumers and shareholders. Disclosing this information internally can help employers and worker representatives uncover gender biases in pay structures. It can also give unions more leverage during collective pay negotiations.</p>
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<img alt="Woman holding larger stack of coins in right hand than in left hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525708/original/file-20230511-36798-t7u1uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/525708/original/file-20230511-36798-t7u1uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525708/original/file-20230511-36798-t7u1uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525708/original/file-20230511-36798-t7u1uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525708/original/file-20230511-36798-t7u1uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525708/original/file-20230511-36798-t7u1uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/525708/original/file-20230511-36798-t7u1uh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The wage gap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/compare-wage-gap-tax-differences-equal-1997565632">Andrey_Popov/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Will the directive reduce the gender pay gap?</h2>
<p>Pay transparency alone cannot address all the causes of the gender pay gap. But it can help reduce information asymmetries by decreasing an <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4323032">employer’s power to set wages</a> and making it easier for workers to identify and act against pay discrimination. </p>
<p>Evidence is mounting that pay transparency measures similar to those in this directive can help reduce the gender pay gap. For instance, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jofi.13136?casa_token=i12xgfa1lB">a study on Danish legislation</a> requiring internal pay reporting showed that the increased transparency reduced the gender pay gap by 13%.</p>
<p>There were <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3584259">even better results in a UK study</a>: an 18% reduction in the pay gap in hourly pay following the adoption of <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2017/172/contents/made">pay transparency legislation</a> in 2017. Another study focusing on <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25834">public salary disclosure in Canadian universities</a> estimated a gender pay gap reduction of approximately 20%-40% after legislation was introduced. </p>
<p>Recent research also shows what’s likely to make pay transparency measures more effective. This includes <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3584259">publicly disclosing pay information</a>, <a href="https://www.cesifo.org/en/publications/2022/journal-complete-issue/cesifo-forum-022022-mind-gender-gaps-how-men-and-women-get">strong enforcement systems</a> (for example, with proportionate sanctions) and a high degree of <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w25834">union scrutiny</a>. Most of these factors can be found in the new EU directive. </p>
<p>These new rules won’t tackle the complex drivers of the gender pay gap alone. But by focusing on both pay transparency, as well as <a href="https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1745371&dswid=5422">enforcement mechanisms</a>, the EU’s new directive is a powerful step forward to combat pay inequality between men and women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203257/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows strong evidence that pay transparency laws can reduce the gender pay gap.Sara Benedi Lahuerta, Assistant Professor in Law, University College DublinKatharina Miller, Adjunct professor, IE UniversityLaura Carlson, Professor in Law, Stockholm UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2005162023-04-19T11:22:04Z2023-04-19T11:22:04ZOverconfidence dictates who gets ‘top jobs’ and research shows men benefit more than women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/521595/original/file-20230418-18-5n1164.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=89%2C71%2C5860%2C3273&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/rear-view-successful-company-ceo-celebrating-1361250626">fizkes/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There has been a steady stream of popular literature in recent years telling women to “<a href="https://leanin.org/book">lean in</a>”, be more confident, and not worry about “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/h0086006">imposter syndrome</a>”. </p>
<p>Men, on the other hand, are often seen to be <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/441931/how-confidence-works-by-robertson-ian/9781787633728">overconfident compared to women</a>. Our <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537122001737">recent research</a> shows they are 19% more likely to self-assess their abilities higher than they actually are – and this difference can actually affect career outcomes for men and women. </p>
<p>We already know that women are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537122001737#bib0003">less likely to make partner at law firms</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537122001737#bib0008">reach corporate leadership positions</a>. But roles such as chief executive, production manager, senior police officer, lawyer and doctor tend to be well paid and secure. The over-representation of men in such jobs may be an important driver of inequalities in the labour market such as the gender pay gap. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537122001737">Our research</a> shows that 24% of men versus 16% of women are in such “top jobs” by the age of 42. It also indicates that factors leading to this trend actually start showing up in adolescence. In fact, we believe ours is one of the first studies to link overconfidence captured in adolescence to real job market outcomes in mid-career. </p>
<p>We used data on approximately 3,600 people born in Great Britain who are taking part in the <a href="https://cls.ucl.ac.uk/cls-studies/1970-british-cohort-study/">1970 British Cohort Study</a>. This means we can follow them from birth into the labour market and have access to information about their family background, the circumstances in which they grew up, and the life choices they make.</p>
<p>We constructed a measure of overconfidence using their test scores on a range of cognitive assessments taken at ages five, ten and 16. We compared this to data they provided rating their own ability in several domains. We found that overconfident people were more likely, on average, to be in top jobs at the age of 42 compared to similar adults who didn’t overrate their talents according to our overconfidence scale. </p>
<p>When it comes to explaining the gender gap in top jobs, our measure of overconfidence represented up to 11% of the significant 8 percentage point gender gap in top jobs at age 42 (with men taking more of these top jobs). These results highlight the importance of overconfidence for predicting such achievements, but they also provide some insight into the factors that affect career-related confidence levels. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/toxic-workplaces-are-feeding-the-impostor-phenomenon-heres-why-103892">Toxic workplaces are feeding the impostor phenomenon – here's why</a>
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<h2>Confidence factors: university, industry and children</h2>
<p>Once we accounted for university attendance and subject, our measure of overconfidence explained 6% of the gender gap in top jobs. This shows the importance of success at school and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ecca.12437">choice of university subject</a> and institution in paving the way to a top job by mid-career.</p>
<p>In fact, university participation and subject choice matter quite a lot, according to our findings. The gender gap in top jobs is considerably larger among graduates (15 percentage points) compared to non-graduates (6.5 percentage points), while the role of overconfidence mattered more for those who had attended university. </p>
<p>For example, male graduates were 58% more likely than female graduates to be in a top job in the field of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM), and had 34% greater odds of being in a senior role in law, economics and management (LEM). Interestingly, while overconfidence explained 12% of the gender gap in top LEM roles, it did not matter for top jobs in STEM. This may be down to the more technical nature of these jobs compared to those in LEM.</p>
<p>Apart from industry, other factors also seem to contribute to career gender gaps. Unsurprisingly, having children counts. With many adults having families with children still living at home by middle age, working mothers were 27% less likely than working fathers to be in a top job by mid-career. However, overconfidence did not explain any of this gender gap. This suggests that women are simply more likely than men to change their working patterns once they start a family.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Woman doing paperwork in modern office, co-workers in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512714/original/file-20230228-16-1ncq6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512714/original/file-20230228-16-1ncq6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512714/original/file-20230228-16-1ncq6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512714/original/file-20230228-16-1ncq6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512714/original/file-20230228-16-1ncq6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512714/original/file-20230228-16-1ncq6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512714/original/file-20230228-16-1ncq6p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Businesses can help build employee confidence.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/concentrated-african-american-woman-doing-paperwork-1935860131">Kateryna Onyshchuk/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How employers can help</h2>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/qje/article/137/3/1345/6513425">Research</a> highlights how men are more likely to assess their abilities favourably and communicate this to others. And since overconfident people may put themselves forward more often and sooner for promotions, this exacerbates the gender gap in top jobs. </p>
<p>So, our findings suggest that employers should rethink how they recruit and promote people. Employers could give more regular performance-based feedback and encourage women to apply for promotions sooner than they might choose to on their own, for example. This is especially relevant for LEM jobs where we found that overconfidence explained the largest portion of the gender gap. </p>
<p>And since overconfidence loses its importance among those who have children, lack of childcare and flexibility in the workplace clearly remains a substantial barrier to career progression for women.</p>
<p>Requiring women to “lean in” or engage in confidence-building interventions is not the solution. Focusing on <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/02/stop-telling-women-they-have-imposter-syndrome">imposter syndrome</a> or women being underconfident puts the onus on them to change. Instead, we all need to find ways to change the system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200516/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span><a href="mailto:nikki.shure@ucl.ac.uk">nikki.shure@ucl.ac.uk</a> receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/T013850/1).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Adamecz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Why companies should be worried about diversity in ‘top jobs’ and what they can do to make this happen.Nikki Shure, Associate Professor in Economics, UCLAnna Adamecz, Research Associate in Economics, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2004152023-03-10T13:48:48Z2023-03-10T13:48:48Z5 tips for women to negotiate a higher salary<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514522/original/file-20230309-18-m81h0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. women earn 82% of what U.S. men earn — and the gap is significantly higher for Black and Hispanic women.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-female-applicant-at-job-interview-royalty-free-image/1355656345">Portra/E+ Collection/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.pay-equity.org/day.html">Equal Pay Day</a> falls in 2023 on March 14 — a date determined by how long into the new year American women must work to catch up to American men’s earnings the previous year. In 2022, <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2023/03/01/gender-pay-gap-facts/">women earned 82%</a> of what men earned. The wage gap for Black and Hispanic women is even higher — these groups made <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/03/01/the-enduring-grip-of-the-gender-pay-gap/#gender-pay-gap-differs-widely-by-race-and-ethnicity">70% and 65%, respectively</a>, of what white men made.</p>
<p>Some of the gender pay gap can be attributed to differences in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjab026">how women negotiate</a>.</p>
<p>This is not to say that women don’t negotiate as well as men, or even less often. Women are negotiating well and self-advocating in their careers every day – sometimes <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ncmr.12153">more actively and effectively</a> than their male counterparts. Women have been observed to <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.1497">negotiate exceptions</a> to typical work or business practices more than men. This includes, for example, negotiating a remote work arrangement prior to the pandemic.</p>
<p>But when it comes to salary and wage negotiations, research suggests that women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/bul0000135">more reluctant to ask</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/irel.12214">less effective</a> when they do.</p>
<p>That’s because salary negotiations are generally seen as competitive <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1750-4716.2010.00072.x">situations that favor men and masculinity</a>. In such settings, self-advocating violates societal norms that women should be kind and communal. According to the authors of one study, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017094">women anticipating backlash from attempting to negotiate</a> “hedge their assertiveness, using fewer competing tactics and obtaining lower outcomes.” </p>
<p>The fear of backlash is reasonable. Men and women alike say they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2006.09.001">less willing to work with women</a> who ask to be paid more. </p>
<p>I <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=p2WhPu4AAAAJ&view_op=list_works&sortby=pubdate">research negotiation and conflict management</a> and <a href="https://www.american.edu/kogod/faculty/mislin.cfm">teach a variety of negotiation courses</a> to undergraduate and graduate students.</p>
<p>Here are five tips that you can start applying today to be more effective in your workplace negotiations. These strategies benefit women but represent best practices for anyone seeking higher pay regardless of where they identify on the gender spectrum.</p>
<h2>1. Think before you ask</h2>
<p>Consider what you really want before you launch into your negotiation – hit pause and take a step back. How does what you’re asking for fit into your bigger work or life aspirations? You might start with a focus on a salary increase, but what you really want is an accelerated promotion track. </p>
<p>Negotiating professional development opportunities and your role at work <a href="https://doi.org/10.5465/amj.2017.1497">may do more</a> to help close the pay gap than getting paid more than you are currently earning. So, take stock of your goals and make sure you are focusing on negotiating about the right issues.</p>
<h2>2. Communicate your value</h2>
<p>Once your purpose and objective are clear, figure out how to articulate your value. Women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684312455524">more persuasive and reduce the risk of backlash</a> when they explain why what they are asking for is appropriate and justified. As you do this, put yourself into the hiring manager’s or your boss’s shoes and consider how the request you are making is legitimate from their perspective. How can, for example, your data visualization skills help your team communicate more successfully at the next client meeting? How can you position what you are asking for, such as a promotion to senior analyst, in terms of bigger business goals, like expanding the client base?</p>
<p>When women articulate their value while considering the other person’s objectives, their negotiation behavior is perceived as more socially acceptable and women are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684312455524">better positioned to succeed</a>.</p>
<h2>3. Ask for more than just salary</h2>
<p>Gender differences are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0038184">most likely to arise</a> when it is less clear whether negotiating is appropriate. This might be a job that doesn’t explicitly indicate that wages are negotiable, or where the salary range is not disclosed. In these cases, women are less inclined to negotiate because they anticipate backlash. This applies not just to salary or wage negotiations, but also negotiations for other opportunities, including promotion, work assignments, developmental opportunities and resources.</p>
<p>When you are not sure whether negotiating is appropriate, ask around and gather information from trusted sources. Use your network, but also stretch beyond your network. You may want to seek advice from, for example, men in male-dominated work settings. People tend to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/srep01214">connect with others who are similar</a> in age, gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, so information from your close network can be skewed. Find out what people are negotiating at work and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1521/soco.2009.27.3.418">reduce the social risk of asking by decreasing ambiguity</a> around whether negotiating is appropriate.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young woman with long hair wearing white blazer smiles at laptop screen" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514529/original/file-20230309-20-htsh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514529/original/file-20230309-20-htsh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514529/original/file-20230309-20-htsh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514529/original/file-20230309-20-htsh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514529/original/file-20230309-20-htsh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514529/original/file-20230309-20-htsh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514529/original/file-20230309-20-htsh1k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Successful negotiators offer solutions that aim to work out a problem rather than win a fight.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/happy-businesswoman-working-in-a-coffee-store-royalty-free-image/910726126">Richiesd/iStock/Getty Images Plus</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Check your mindset</h2>
<p>Whether you see yourself as a reluctant negotiator, a competitive negotiator or a people-pleaser, what matters more is your mindset going into the negotiation. A <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/2041386613505857">review of individual differences in negotiations</a> identified the single best predictor of performance as having a positive mindset – confidence in one’s own ability and confidence that it is appropriate to negotiate.</p>
<p>A positive mindset also means approaching negotiations with curiosity. Make it about trying to work out a problem, not winning a fight. This approach is more aligned with <a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/41166421">social expectations that women are communal</a>, and it is also a best practice that produces better results.</p>
<p>Even if the other person starts with no, don’t let that derail your negotiation. Prepare to stay at the table and find out why. If you cannot get the salary increase you are asking for, maybe you can successfully negotiate a developmental opportunity and revisit the salary conversation in six months. </p>
<h2>5. Don’t skip the small talk</h2>
<p>On the other side of the negotiation is a person, and you will find it easier to reach a solution together if you get along. Small talk before the negotiation helps build the relationship and can have a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.obhdp.2011.01.002">positive effect on your negotiations</a>. Familiarity with the employer may even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2017.2880">give women a bigger boost</a> than men. So get to know the person you will be negotiating with personally, and don’t skip the small talk.</p>
<p>Practice these five tips and keep negotiating. The more experience you have negotiating, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032255">the better you will do</a>. And the better results women get from negotiating well will help shrink the gender pay gap between men and women.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200415/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Mislin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A negotiation expert offers practical tips for getting the salary or promotion you want.Alexandra Mislin, Associate Professor of Management, American UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2012712023-03-08T15:13:10Z2023-03-08T15:13:10ZFrench firms prioritising gender equality also reap higher returns<p>In early March, France’s first minister, Elisabeth Borne, announced that French companies failing to enforce the country’s gender equality criteria would be denied access to <a href="https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/egalite-femmes-hommes-les-entreprises-qui-ne-respectent-pas-la-parite-seront-ecartees-des-marches-publics-4571612">public contracts</a>. The news adds yet another line to an already long list of incentives to boost women’s standing in the workplace.</p>
<p>In recent years, research has increasingly shown filling one’s company’s top positions with women not only makes ethical sense, but business sense, too. In the UK, one <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ijfe.2089">2020 paper</a> showed that the presence of women on executive boards significantly improved the performance of the country’s firms, in particular when three or more females were appointed and when they also held executive director positions. Another study on banks in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, found that entities with female CEOs invested <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/csr.1762">more in sustainable environmental initiatives</a>. And the former IMF chief, Christine Lagarde, in 2019, stated that closing the gender gap in employment could <a href="https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2019/03/pdf/fd0319.pdf">push up global GDP by 35%</a>.</p>
<p>Due to be published in the <a href="https://www.inderscience.com/jhome.php?jcode=ijcg"><em>International Journal of Corporate Governance</em></a> in the coming months, our latest paper confirms this trend. Surveying data from 228 nonfinancial French listed companies from 2018 to 2021, we found evidence that companies who scored higher on the country’s “Gender Equality Index” also fared better in markets.</p>
<h2>The French equality index</h2>
<p>To boost women’s status in the workplace, the French government passed a law in September 2018 compelling companies with at least 50 employees to communicate information on gender equality. Taking its name from the then-Labour minister, Muriel Pénicaud (2017-2020), the Pénicaud index – also known as the equality index – obliges them to publish data on:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The difference in total remuneration between women and men weighted by grade and age group;</p></li>
<li><p>Difference in the rates of salary increases between men and women;</p></li>
<li><p>Difference in the promotion rates between men and women;</p></li>
<li><p>Salary increases for employees returning from maternity leave;</p></li>
<li><p>Gender balance of the top 10 highest-paid employees.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The availability of such information implies that French companies’ track record on gender equality is subject to public scrutiny, which can in turn affect investor confidence.</p>
<h2>Gender index has spurred positive change</h2>
<p>On the one hand, the results of our research are encouraging. The average Pénicaud Index for the surveyed firm is 84 points out of 100. In addition, we note that the equality index has increased over time, evidence that firms are willing to continuously improve female conditions. From this perspective, the effect of this law seems to be going in line with the government’s expectations. In <a href="https://www.elle.fr/Societe/Interviews/Violence-retraite-education-Elisabeth-Borne-repond-a-ELLE-4110102">her interview with <em>Elle</em> on 1 March</a>, Borne effectively stressed the equality index’s main objective was not to punish firms, but to provide them with an incentive to change their policies and behaviours toward greater gender equality in the workplace.</p>
<p>And yet, we also believe there is significant room for improvement. If we look at the latest report, for example, we find only 2% of firms scored the maximum mark and a mere 61% provided their data on time. 2,354 firms obtained zero on the score on maternity leave.</p>
<p>There are some low-hanging fruit that companies can easily seize upon to boost their gender score. Take the one common blind spot which we observed among firms performing just below the maximum score of 100 points: female representation in the 10 highest-paid employees. Global consultancy group Keyrus SA scored 90 out of 100 in 2021, <a href="https://keyrus.com/fr/fr/insights/index-egalite-professionnelle-femmes-hommes">losing 5 out of 10 points</a> in this area. That was also the case that year with the country’s energy provider, EDF, which clinched the maximum score in four out of the five categories included in the equality index, but failed to have a single woman to show in its <a href="https://www.edf.fr/edf-recrute/nos-actualites-rh/edf-sa-publie-un-index-de-legalite-a-90-points-au-titre-de-2021">10 highest-paid employees</a>. Women were also nowhere to be found in the highest earners of the country’s most popular TV channel, TF1, causing it to stagnate at <a href="https://groupe-tf1.fr/fr/engaements-rse/nos-actions/diversit%C3%A9">85 out of 100</a>.</p>
<p>Such figures make clear that, notwithstanding companies’ efforts to boost gender equality in the workplace, corporate leadership remains the preserve of a small male elite. This is also the conclusion of a recent <a href="https://europeanwomenonboards.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/France-Country-report-2021.pdf">report by the European Women on Boards Association</a>, which shows that, while boards of French firms lead the European Union in terms of female representation (45% on average of board members in France are females), only 15% of firms can boast female Chief Financial Officer and only 8%, a female Chief Executive Officer.</p>
<p>This is too bad, as firms prioritising gender equality tend to accrue significant financial benefits from it. In fact, our research finds a positive association between companies with higher values for their equality index and their market valuation and return on equity. The graph reports a simplified illustration about the association between one of the measures of market performance used in our research, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobin%27s_q">Tobin’s Q</a>, and the equality index of French firms. The trend line in black highlight the positive association between these two variables.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514053/original/file-20230307-2056-njh8np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/514053/original/file-20230307-2056-njh8np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514053/original/file-20230307-2056-njh8np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514053/original/file-20230307-2056-njh8np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=351&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514053/original/file-20230307-2056-njh8np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514053/original/file-20230307-2056-njh8np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/514053/original/file-20230307-2056-njh8np.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=441&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graph association between market performance and equality index.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In addition, our analyses prove that independent auditors associated a lower audit risk (i.e., the risk that the annual report contains material errors) to companies with greater gender equality performance.</p>
<p>Our results encourage firms to give women the keys of companies’ C-suite, which remain stubbornly male-oriented even though the evidence indicates this is not in companies’ best interest. We also hope that the agendas of legislators and regulatory bodies keep promoting and enforcing gender equality across sectors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Les auteurs ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur organisme de recherche.</span></em></p>Research shows French firms with smaller to no gender wage gap and high female board representation also make better business.Domenico Campa, Associate Professor of Accounting, International University of MonacoMara Cameran, Researcher in financial accounting, Bocconi UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1989742023-03-01T13:26:03Z2023-03-01T13:26:03ZHow Frances Willard shaped feminism by leading the 19th-century temperance movement<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512495/original/file-20230227-16-yiwjos.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C21%2C2807%2C2120&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Frances Willard stands behind her mother, at left, and Anna B. Gordon, who worked as a secretary and lived in the Willard household.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/frances-willard-standing-her-mother-and-anna-b-gordon-secy-news-photo/640476983?phrase=frances%20willard&adppopup=true">Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As younger adults opt for “wellness” products, many are practicing alcohol abstinence. Sometimes referred to as “<a href="https://blog.faire.com/industry-insights/staying-power-of-sober-curious-trend/">sober curious</a>,” this trend of often forgoing alcohol has forged public conversations on the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2022/12/27/dry-january-health-benefits/">health benefits of abstinence</a>. </p>
<p>Few, however, reflect on its connections to the <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Drinking-In-America/Mark-Edward-Lender/9780029185704">temperance movement</a>, one of the major social movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries. </p>
<p>Its leaders not only believed that alcohol abstinence would lead to better health, but they saw it as a way to create a just society. This movement laid a foundation for the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/prohibition-a-very-short-introduction-9780190280109?cc=us&lang=en&">successful campaign for an amendment</a> to the U.S. Constitution. Enacted in 1920, the 18th Amendment barred the sale and distribution of alcoholic beverages. </p>
<p>Because of the difficulties of legal enforcement, and following a national campaign waged against Prohibition, the amendment was <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Last-Call/Daniel-Okrent/9780743277044">repealed in 1933</a>. That repeal still casts aspersion on how the temperance movement is remembered today. Many Americans see it as a moralistic crusade dominated by religious zealots. However, temperance <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/smashing-the-liquor-machine-9780190841577?cc=us&lang=en&">became an international movement</a>, with many of its leaders being women. </p>
<p>A historical figure who sheds light on this movement is Frances Willard. In a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/do-everything-9780190914073?cc=us&lang=en&">recent biography</a>, I discuss how Willard came to lead the temperance movement.</p>
<h2>Global reach of temperance movement</h2>
<p>Born in 1839, Willard wanted to become a Methodist minister. Instead, she became a teacher, as women could rarely be ordained at the time. Ultimately, she became the <a href="https://www.northwestern.edu/150-years-of-women/learn/library-exhibit/fireworks-and-fire.html">first dean of the newly founded Woman’s College at Northwestern University</a>. </p>
<p>In 1874, Willard helped found the <a href="https://scalar.usc.edu/works/willard-and-wells/the-wctu-temperance-and-prohibition">Woman’s Christian Temperance Union</a>, an organization committed to campaigning for prohibition legislation. She was elected its president in 1879, holding that office until her death in 1898. Throughout her presidency, the WCTU ran shelters, medical dispensaries and free kindergartens that reached out to destitute families. </p>
<p>Willard focused on alcohol’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/American_Temperance_Movements.html?id=YCC6QgAACAAJ">impact on women and children</a>. At a time when women had few legal safeguards compared with men, Willard highlighted how what today is known as <a href="https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/understanding-alcohol-use-disorder">alcohol use disorder</a> drained economic resources, while liquor manufacturers made huge profits at the expense of the poor. She argued that money spent on alcohol not only took away resources from families, it led to inebriated men committing domestic violence against women and children. </p>
<p>Emphasizing what the WCTU called “<a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807871966/womans-worldwomans-empire/">organized mother love</a>” – the belief that women could apply the ideals of motherhood to the social issues of the time – Willard built the WCTU into one of the largest women’s organizations in the world. By the late 19th century, <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Woman_and_Temperance.html?id=90DiAAAAMAAJ">it had over 150,000 members</a>. </p>
<p>The temperance movement was not confined to the U.S. In 1884, <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691145211/reforming-the-world">Willard inaugurated the World’s WCTU</a>. This organization formed WCTU chapters in over 40 countries including Sweden, Japan and Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two women lay a wreath at the statue of a woman holding a book in one hand." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512504/original/file-20230227-811-o510fn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=549&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This Frances Willard statue is in the Statuary Hall of the U.S. Capitol.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/beverly-robinson-and-merry-lee-powell-of-the-illinois-state-news-photo/99871232?phrase=frances%20willard&adppopup=true">Douglas Graham/Roll Call/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In 1905, when a statue of Willard was <a href="https://www.aoc.gov/explore-capitol-campus/art/frances-e-willard-statue">unveiled in the National Statuary Hall</a> – a chamber devoted to sculptures of prominent Americans in the U.S. Capitol – she became the first woman to receive that distinction. She was <a href="https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/frances-e-willard/">inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame</a> in Seneca Falls, New York, in 2000. </p>
<h2>Elevating women’s voices</h2>
<p>For Willard, prohibition was one of her many interests. Through her slogan, “<a href="https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/the-do-everything-policy/">Do Everything</a>,” she challenged women to become politically active, encouraging them to embrace any issues they saw as important. </p>
<p>Under her leadership, the WCTU advocated for women’s suffrage, lobbied for prison reform and <a href="https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9780875804163/articulating-rights/#bookTabs=1">campaigned for age-of-consent laws</a> that were designed to raise the legal marriage age for women from 10 to 18. </p>
<p>Believing that the best way to ensure prohibition legislation was through giving women the right to vote, Willard mentored WCTU women who <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674431331&content=bios">became suffrage leaders</a>. These reformers included Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt, who helped lead the campaign to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote. </p>
<p>Willard supported <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780809079636/equality">third-party political movements</a> that endorsed prohibition, universal suffrage and economic reforms. Always at the center of her message was the belief that overhauling the American political system required women’s voices. “I am glad to live in a day when we are talking about justice,” <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c032073">she wrote in 1892</a>. “What we women want is simply justice.” </p>
<p>Willard was a harsh critic of anyone who stood in the way of women’s achievement. Opposing male physicians of the time, who believed that exercise would damage a woman’s health, she learned how to ride a bicycle. Willard described her <a href="https://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5038/">mastery of bicycle riding in a popular book</a> published in 1895. </p>
<h2>An activist faith</h2>
<p>Willard’s <a href="https://www.gbhem.org/publishing/publications/nevertheless-american-methodists-and-womens-rights/">Methodist faith</a> shaped her reform commitments. She was influenced by the <a href="https://people.smu.edu/mappingthega/stories/s15/">18th-century founder of Methodism, John Wesley</a>, who emphasized doing good works in service to the poor. His example influenced later religious-based reform movements, including temperance. </p>
<p>Willard built on this Methodist foundation, believing that reforming society required that one’s faith be put into practice. Motivated by Jesus’ commitment to serve the poor, she pushed WCTU women to work for economic justice and social equality. </p>
<p>Willard supported the fledgling labor movement. She called for women to receive the same pay as men in the workplace, and backed federal legislation to regulate business monopolies. </p>
<p>She also pushed for the <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Woman_in_the_Pulpit.html?id=hGtJAAAAIAAJ">ordination of women</a>, believing that increasing women’s voices in churches would facilitate the building of a just society. </p>
<p>Willard’s model of progressive religion is <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/10/30/politics/clinton-faith-private/index.html">evident today in former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton</a>. Like Willard, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee often discusses how her Methodist faith inspires her political vision. </p>
<h2>Complicated legacy</h2>
<p>Willard was far from perfect. Her legacy is haunted by an absence of a systemic understanding of racism. </p>
<p>In the 1890s, she became embroiled in a controversy with the <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780809016464/totellthetruthfreely">African American journalist Ida B. Wells</a>. Wells criticized Willard for not taking a stand against the lynching of African Americans in the South. She noted how Willard’s desire to placate white Southerners blinded her to the atrocities of Jim Crow racism.</p>
<p>Willard’s <a href="https://scalar.usc.edu/works/willard-and-wells/christopher-evans">reluctance to address Wells’ accusations</a> was typical of white reformers of the time. It reflects the historical failure of many white Americans to prioritize issues of racial justice.</p>
<p>Despite her shortcomings, Willard’s leadership not only played a critical role in the temperance movement. She <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Two_Paths_to_Women_s_Equality.html?id=yMO-QgAACAAJ">helped shape 21st-century feminism</a> and progressive-based movements <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-social-gospel-movement-explains-the-roots-of-todays-religious-left-78895">associated with today’s religious left</a>. </p>
<p>At the height of her fame, many believed that if women won the right to vote Frances Willard would be the first woman elected president. Oftentimes, she expressed hope that <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=c021398">she would live to see a woman elected</a> to that office. This dream of Willard’s remains unfulfilled. </p>
<p>Ever the optimist, however, <a href="https://curiosity.lib.harvard.edu/women-working-1800-1930/catalog/45-990010688700203941">Willard wrote in 1889</a>, “I have sincerely meant in life, to stand by the great cause of poor, oppressed humanity. There must be explorers along all pathways. … This has been my ‘call’ from the beginning.” </p>
<p>Willard died before the passing of the 18th and 19th Amendments. Yet she played a vital role in molding movements that led to their enactment. Her contributions are a reminder to celebrate the work of many visionary women, like Willard, who did not live to see their dreams become reality.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/198974/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher H. Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A historian highlights the role of Frances Willard, who helped found the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, one of the major social movements of the 19th and 20th centuries.Christopher H. Evans, Professor of the History of Christianity, Boston UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994732023-02-22T17:17:02Z2023-02-22T17:17:02ZGender pay gap is bigger for some women than others – here’s how to work it out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511472/original/file-20230221-28-ksesnz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=57%2C98%2C5406%2C3538&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/businesswoman-leads-meeting-around-table-shot-633365168">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women in the UK earn, on average, 14.9 pence less per pound than men, based on the latest data from the <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/allemployeesashetable1">Office for National Statistics (ONS)</a>. This means that while men are getting paid from January 1, women have effectively worked for free for the first 53 days of the year. That makes February 23 <a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/gender-pay-gap-means-women-work-free-nearly-two-months-year">“women’s pay day”</a>.</p>
<p>The ONS gender pay gap is calculated by dividing the median pay for women by the median for men. The resulting ratio tells us that women earn, on average, 85.1 pence to the male pound – or 14.9% less. </p>
<p>This covers employees doing all jobs. It’s not the same as men and women getting paid differently for doing the same job, which is illegal.</p>
<p>But calculating the gender pay gap in different ways can highlight the different causes of the gap and which groups of women are more or less affected.</p>
<p>The median is the middle amount when all wages are listed from smallest to highest. This is different from the mean, which you find by adding everyone’s wages together and dividing by the number of people. </p>
<p>The median is less distorted by top earners, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0927537117300878?via%3Dihub">who are mostly men</a>. If a survey of 1,000 people included Elon Musk while everyone else earned minimum wage, this would probably give an “average” wage of hundreds of pounds an hour based on the mean. The median would be the minimum wage.</p>
<p>The ONS figure of 14.9% is based on hourly pay, so <a href="https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Methods/Measuring-the-gender-pay-gap/measuring-gender-pay-gap-corrected.pdf">compares pay for a fixed one-hour amount of work</a>. Comparing weekly or annual pay would give bigger gaps because they’re directly affected by the amount of work that people do. Women – on average – work fewer hours than men <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/allemployeesashetable1">(29 v 35 weekly hours)</a>.</p>
<p>The ONS figure also excludes overtime and bonuses. But <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221718304235?casa_token=ILR3L9wwJFgAAAAA:Xm9k4xtFRlNZ-SpTfAlNk9lEwueUYX5_DeDqoiyV-OswVMjBksLKwqNIRI9aVBOpSeQ_GYZ70w#bib0023">there is evidence</a> of larger gender pay gaps for bonuses than for regular pay.</p>
<p>Included in the ONS figure are part-time employees. Removing them narrows the gender pay gap to 8.3%. But this still puts women’s pay day for full-time employees on January 30, meaning full-time employed women effectively work nearly one month of the year for free.</p>
<p>The ONS figure also excludes self-employed people. <a href="https://www.ipse.co.uk/resource/women-in-self-employment.html">The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed</a> found a whopping self-employed gender pay gap of 43%. Self-employed women tend to charge less for their services than self-employed men. For this group, women’s pay day won’t come until June 6.</p>
<h2>What the gender pay gap doesn’t tell us</h2>
<p>Another pitfall of the overall gender pay gap is that it hides how the gap varies for lower versus higher earners.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/IFS-Inequality-Review-women-and-men-at-work.pdf">review</a> found that among the bottom 10% of UK earners, women were paid 90 pence on the male £1 in 2019, partly because of the wage floor created by the national minimum wage. For these women, pay day was February 6.</p>
<p>But among the top 10% of earners, women were paid 77 pence for every £1 paid to men, meaning their women’s pay day comes later, on March 25. American labour economist Claudia Goldin has described certain high-paid jobs, such as in banking, corporate management, law and consultancy, as <a href="https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/11/06/do-greedy-jobs-cause-the-gender-pay-gap">“greedy jobs”</a> because the demands are incompatible with unpaid care and domestic work, <a href="https://wbg.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Accompanying-paper-FINAL.pdf">most of which is done by women</a>.</p>
<p>The overall gender pay gap masks differences by company and occupation, too. While in a <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/bulletins/genderpaygapintheuk/2021">few occupations</a>, such as childminders and medical secretaries, women earn more than men on average, men typically make up a very small share in these jobs. These jobs also pay less on average.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A woman helps a young girl with her schoolwork." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511481/original/file-20230221-16-vs3vrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/511481/original/file-20230221-16-vs3vrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511481/original/file-20230221-16-vs3vrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511481/original/file-20230221-16-vs3vrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511481/original/file-20230221-16-vs3vrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511481/original/file-20230221-16-vs3vrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/511481/original/file-20230221-16-vs3vrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In some careers, women actually make more than men on average – but these tend to be dominated by women.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/africanamerican-mom-mother-tutor-nanny-childminder-2120194271">Inside Creative House/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>There are differences by parenthood and age as well. When women become mothers, their earnings stop rising so quickly or even fall. But when men become fathers, <a href="https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/Pay_and_Parenthood_Touchstone_Extra_2016_LR.pdf">their earnings accelerate</a>. Women often have to cut back on employment after having children, sometimes because of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/sep/12/cost-insane-uk-parents-unable-afford-childcare">unaffordable childcare</a>, which stops them from advancing their careers and earnings. </p>
<p>Plus, <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/511799">evidence</a> has shown that employers judge mothers as less competent and committed workers but fathers as “ideal workers”. By the time their first child is 12, UK women’s hourly wages are <a href="https://ifs.org.uk/sites/default/files/output_url_files/bn186.pdf">one-third below men’s</a>. For mothers, women’s pay day won’t come until May 2 2023.</p>
<p>The overall gender pay gap also ignores how gender intersects with other characteristics, like disability status, ethnicity and being a single parent. For example, white British women earn 18.7% less than white British men, while Bangladeshi women earn 23.1% less and Pakistani women 26.7% <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/datasets/ethnicitypaygapreferencetables">less than white British men</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ethnicity-pay-gap-why-the-uk-needs-mandatory-reporting-160735">Ethnicity pay gap: Why the UK needs mandatory reporting</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why we still need the pay gap measure</h2>
<p>Gender inequality is a complex concept, and the pay gap is only one measure. While the UK is an average performer internationally on its pay gap, it has a <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/09589287221148336">bigger gender gap</a> in employment participation than many other advanced countries. </p>
<p>Focusing on pay also ignores non-wage benefits, like leave entitlements and enjoyment of one’s work. A 2021 study on labour and wellbeing <a href="http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/114354/1/dp1746.pdf">found that</a> including non-wage benefits in the definition of “pay” would widen the UK gender pay gap.</p>
<p>Despite its limitations, the gender pay gap is a straightforward summary measure for keeping track of gender equality. Still, calculating pay gaps for different groups and looking at other measures of gender inequality in the workplace, like employment rates and women’s access to workplace power, can help provide a fuller picture of what’s going on.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199473/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Kowalewska receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council.</span></em></p>Summing up the gender pay gap in one number hides how inequality affects different groups of women.Helen Kowalewska, Lecturer in Social Policy, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1995872023-02-09T19:10:48Z2023-02-09T19:10:48ZAustralia’s new pay equality law risks failing women – unless we make this simple fix<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509079/original/file-20230209-13-d2gtzv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">shutterstock</span> </figcaption></figure><p>The Albanese government’s efforts to address the gender pay gap are laudable. Despite all the attention given to the issue over the past decade or so, sectoral pay discrimination is very real and <a href="https://danielle-li.github.io/assets/docs/PotentialAndTheGenderPromotionGap.pdf">workplace biases persist</a>.</p>
<p>But the federal government’s new tool to address the problem, the Workplace Gender Equality Amendment Bill, may not achieve much. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bills/s1363_first-senate/toc_pdf/2300120.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">amendment</a> to the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00895">Workplace Gender Equality Act</a> (enacted by the Gillard Labor government in 2012) requires all companies with more than 100 employees to report their “gender pay gap”. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-jobs-summit-shifted-gender-equality-from-the-sidelines-to-the-mainstream-189869">How the jobs summit shifted gender equality from the sidelines to the mainstream</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>Much like the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2018A00153">Modern Slavery Act</a>, <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/ems/s1363_ems_c828bc87-8341-420d-9641-981a45c43fc6/upload_pdf/EM_JC008778.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf">the idea</a> is that public reporting will concentrate employers’ attention on the problem, leading to greater gender equality.</p>
<p>But will it? </p>
<p>The problem is the type of data companies must report to the <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/">Workplace Gender Equality Agency</a>, which has been publishing pay-gap statistics since being established by the Workplace Gender Equality Act in 2012.</p>
<p>As with the other statistics the agency has published over the past decade, the <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/legislation/bills/s1363_first-senate/toc_pdf/2300120.pdf">new amendment</a> requires only publishing simple aggregates:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Agency must publish aggregate information, for each relevant employer for each reporting period, for the purpose of showing the employer’s performance and progress in achieving gender equality in relation to remuneration for the employer’s workforce"</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This may seem like a positive step. But aggregate numbers – which in practice translates into reporting summary statistics – do not help us to either identify or understand the pay gap. Those aggregates also don’t help us come up with the right fixes. </p>
<p>To do that requires better data that enables more precise analysis for the factors affecting pay disparities. </p>
<h2>The problem with averages</h2>
<p>Averages are ubiquitous in statistics. They can serve a important service, such as identifying trends. I’ll even be using averages to illustrate a few points. </p>
<p>But their limitations should be understood. They are particularly problematic when it comes to areas of endemic inequality, such as income.</p>
<p>Consider a company with 101 employees, one being the founder and chief executive. The other 100 employees, split 50/50 between men and women, are all paid the same salary. </p>
<p>But suppose the chief executive pays himself ten times as much as the other employees. This isn’t ridiculous; the average CEO of a listed company in Australia is <a href="https://thenewdaily.com.au/finance/finance-news/2022/07/13/ceos-pay-2021/">paid 132 times</a> the average income. This creates a 17.6% gender pay gap. </p>
<p>Now consider a similar company, run by a “tech bro” who doesn’t draw a salary but does pay every woman 2% less than every man. The aggregate numbers will show no gender pay gap.</p>
<p>In the first case, where there’s no explicit gender discrimination, aggregate numbers can be misread as indicating there is. In the second case, actual gender discrimination is obscured. </p>
<hr>
<p><strong>The WGEA’s pay gap results</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Workplace Gender Equality Agency's pay gap results, 2013-14 to 2021-22" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509108/original/file-20230209-28-a6yq1r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509108/original/file-20230209-28-a6yq1r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509108/original/file-20230209-28-a6yq1r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509108/original/file-20230209-28-a6yq1r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=535&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509108/original/file-20230209-28-a6yq1r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509108/original/file-20230209-28-a6yq1r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509108/original/file-20230209-28-a6yq1r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=673&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/australias-gender-equality-scorecard">Workplace Gender Equality Agency</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<h2>Poor data leads to poor analysis</h2>
<p>The widespread use of averages often skew our sense of things. If you compare your own income to the Australian average (<a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/average-weekly-earnings-australia/may-2021">A$90,324 a year in 2021</a>), the probability is you’ll feel left behind. But if you compare yourself to the median income – the income at which half the population earns more, and half less – you’ll feel much better: it’s only $62,868 a year.</p>
<p>Bad data leads to bad analysis, and bad policy responses.</p>
<p>Here’s another scenario. Consider our first company again. The CEO is concerned about the publicity from reporting a 17% gender pay gap to the agency. So he employs his wife as deputy CEO, paying her five times the rest of the staff, and cuts his own salary by half. He no longer has a gender pay gap to report. </p>
<p>This is progress of a kind, but not the progress needed to address the complex causes of gender pay inequality for ordinary people. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/women-are-as-likely-as-men-to-accept-a-gender-pay-gap-if-they-benefit-from-it-151524">Women are as likely as men to accept a gender pay gap if they benefit from it</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How to fix this problem</h2>
<p>So how then to improve the reporting of gender pay statistics generally?</p>
<p>Reporting <em>median</em> statistics would help mitigate the skewing problem with averages. Unless the government demands this, the agency will more than likely keeping taking the same approach as over the past decade – relying on averages. </p>
<p>There’s also a case for companies to report other relevant factors that could influence pay, such as qualifications, skill, tenure, seniority and productivity. </p>
<p>This would enable the Workplace Gender Equality Agency to provide more sophisticated analysis, breaking down the factors contributing to the figures that get the headlines.</p>
<p>The agency <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/pay-equity">defines equal pay</a> as “men and women performing the same work are paid the same amount”. To achieve this, it is essential to ensure apples are being compared with apples. This is only possible if we control for the factors that can influence pay, and don’t lose the necessary nuance. </p>
<p>Blunt data does not properly inform us about the pay gap, why it arises, nor how to solve it. This risks policy responses that focus on the wrong issues and which achieve little. </p>
<p>Decision-makers, both in public and private sectors, risk making bad decisions on poor-quality data. The wrong fixes could even <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4308670">make things worse</a>. We will not eradicate the gender pay gap using bad statistics.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199587/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mark Humphery-Jenner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We will not eradicate the gender pay gap using bad statistics. Here’s what we need to do instead.Mark Humphery-Jenner, Associate Professor of Finance, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1956462022-12-07T19:05:10Z2022-12-07T19:05:10ZFemale artists earn less than men. Coming from a diverse cultural background incurs even more of a penalty – but there is good news, too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499131/original/file-20221206-18396-u0gxsz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5168%2C3624&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kazuo ota/Unsplash</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Artists all over the world, regardless of their gender, earn <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/handbook/handbook-of-the-economics-of-art-and-culture">considerably less</a> than professionals in occupations requiring similar levels of education and qualifications. </p>
<p>But there’s an additional income penalty for artists who are female. </p>
<p>In an analysis of gender differences in the incomes of professional artists in Australia that <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/the-gender-pay-gap-among-australian-artists/">we undertook in 2020</a>, we found the creative incomes of women were 30% less than those of men. </p>
<p>This is true even after allowing for differences in such things as hours worked, education and training, time spent in childcare and so on. This income penalty on women artists was greater than the gender pay gap of 16% experienced in the overall Australian workforce at the time. </p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/screen-australia-celebrates-its-work-in-gender-equality-but-things-are-far-from-equal-122266">Some sectors</a> of the arts have tried to redress this problem. However, women continue to suffer serious and unexplained gender-based discrimination in the artistic workplace.</p>
<p>Cultural differences are <a href="https://www.nber.org/papers/w27725">also known</a> to influence pay gaps in many countries. </p>
<p>In new research <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/culture-and-the-gender-pay-gap-for-australian-artists">out today</a>, we considered whether cultural factors might also affect the gender pay gap of artists in Australia. In addition, we analysed the gender pay gap for remote Indigenous artists for the first time.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-is-the-gender-pay-gap-in-the-arts-so-large-widespread-discrimination-is-the-most-likely-cause-149626">Why is the gender pay gap in the arts so large? Widespread discrimination is the most likely cause</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<h2>A larger gap for women from a non-English speaking background</h2>
<p>In our <a href="https://australiacouncil.gov.au/advocacy-and-research/making-art-work/">2016 survey of 826 professional artists</a> working in metropolitan, regional and rural Australia, we asked participants if they came from a non-English speaking background. </p>
<p>Only a relatively small proportion of artists – 10% – came from a non-English-speaking background, compared to 18% for the Australian labour force as a whole. </p>
<p>A non-English-speaking background appears to carry an income penalty only for women artists, not for men. </p>
<p>We found the annual creative earnings of female artists from a non-English-speaking background are about 71% of the creative incomes of female artists whose first language is English. But there is little difference between the corresponding incomes of male artists. </p>
<p><iframe id="Nur29" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Nur29/1/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Within the group of artists from language backgrounds other than English, the annual creative earnings of female artists are about half (53%) those of their male counterparts. </p>
<p>By contrast, the ratio of female to male creative earnings among English-speaking background artists is 73%. </p>
<p>These results suggest that women artists from a non-English-speaking background suffer a triple earnings penalty – from being an artist (and hence as a group earning less than comparable professionals), from their gender, and from their cultural background.</p>
<p>Despite this earnings disadvantage, 63% of artists who identified as having a first language other than English thought their background had a positive impact on their artistic practice. Only 16% thought it had a negative impact. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two dancers in a studio" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499196/original/file-20221206-18-2xepib.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Both male and female artists from non-English speaking backgrounds saw their heritage as important to their art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Henrique Junior/Unsplash</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When artists were asked whether being from a non-English speaking background was a restricting factor in their professional artistic development, 17% of women answered “yes”, compared to only 5% of men from a similar background. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, like their male colleagues, these women artists continue to celebrate their cultural background in their art. They contribute to the increasingly multicultural content of the arts in Australia, holding up a mirror to trends in Australian society at large. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/screen-australia-celebrates-its-work-in-gender-equality-but-things-are-far-from-equal-122266">Screen Australia celebrates its work in gender equality but things are far from equal</a>
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<hr>
<h2>No gender gap in remote Indigenous communities</h2>
<p>For First Nations artists working in remote communities, a different picture emerges. </p>
<p>For this research, we used results for remote communities in three regions of northern Australia drawn from our <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/257301">National Survey of Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Artists</a>.</p>
<p>The gender gap is not replicated among remotely practising First Nations artists. </p>
<p>There are some minor variations in this finding for subgroups in different regions, depending in part on differences in the mix of visual and performing artists in the population. But whatever other differentials may exist between female and male earnings, they do not appear to be attributable to the sorts of systemic gender-based discrimination that affects the residual gender gap for other Australian artists.</p>
<p>A possible reason relates to fundamental differences between the cultural norms, values and inherited traditions that apply in remote and very remote First Nations communities. </p>
<p>Gender roles in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have been <a href="https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/can.1992.7.2.02a00020">described</a> by researchers as distinctively different, rather than superior or inferior. The importance of both women and men as bearers of culture has been clearly articulated. </p>
<p>The unique cultural content of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander music, dance, visual art and literature is an essential feature of the work of these artists. These characteristics pass through to the marketplace, and there does not appear to be any obvious gender gap in the way the art from these remote communities is received. </p>
<p>There is always differentiation between the art produced in different remote regions of Australia which varies depending on the complexities of different inherited cultural traditions. But there is no indication of any gender-based discrimination associated with these regional differences.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bark-ladies-how-womens-yolnu-bark-paintings-break-with-convention-and-embrace-artists-strong-personalities-174340">Bark Ladies: how women's Yolŋu bark paintings break with convention and embrace artists' strong personalities</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Throsby receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts , Australian Research Council (ARC), and from the Commonwealth, WA, NT, SA and QLD governments.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katya Petetskaya receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Research Council (ARC), and from the Commonwealth, WA, NT and QLD governments. She is affiliated with NAVA. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sunny Y. Shin receives funding from the Australia Council for the Arts. </span></em></p>Women artists from a non-English-speaking background suffer a triple earnings penalty. But there is no gender pay gap among remote Indigenous artists.David Throsby, Distinguished Professor of Economics, Macquarie UniversityKatya Petetskaya, Research Project Director at the Department of Economics, Macquarie UniversitySunny Y. Shin, Lecturer, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1958142022-12-05T19:05:01Z2022-12-05T19:05:01ZPay secrecy clauses are now banned in Australia; here’s how that could benefit you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498903/original/file-20221205-26-6ww2mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5463%2C2719&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Do you work for an organisation that treats pay information like a state secret? Do you know what your coworkers get paid? Can you tell others what you earn?</p>
<p>Well, now you can, following the passing of the Albanese government’s “Secure Jobs, Better Pay Bill” reform package, which includes a ban on pay secrecy policies.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-compromise-ir-deal-means-for-wage-negotiations-and-pay-rises-195545">What the compromise IR deal means for wage negotiations, and pay rises</a>
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<hr>
<p>The ban is primarily aimed at reducing gender-based pay differences – part of a larger suite of reforms that make gender equity a key principle of the Fair Work Act. </p>
<p>But there’s also reason to believe it should benefit other disadvantaged workers in both individual and collective pay negotiations. </p>
<h2>Secrecy and the gender pay gap</h2>
<p>The gender pay gap in Australia is <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/australias-gender-equality-scorecard">currently 22.8%</a>. According to federal employment and workplace relations minister Tony Burke, pay secrecy clauses have long been used to <a href="https://ministers.dewr.gov.au/burke/secure-jobs-better-pay-bill">conceal gender pay discrepancies</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Banning them will improve transparency and reduce the risk of gender pay discrimination by allowing women to compare their pay with that of their co workers. Differences can be discussed with their manager without fear of punishment.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>International evidence support Burke’s claim. Studies in <a href="https://cep.lse.ac.uk/pubs/download/dp1750.pdf">the United Kingdom</a>, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/irel.12109">the United States</a>, <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w25834/w25834.pdf">Canada</a> and <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w25435/w25435.pdf">Denmark</a> all report a decline in the gender pay gap as a result of legislation to promote pay transparency.</p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/irel.12109">US research</a> shows women’s wages in states prohibiting pay secrecy clauses are 4-12% higher (depending on how the data was analysed) than in states that allow secrecy clauses.</p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w25834/w25834.pdf">pay secrecy law</a> reduced the gender pay gap between men and women by 20-40% (again depending on how data was analysed).</p>
<p>These findings are supported by studies of organisations that have dropped pay secrecy policies. A <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-15486-001">2019 study</a> covering approximately 9,000 US employees found women’s annual pay growth was 0.4% lower than for men under pay secrecy. This gap disappeared with greater transparency.</p>
<p>It’s possible that just ending secrecy clauses is enough to improve outcomes even without people disclosing how much they earn – that the prospect of pay information being shared is enough to focus an organisation on ensuring fair and equitable remuneration.</p>
<p>Secrecy, by contrast, means managers can make decisions <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1548051812455240">they don’t have to justify</a> to employees. This heightens the risk of unconscious bias, favouritism, discrimination and stereotyping affecting pay decisions.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Private and confidential letter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498815/original/file-20221204-17-am0rvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C288%2C4585%2C2268&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498815/original/file-20221204-17-am0rvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498815/original/file-20221204-17-am0rvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498815/original/file-20221204-17-am0rvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498815/original/file-20221204-17-am0rvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498815/original/file-20221204-17-am0rvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498815/original/file-20221204-17-am0rvf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Studies shows pay secrecy contributes to the pay gender gap.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What about conflict?</h2>
<p>Not everyone wants to share their pay information. Some people are self-conscious about how it will affect their image. Some worry it will <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/The-Pay-Transparency-Dilemma%3A-Development-and-of-Smit-Montag%E2%80%90Smit/3b5739795bde4cf1f6fb011efd2a607d6e87bb02">affect work relationships</a>.</p>
<p>It may be upsetting for coworkers in a similar role to discover they are paid less than you. It is even more upsetting to find out you’re paid less than them.</p>
<p>Employers argue that pay secrecy is needed to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2015-54815-005">minimise conflict between employees</a>. This is based on the “<a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/519540">jealousy hypothesis</a>”, which says that employees reduce their work effort when they find out they are paid less than a colleague. </p>
<p>But such claims are overstated. In fact, employees are more likely to view restrictions on sharing pay information <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1748-8583.12292">with suspicion</a> and as something driven by managerial self-interest, not the best interest of the employees. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/wages-and-women-top-albaneses-ir-agenda-the-big-question-is-how-labor-keeps-its-promises-183527">Wages and women top Albanese's IR agenda: the big question is how Labor keeps its promises</a>
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<hr>
<p>This is borne out by research showing pay secrecy leads workers to <a href="https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24841/w24841.pdf">underestimate supervisors’ pay</a> (but overestimate coworkers’ pay).</p>
<p>Most employees deserve to be given more credit. The research shows they <a href="https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Reconsidering-Pay-Dispersion%27s-Effect-on-the-of-and-Trevor-Reilly/82a405461b4a5c578d3b157d375a7c81eddbacc1">understand and accept</a> pay differences that can be explained and justified according to work contribution and performance. </p>
<p>Further, studies report that greater pay transparency is associated with <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0014292117301162">higher employee performance</a> and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886368719833215">job satisfaction</a>.</p>
<h2>Where to now?</h2>
<p>While the ban on secrecy clauses is primarily aimed at reducing the gender pay gap, it could deliver positive pay outcomes for other disadvantaged employees as well. </p>
<p>It’s a fundamental principle of economics that sharing of information contributes to more efficient markets. Removing pay secrecy therefore contributes to a more efficient labour market. </p>
<p>Bargaining freely with full information, employees are able to assess their employment options and make better informed choices. The decisions of individuals encourage organisations to ensure they have fair and equitable pay systems. </p>
<p>This should lead to greater fairness for all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195814/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Brown had received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leanne Griffin does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Albanese government’s pay secrecy ban is meant reduce gender-based pay differences. It could help others too.Michelle Brown, Professor, Human Resource Management, The University of MelbourneLeanne Griffin, PhD, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1936072022-12-05T19:03:58Z2022-12-05T19:03:58ZSupporting feminine leadership can help create a just and kinder future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496832/original/file-20221122-22-e46hd0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C91%2C5045%2C3292&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For women to reach leadership positions, they need to be valued and recognized for their contributions, which may look different than those of their male colleagues.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/supporting-feminine-leadership-can-help-create-a-just-and-kinder-future" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Women are still struggling to reach leadership positions. Though there are <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2021011/article/00004-eng.htm">more women earning college degrees</a> and a <a href="https://www.catalyst.org/research/women-in-the-workforce-canada/">comparable number entering the workplace</a>, women are still <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-28-0001/2022001/article/00002-eng.htm">not reaching mid-level and top-level leadership positions at the same rate as men</a>. </p>
<p>In Canada, <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220518/dq220518c-eng.htm">women hold only 19 per cent of corporate board positions</a>. Less than one per cent of senior leadership and pipeline positions <a href="https://canadianwomen.org/the-facts/women-and-leadership-in-canada/">are held by Black and Indigenous women, women with disabilities and LGBTQ2S+ women.</a> </p>
<p>A model of leadership that encompasses the feminine traits within each of us can help move us towards a more just and sustaining world.</p>
<p>As a social innovation designer, I study complex challenges with the aim of finding common approaches needed to solve them. My goal is to frame the principles that can help us <a href="https://www.trickleupdesign.com/podcast">design a more humane future</a> — where all voices are heard and valued. To understand how to get there, <a href="https://www.trickleupdesign.com/podcast/episode6-we-need-feminine-leadership">I listened to stakeholders and emerging leaders engaged in the work of championing more inclusive and equitable leadership.</a></p>
<h2>The enduring glass ceiling</h2>
<p>Terms like <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace">“broken rung”</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-02-2015-0007">“sticky floor”</a> describe the difficulty women encounter moving up from entry-level roles. Metaphors like the <a href="https://journalistsresource.org/economics/workplace-discrimination-glass-ceiling-glass-escalator/">“glass ceiling”, “glass escalator”</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01751">“glass cliff”</a> illustrate the struggles women face in attaining managerial and executive roles. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-02-2015-0007">Scholars argue that the metaphor of a labyrinth</a> better describes the complex maze of barriers that make it difficult for women to rise to the top.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman in an office working on a laptop." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/496836/original/file-20221122-26-fmumv3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Critics of ‘leaning in’ say that it puts the onus on women to change their behaviours and ignores the systemic barriers at play.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the pandemic, women have carried the brunt of the caretaking responsibilities <a href="https://www.oecd.org/coronavirus/policy-responses/caregiving-in-crisis-gender-inequality-in-paid-and-unpaid-work-during-covid-19-3555d164/">at home and at work</a>. They are doing <a href="https://hbr.org/2021/10/research-women-took-on-even-more-invisible-work-during-the-pandemic">more to support their teams’ well-being and engage in diversity and inclusion initiatives</a>. </p>
<p>Yet, these efforts are <a href="https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace/2022/the-importance-of-managers">rarely captured in performance evaluations that determine raises and promotions</a>. By narrowly defining leadership, using <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01400">metrics that skew towards a masculine style of management</a>, barriers remain for women and gender-diverse people to break through the glass ceiling. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-018-0969-6">Deep-seeded bias</a> and ideas around <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-03-2015-0012">“respectable femininity”</a> still impact how women are perceived and evaluated.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.12266">Analysis shows</a> that though the gender leadership gap is slowly narrowing, traits like being competitive and aggressive associated with men are still highly valued. While traits like being kind and understanding connected with women are still seen as detrimental in leadership roles. </p>
<h2>The problem with leaning in</h2>
<p>For women to reach better leadership positions, they need to be valued and recognized for their contributions, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/GM-09-2013-0114">which may look different than those of their male colleagues</a>. </p>
<p>Instead of being told to <a href="https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/12/6/18128838/michelle-obama-lean-in-sheryl-sandberg">“lean in”</a>, <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/women-in-the-workplace">research</a> and <a href="https://www.trickleupdesign.com/podcast">women’s experiences</a> underscore the need for their contributions to be recognized and for workplaces, and society, to <a href="https://www.uhn.ca/Research/Research_Institutes/The_Institute_for_Education_Research/Events/Documents/Care-Manifesto-Readings.pdf">value collective care</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/the-end-of-lean-in-how-sheryl-sandbergs-message-of-empowerment-fully-unraveled/2018/12/19/9561eb06-fe2e-11e8-862a-b6a6f3ce8199_story.html">Critics of ‘leaning in’</a> state that it puts the onus on women to change their behaviours and ignores the systemic barriers at play. </p>
<p>Research on women who reach senior positions in male-dominated organizations and exhibit more masculine management styles has often <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797611417258">focused on personality traits</a>. Yet studies <a href="https://doi.org/10.1348/014466610x525280">show how women are shaped by sexist workplaces</a>, causing them to disengage from their gender identity, and from other women, to prevent experiencing discrimination.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/09/sexism-corporate-culture/407260/">Workplaces are shaped by the broader culture</a>. A society where women are devalued not only produces <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/19/business/sexism-women-birthplace-workplace.html">men who devalue women but also permeates how women value women</a>. </p>
<h2>Feminine leadership is not just for women</h2>
<p>Research on effective leadership underscores the need for approaches that align with <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21274">feminine characteristics of empathy, support and community-building</a>. These traits do not belong solely to women; <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-04-2017-0131">they are inherent in all of us</a>. </p>
<p>Employees feel seen and heard <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/abc.21274">where they can learn and make mistakes</a> without fear of blame. Other values include the prioritization of care, respect and co-operation above competition and an emphasis on honesty and accountability. </p>
<p>Feminine leadership encompasses the aspects of ourselves that have been <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.leaqua.2003.09.004">pushed aside and devalued within conventionally male-dominant spaces</a>. Recentring them can define a model of leadership embraced and practiced by all genders.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman wearing glasses and a white shirt speaking to other people around a table." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/498053/original/file-20221129-9456-pbsdrl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mentorship and networking opportunities are vital to getting more women into leadership positions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Leaders of the future</h2>
<p>So how do we get there? </p>
<p>Helping <a href="https://www.innovatingcanada.ca/diversity/working-together-to-help-canadian-women-find-their-voices/">girls find their own unique voices and ways of leading</a>, without conforming to narrowly defined leadership traits often modelled by men, <a href="https://medium.com/communityworksjournal/voice-and-vision-how-girls-learn-to-lead-and-resist-leading-907f24a7fe86">can shape the next generation of leaders</a>. Organizations like <a href="https://girlsincyork.org/">Girls Inc. of York Region</a> and <a href="https://plancanada.ca/get-involved/youth-opportunities">Plan International Canada</a> are providing girls and young women with opportunities to explore what being a leader means for them.</p>
<p>It is also critical for boys to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/12/learning/lesson-plans/boys-to-men-teaching-and-learning-about-masculinity-in-an-age-of-change.html">appreciate their own inherent feminine qualities of empathy and care, helping them grow into men who value feminine qualities</a> and who embrace following women and gender diverse leaders. </p>
<p>For organizations, it is not just about recruiting more women and gender diverse employees. It also means creating a workplace culture that truly embraces diversity and provides opportunities for growth.</p>
<p>Women are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to <a href="https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2022/07/gender-pay-gap-women-networks-work/">accessing networking</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/GM-08-2015-0074">mentorship opportunities</a>. Being an ally means going beyond speaking up if you see something unfair. It is advocating for more advancement opportunities and getting directly involved in mentorship for women, especially for women of colour, women with disabilities and LGBTQ2S+ women. </p>
<p>Organizations must recognize the <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.849566">emotional work and leadership already being modelled by women</a>. Evaluations and performance reviews should capture the full spectrum of what employees, especially women, bring to work and <a href="https://leanin.org/women-in-the-workplace/2021">be tied to increased pay and leadership opportunities</a>. </p>
<p>Without a shift to fully valuing the contributions of women, workplaces will continue to be labyrinths full of barriers, and the leadership gap will never close. Without understanding and embracing the importance of feminine qualities of care, empathy and collaboration in how we live, work and lead, the status quo will continue. </p>
<p>The current paradigm — a patriarchal leadership model that continues to value self-interest and competition over collective benefit and co-operation — <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/12/capitalism-isnt-broken-its-working-all-too-well-and-were-the-worse-for-it">just isn’t working for most people</a>. </p>
<p>As we face the challenges of political division, social injustice, economic uncertainty and climate change, now is the time to recentre the feminine within and champion a different, kinder way to lead.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/193607/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Tranum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Feminine leadership encompasses aspects of ourselves that have been pushed aside within conventionally male-dominant spaces. Recentring them can foster leadership that is more inclusive.Sarah Tranum, Associate Professor, Social Innovation Design, Faculty of Design, OCAD UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1898692022-09-04T06:47:12Z2022-09-04T06:47:12ZHow the jobs summit shifted gender equality from the sidelines to the mainstream<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482614/original/file-20220904-39835-gruh9g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lukas Coch/AAP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The last time an Australian government hosted a national jobs summit, only one woman was present. It was 1983, and that woman was Susan Ryan, a minister in the Hawke government and the trailblazing architect of the Sex Discrimination Act.</p>
<p>Fast forward 39 years to the 2022 Jobs and Skills Summit, and half of all participants and presenters were women.</p>
<p>After the opening keynote address from economist Danielle Wood, the first panel session was dedicated to equal opportunities and pay for women. The scheduling was intentional, signalling the seriousness with which the government views the issue, and setting the stage for a gender focus to be interwoven into all policy deliberations. </p>
<p>It had the desired effect: the need to dismantle barriers to women’s participation, better value the economic contribution of the care sector, and invest in safer and more equitable workplaces was threaded throughout all subsequent sessions of the summit.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-summit-triggers-immediate-action-and-elevates-gender-equality-189883">View from The Hill: Summit triggers immediate action and elevates gender equality</a>
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<h2>The trigger for change?</h2>
<p>The government had already made it clear gender equality was on its agenda, prioritising areas such as childcare affordability and addressing pay inequity in its election commitments.</p>
<p>At the summit, it was clear Australia’s extreme labour shortages had heightened many businesses’ motivation to see more women participating in the economy. Economic crises have a way of shifting equity issues from the sidelines to the mainstream.</p>
<p>There was widespread agreement that the barriers facing women in the workforce – indeed, the barriers facing all marginalised groups including older workers, people living with a disability and migrants – are not only unfair but also a massive handbrake on our economy. </p>
<h2>Policy outcomes will need more work</h2>
<p>While there was consensus that something needs to be done to break down the barriers to women’s workforce participation, including improving childcare access and affordability, the reality is that implementing these policy reforms will need more analysis, consultation and time. </p>
<p>On childcare, calls to bring forward childcare subsidies must firstly recognise the childcare sector is already under strain. Many providers are struggling with worker shortages and waiting lists that can’t be met, especially in regional areas. Reducing the out-of-pocket costs of childcare for families will activate higher demand on a sector whose supply is already stretched to capacity. </p>
<p>This brings a risk that providers will end up lifting fees to cope with capacity constraints, or won’t be able to deliver the quality of service they aspire to.</p>
<p>From a practical perspective, the government has good economic reason to hold off on its childcare subsidy increases until these immediate pressures can be addressed. This takes us back to the need to invest more in the care sector from the start, including lifting wages of care workers to reflect their true worth to the economy.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482615/original/file-20220904-35346-j81vsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482615/original/file-20220904-35346-j81vsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482615/original/file-20220904-35346-j81vsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482615/original/file-20220904-35346-j81vsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482615/original/file-20220904-35346-j81vsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482615/original/file-20220904-35346-j81vsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482615/original/file-20220904-35346-j81vsx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Making childcare more accessible first relies on the government addressing chronic staffing shortages in the sector.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Mick Tsikas/AAP</span></span>
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<p>There is also scope to recalibrate childcare subsidies to better target the working women whose workforce participation is being hamstrung the most by current settings.</p>
<p>It’s women working part-time, and want to increase to four or five days per week, who are most financially penalised for doing so. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/if-governments-were-really-concerned-about-tax-and-the-cost-of-living-they-would-cut-the-cost-of-childcare-182669">If governments were really concerned about tax and the cost of living they would cut the cost of childcare</a>
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<p>Setting the subsidy to neutralise Effective Marginal Tax Rates (EMTRs) across all days of work – so that women’s workforce decisions are based on their productive capabilities and aspirations, not childcare costs – would be an innovative way to transform childcare from a welfare measure to an economic enabler. These will be considerations for the review of the childcare sector that the government is tasking the Productivity Commission to undertake.</p>
<p>On paid parental leave, the summit heard calls to expand current provisions to 26 weeks of paid leave, supported by mechanisms to encourage a more equal sharing of care between parents. Evidence shows it’s the sharing mechanism that really matters for making progress on gender equality and boosting women’s workforce involvement. </p>
<p>Preserving a use-it-or-lose-it allocation of paid parental leave for fathers is essential for encouraging men to be more involved in unpaid care and freeing up women to participate more fully in paid work. Rather than leaving it up to households to decide, this policy works because it cuts through the barrier of social stigma faced by men and legitimises men’s roles as carers.</p>
<p>As the government develops its paid parental leave policy, expanding the non-transferable allocation for fathers should be a focus.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482616/original/file-20220904-26261-7tojal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482616/original/file-20220904-26261-7tojal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482616/original/file-20220904-26261-7tojal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482616/original/file-20220904-26261-7tojal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482616/original/file-20220904-26261-7tojal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482616/original/file-20220904-26261-7tojal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482616/original/file-20220904-26261-7tojal.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Making paid parental leave for fathers a use-it-or-lose-it policy is essential for building gender equality in the workforce.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Juliane Liebermann/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>On the gender pay gap, the government is pursuing a range of measures that have the potential to make inroads. This includes instilling gender equity as an objective of the Fair Work Act, advocating for better pay in female-concentrated professions such as aged care, and initiatives to tackle bias in the workplace such as mandatory gender pay gap reporting. </p>
<p>In my contribution at the summit’s opening panel, I highlighted the importance of applying a gender lens across all policy decision-making, which is known as gender responsive budgeting. It involves evaluating all policy proposals – including the ones that seem gender-neutral – to consider the implications for gender equality outcomes.</p>
<p>The government has committed to gender responsive budgeting and we will see the impacts unfold in forthcoming budgets statements.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/applying-a-gender-lens-to-the-budget-need-not-pit-women-against-men-160261">Applying a gender lens to the budget need not pit women against men</a>
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<h2>Remember, we’re talking about people</h2>
<p>Although we’re making progress in acknowledging gender inequality as an economic problem, the summit discussions talked a lot in terms of “under-utilising women”, as though women were a piece of machinery or equipment.</p>
<p>In my panel discussion, I argued that gender gaps in our economy should be interpreted as a sign we are not fully recognising women’s strengths and capabilities. This also means we are not fully valuing their contributions to the economy and wider society. </p>
<p>Millions of Australian women are already being exhaustively “utilised” in the economy. However, this is in sectors that are low paid and low status. Or it’s in the form of unpaid care for their children and other family members. I would urge business leaders to think less in terms of “utilisation” and more in terms of “valuing”.</p>
<p>Women proved at the summit that they already bring immense capability. It’s time to properly recognise and value it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189869/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leonora Risse is the National Chair of the Women in Economics Network, a member of the Central Council of the Economic of Society of Australia, and a Board Member of Gender Equity Victoria. She has received funding from the Trawalla Foundation to support research initiatives on gender equality. </span></em></p>Gender equality was at the forefront of all discussions at the government’s jobs summit - but it was also a reminder there is still a long way to go.Leonora Risse, Senior Lecturer in Economics, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1858442022-06-26T19:58:55Z2022-06-26T19:58:55ZPart-time work holds women back from executive positions and accentuates gender pay gap: new data<p>Most women are not working full-time during most of their working lives, which holds them back from management positions and accentuates the pay gap with men, according to data released on Monday. </p>
<p>Men on average out-earn women across all working age groups. </p>
<p>At every age group less than 50% of women were full time in 2021, according to the <a href="https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/wages-and-ages">Wages and Ages: Mapping the Gender Pay Gap by Age</a> data series. This has been issued by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, a federal government body. The data comes from private sector employers with 100 or more employees. </p>
<p>The divergence in working patterns between men and women starts from age 35, when men are mainly working full time and women mainly working part time or casually. After 35 women are more than twice as likely to work part time and casually than men. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470935/original/file-20220626-18-1ivet4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470935/original/file-20220626-18-1ivet4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470935/original/file-20220626-18-1ivet4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470935/original/file-20220626-18-1ivet4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=586&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470935/original/file-20220626-18-1ivet4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470935/original/file-20220626-18-1ivet4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470935/original/file-20220626-18-1ivet4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=736&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>Men over age 55 are twice as likely to be in management as women. </p>
<p>Of those women in management at the same age, two thirds are in lower ranks. </p>
<p>Men also earn more than women across each generation in the workplace, according to the data. </p>
<p>The gap is greatest at 55-64 where men out-earn women by almost one third (31.9%). This is more than $40,000 on average a year. </p>
<p>Even those women in senior executive and CEO jobs aged 55 and above face a big pay gap – they are earning about $93,000 annually less on average than male counterparts. </p>
<p>The agency says “that in 2021 at no age were more than 50% of women working full time, yet higher paid management opportunities were almost exclusively reserved for full-time workers. In all age groups, more than 90% of managers were working full-time.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470936/original/file-20220626-13-w4wm5u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470936/original/file-20220626-13-w4wm5u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470936/original/file-20220626-13-w4wm5u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470936/original/file-20220626-13-w4wm5u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=592&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470936/original/file-20220626-13-w4wm5u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470936/original/file-20220626-13-w4wm5u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470936/original/file-20220626-13-w4wm5u.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=744&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>On average, companies with more part-time managers have more women at executive levels. </p>
<p>WGEA director Mary Wooldridge said if the trends in the data continued, millennial women now working would earn only 70% of men’s earnings by the time they were 45. </p>
<p>“Millennial women in the workforce 35 and under are currently reaching management at equal rates as men,” Wooldridge said. “We have a generation of Australian women who are highly educated, and over the last decade have been outnumbering men in higher education enrolments and completion. </p>
<p>"If organisations want to unlock the potential that these women can provide after the age of 35, there needs to be a shift in workplace structures surrounding them. Creative workplaces will reap the talent rewards today and in the future.” </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470937/original/file-20220626-15-7ry6h1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/470937/original/file-20220626-15-7ry6h1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470937/original/file-20220626-15-7ry6h1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470937/original/file-20220626-15-7ry6h1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=591&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470937/original/file-20220626-15-7ry6h1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470937/original/file-20220626-15-7ry6h1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/470937/original/file-20220626-15-7ry6h1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=743&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p>She said “too many employers are missing a huge talent pool by not encouraging and enabling women to work additional hours or in the managerial ranks”.</p>
<p>She highlighted the importance of gender-neutral parental leave. childcare subsidies and support, and flexible work policies. </p>
<p>“Leading employers are creating or redesigning roles to support part-time management and job-sharing structures,” Wooldridge said.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/185844/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Most women are not working full-time during most of their working lives, which holds them back from management positions and accentuates the pay gap with men, according to data released on Monday.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1837672022-06-09T20:44:08Z2022-06-09T20:44:08ZGender pay gap: It’s roughly half-a-million dollars for women professors across a lifetime<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467767/original/file-20220608-22-sxtm8t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=25%2C1086%2C5121%2C2733&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The gender pay gap for faculty in Canadian universities is significant and persistent.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/gender-pay-gap--it-s-roughly-half-a-million-dollars-for-women-professors-across-a-lifetime" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>There are substantial, long-term impacts from the gender pay gap for faculty at Canadian universities. </p>
<p>Recent research from <a href="https://doi.org/10.47678/cjhe.vi0.189215">our multidisciplinary team</a>, which includes expertise in equity policy, political science and cognitive science with mathematical modelling, shows that over the course of a career and retirement, this pay gap leads to a difference of roughly half-a-million dollars.</p>
<p>The gender pay gap <a href="https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/caut_equity_report_2018-04final.pdf">for faculty in Canadian universities</a> is significant and persistent. Women professors earn <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710010801">on average 10 per cent (or $10,500 per year) less than men for the same work</a>. </p>
<p>This gender pay gap <a href="https://www.cigionline.org/articles/canadian-universities-must-stop-undervaluing-female-academics/">can result from bias in determining starting salaries and subsequent merit pay, from differing rates of promotion</a> and from the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-how-men-taking-more-paternity-leave-could-save-mothers-careers/">punitive effects of parental and caregiving leave</a>.</p>
<p>Focusing solely on pay differences, however, leads people to underestimate the long-term financial consequences of gender inequities as the pay gap also has implications for pensions. </p>
<h2>Case study</h2>
<p>Quantifying the effects of the gender pay and pension gap (<a href="https://doi.org/10.2307/135578">research not done in over 30 years</a>) poses a challenge, given the many variables at play.</p>
<p>To address this challenge, our team used King’s University College as a case study. Using King’s made the challenge more tractable because potential bias was confined to starting salary and promotion decisions. Unlike <a href="https://doi.org/10.7202/005282ar">many universities</a>, King’s does not offer merit pay, and faculty have a defined-benefit pension plan. </p>
<p>We were able to examine the effects of bias in starting salary, based on the determination of how many years of relevant experience people had at hire, and in promotion to full professor.</p>
<p>Women faculty at King’s <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/tv.action?pid=3710010801">made nine per cent less than men on average</a>. This calculation was based on all full-time professors, including both racialized and non-racialized faculty. We took this nine per cent average difference ($8,771) as our starting point. We then calculated the pay and pension gap across a 30-year career and 21-year retirement for different career trajectories.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A doorway is seen in a university courtyard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467596/original/file-20220607-20-no7x0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467596/original/file-20220607-20-no7x0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467596/original/file-20220607-20-no7x0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467596/original/file-20220607-20-no7x0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467596/original/file-20220607-20-no7x0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467596/original/file-20220607-20-no7x0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467596/original/file-20220607-20-no7x0g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Differences in starting salaries for faculty add up significantly over time.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pixabay/Pexels)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We calculated what would happen if a woman progressed through the ranks to become a tenured associate professor and remained so for the rest of her career, compared to a man in the same position. </p>
<p>We calculated what would happen if she was promoted to full professor, compared to a man in the same position. Promotion to full professor is based on one’s research contributions. Most professors don’t achieve this position, although men are far more likely to do so than women. </p>
<p>We found that a $9,000 difference in starting pay led to a cumulative pay and pension gap of $454,000 at the associate level, and a $468,000 gap at the full professor level. </p>
<p>We also calculated what would happen if a woman was not promoted to full professor compared to a man who was. In this more likely scenario, the pay and pension gap was $660,000. In retirement, this gap translates to a $7,000-$12,250 per year difference in pension, depending on the scenario.</p>
<h2>Racialized inequities</h2>
<p>Our research focused solely on gender, given that <a href="https://www23.statcan.gc.ca/imdb/p2SV.pl?Function=getSurvVariableList&Id=1395507">race was not a variable provided in the available Statistics Canada data</a> or at the institutional level. This ongoing issue has been highlighted with urgent <a href="https://www.thediversitygapcanada.com/uploads/1/3/0/4/130476297/1.perpetual_crisis.pdf">calls for better data collection</a>. </p>
<p>Data from the Canadian Association of University Teachers shows racialized professors experience <a href="https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/caut_equity_report_2018-04final.pdf">a 10 per cent pay gap relative to their non-racialized peers</a>. Racialized women professors, in particular, experience greater pay inequity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A professor stands at the front of a room." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467599/original/file-20220607-15494-q4t923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467599/original/file-20220607-15494-q4t923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467599/original/file-20220607-15494-q4t923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467599/original/file-20220607-15494-q4t923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467599/original/file-20220607-15494-q4t923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467599/original/file-20220607-15494-q4t923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467599/original/file-20220607-15494-q4t923.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Racialized women professors experience greater pay inequity than their non-racialized women counterparts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/ICSA)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Given that the gender <a href="https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/caut_equity_report_2018-04final.pdf">pay gap for racialized women professors is double that of their non-racialized women counterparts</a>, it follows that racialized women professors face larger lifetime salary and pension gaps than our calculation for women professors overall.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.canada.ca/en/services/jobs/workplace/human-rights/overview-pay-equity-act.html">Pay equity legislation</a>, however, remains fixed on gender; it doesn’t currently address wage penalties faced by <a href="https://www.caut.ca/sites/default/files/caut_equity_report_2018-04final.pdf">Indigenous, racialized and 2SLGBTQ+ faculty</a>. </p>
<h2>Correcting imbalances</h2>
<p>Universities have used <a href="https://ocufa.on.ca/assets/OCUFA-Submission-on-the-Gender-Wage-Gap-FINAL.pdf">salary anomaly studies and wage adjustments to address the gender pay gap</a>. Corrections have been done either on an individual basis or across the board for women faculty, but without retroactive pay. King’s just completed its first study and awarded women one additional year of experience <a href="https://www.kings.uwo.ca/kings/assets/File/about/Salary%20anomaly%20report%202022.pdf">going forward (a $2,506-$2,770 per year boost, depending on rank, under the current contract)</a>. </p>
<p>Yet salary studies, while helpful, have tended to insufficiently address the problem. Without addressing the systemic bias that leads to pay differences, the gap is often reintroduced or increases over time with new hires and with promotion (or due to merit or market factors). Taking a gradual <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ501603">approach to pay equity also likely costs more over time than taking meaningful steps to close the gap</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women are seen sitting at laptops." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467597/original/file-20220607-15494-ogv3vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467597/original/file-20220607-15494-ogv3vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467597/original/file-20220607-15494-ogv3vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467597/original/file-20220607-15494-ogv3vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467597/original/file-20220607-15494-ogv3vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467597/original/file-20220607-15494-ogv3vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467597/original/file-20220607-15494-ogv3vb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Employers should foster environments for women to thrive and encourage them to go up for promotion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Pexels/Ketut Subiyanto)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What universities can do</h2>
<p>So what additional steps can universities take to address the gender pay gap? First, they can provide greater transparency. Faculty should be made <a href="https://www.caut.ca/equity-toolkit/article/equitable-compensation">aware of the criteria being used to assess their experience and performance,</a> the variables and data available to measure the gender pay gap at their institution, and how their school is rectifying it. </p>
<p>They can foster environments for women researchers to thrive and encourage them to go up for promotion (<a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-locked-out-of-the-ivory-tower-how-universities-keep-women-from-rising/">68 per cent of full professors in 2019 were men</a>). <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-survey-shows-how-covid-19-pandemic-is-hampering-career-progress-for-women-and-racialized-faculty-153169">Women and racialized faculty’s research and career progress were more negatively impacted by the pandemic</a>.</p>
<hr>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/early-career-professors-want-changes-in-how-tenure-is-evaluated-in-wake-of-pandemic-effects-on-productivity-174590">Early-career professors want changes in how tenure is evaluated in wake of pandemic effects on productivity</a>
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<p>They can address <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-power-gap/">the power gap</a> in senior leadership: Despite ongoing equity, diversity and inclusion efforts, most senior leadership posts remain unaffected. In 2019, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-locked-out-of-the-ivory-tower-how-universities-keep-women-from-rising/">men continued to make up 80 per cent of the presidents, 60 per cent of the provosts and vice-presidents, and 58 per cent of the deans in Canadian universities</a>. Only one in five of the top earners at Canadian universities were women, while only three in 100 were identified as racialized women. </p>
<h2>60 years to close gender pay gaps?</h2>
<p>Our research shows that the gender pension gap is substantial — <a href="https://doi.org/10.47678/cjhe.vi0.189215">with a third or more of the full gap (pay and pension) owing to pension</a>, leading to greater long-term inequities for women than previously estimated. </p>
<p>The World Economic Forum suggests that at this rate, both within and outside academia, <a href="https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2021.pdf">it’ll take another 60 years to close the gap</a>. Sadly, our daughters will still be waiting for equity when they retire.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/183767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Marcie Penner was past co-chair of the King's University College Salary Anomaly Committee and has previously received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tracy Smith-Carrier receives funding from the Canada Research Chairs program, funded by the Government of Canada.</span></em></p>Over the course of a career and retirement, gender pay gaps lead to a difference of roughly half-a-million dollars for women professors relative to their male counterparts.Marcie Penner, Associate Professor of Psychology, King's University College, Western UniversityTracy Smith-Carrier, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1812892022-05-03T14:43:34Z2022-05-03T14:43:34ZSix misunderstood concepts about diversity in the workplace and why they matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460974/original/file-20220503-17-f0pr6v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Understanding diversity concepts in the workplace is crucial.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-diverse-creative-team-looking-camera-2149071131">SeventyFour | Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Diversity and inclusion in the workplace is a sensitive topic. People are afraid to get things wrong or to use the wrong word. It doesn’t help that the words involved are confusing. </p>
<p>You have probably encountered these concepts at a mandatory training session, a workplace event, or on Twitter. They often involve decades of complex scholarship being reduced down to a single word, and, as such, they can easily be misrepresented. </p>
<p>But for any progress to be made, and for real diversity and inclusion to be achieved, getting to grips with what they actually mean is crucial. Here then are six of the most embattled concepts.</p>
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<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Quarter life, a series by The Conversation" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/451343/original/file-20220310-13-1bj6csd.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption"></span>
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<p><em><strong><a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/quarter-life-117947?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=UK+YP2022&utm_content=InArticleTop">This article is part of Quarter Life</a></strong>, a series about issues affecting those of us in our twenties and thirties. From the challenges of beginning a career and taking care of our mental health, to the excitement of starting a family, adopting a pet or just making friends as an adult. The articles in this series explore the questions and bring answers as we navigate this turbulent period of life.</em></p>
<p><em>You may be interested in:</em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/were-her-real-mum-lesbian-parents-face-healthcare-challenges-175382">‘We’re her real mum’: lesbian parents face healthcare challenges</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/how-racism-and-a-lack-of-diversity-can-harm-our-workplaces-73119">How racism and a lack of diversity can harm our workplaces</a></em></p>
<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/ceos-are-hindering-lgbtq-equality-in-the-workplace-181679">CEOs are hindering LGBTQ+ equality in the workplace</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Allyship</h2>
<p>Once limited to LGBTQ discussions (as in “straight ally”), this term became popular in 2020 following the murder of George Floyd. As its 2021 Word of the Year, dictionary.com <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/e/word-of-the-day/allyship-2021-12-07/">defines allyship as</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The status or role of a person who advocates and actively works for the inclusion of a marginalised or politicised group in all areas of society, not as a member of that group but in solidarity with its struggle and point of view and under its leadership. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Allyship, then, isn’t about waving the correct flag during the correct month, or getting drunk at Pride with colleagues (well, not <em>just</em> that). It’s an action word that requires action; like education (of self and others), effective activism, consistent advocacy and using your platform or privilege (see below) to amplify the voices of marginalised others.</p>
<p>If, for example, your workplace did the <a href="https://theconversation.com/blackout-tuesday-the-black-square-is-a-symbol-of-online-activism-for-non-activists-139982">white-text-on-a-black-square</a> thing on social media in June 2020, and nothing else, they were probably engaging in performative allyship. This kind of superficial show of solidarity chiefly benefits those performing it, as opposed to the group <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09585192.2021.2023895">suffering the discrimination</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A person wearing LGBTQ rainbow wristbands types at a computer keyboard." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460985/original/file-20220503-19311-mf0kxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/460985/original/file-20220503-19311-mf0kxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460985/original/file-20220503-19311-mf0kxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460985/original/file-20220503-19311-mf0kxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=248&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460985/original/file-20220503-19311-mf0kxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460985/original/file-20220503-19311-mf0kxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/460985/original/file-20220503-19311-mf0kxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=312&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Allyship in the workplace is about actively signalling your solidarity.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/inclusion-staff-diversity-work-workplace-equality-2074286245">Andrey_Popov | Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>2. Class discrimination</h2>
<p>Within UK society, working-class people face inequalities related to, for example, access to sought-after <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2021.1886051">unpaid internships</a>, entering higher managerial and professional jobs and their average salary <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0003122416653602">once in those jobs</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the concept is easily understood – we have all seen snobbery in action (see John Cleese’s classic 1966 sketch with the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b009lt9r/clips">Two Ronnies</a>). However, the misunderstanding here concerns not the definition of the concept, but the legality of the discrimination. </p>
<p>Social class is not protected in the Equality Act 2010, the piece of UK legislation that outlaws discrimination in the workplace. This often surprises people, presumably because it feels like something that should be covered by legislation – and indeed it is, <a href="https://www.equalitylaw.eu/downloads/5568-a-comparative-analysis-of-non-discrimination-law-in-europe-2021-1-75-mb">in over half</a> of all European countries. Just not in the UK. </p>
<h2>3. Intersectionality</h2>
<p>This term is often vilified, but its meaning is actually straightforward. Every person has multiple intersecting identities (age, class, gender, sexuality, race and so on) which can lead to specific outcomes, particularly in relation to <a href="https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uclf">discrimination or privilege</a>.</p>
<p>White women, Black men and Black women may face some common issues in the workplace – a <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/earningsandworkinghours/articles/ethnicitypaygapsingreatbritain/2019#">pay gap</a>, for example. But research shows that the latter group often face challenges specific to how their identities as both women and Black people intersect. </p>
<p>The term <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14680777.2018.1447395?needAccess=true">misogynoir</a> was coined to designate the specific type of discrimination that Black women face. This can manifest as <a href="https://obgyn.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1471-0528.15692">medical misdiagnoses</a>; racial differences in <a href="https://www.ajog.org/article/S0002-9378(18)31334-6/fulltext#relatedArticles">pain management</a> after giving birth; <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19371918.2011.619449?casa_token=t-iOk4nsBs0AAAAA%3Azt5Cu9kpf0GYEBm4DKqrcIQhx0iXnv0MTdKqsNM7cjV2u8MRLfPSn0Zpgw4NQX_1Mj3yNx1oMal-kw">pervasive, harmful stereotypes</a> such as that of the “angry Black woman”; and <a href="https://medium.com/@AmnestyInsights/unsocial-media-tracking-twitter-abuse-against-women-mps-fc28aeca498a">gendered racist abuse</a> of the kind directed at former Labour Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott during the 2017 election. </p>
<h2>4. Gender pay gap</h2>
<p>Not to be confused with equal pay. “Equal pay” means paying a man and woman equally if they are doing the same work: this is a legal requirement. The gender pay gap, meanwhile, is the difference in average hourly earnings between all men and women in a specific company, sector or country. </p>
<p>Research shows that it can be caused by both <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1062976999000216?casa_token=FViUt_xNLQcAAAAA:4K64sb801QCwtiL42V3_4UMBDFl1OJV-lIu-_P1Zd_rEnD-YdNNdUSB2wc4yVgj7av_890ChMSw">old-fashioned discrimination</a> and also <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0095399716636928">differences</a> in what economists call <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/humancapital.asp">human capital</a>: the economic value of an employee’s education, training, experience, skills, health and other traits. Women’s experience and career choices are often affected by gendered expectations regarding child-rearing and the wider division of labour in the family. There are other pay gaps too, relating, among other characteristics, to <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0003122416662958">race</a>, to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/2524353?seq=1">sexual orientation</a> and to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjir.12257">disability</a>. </p>
<h2>5. Privilege</h2>
<p>Often (and mistakenly) used interchangeably with “privileged”. To wit, the Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis, made headlines in October 2021, when he defied any “left woke warrior to visit Stoke-on-Trent North, Kidsgrove and Talke and try tell the people there that they are somehow ‘privileged’”. </p>
<p>As activist Janaya Khan <a href="https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/activist-janaya-future-khan-on-redefining-privilege">has put it</a>, privilege doesn’t refer to what you have gone through, but what you haven’t had to go through. It designates the advantages, and/or lack of disadvantages, that any one person might have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-5812.2004.00057.x">because of who they are</a>.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ipPaYZNCIqw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">US activist Janaya Khan on what activism – and privilege – really means.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>“White privilege”, therefore, does not mean that white people are always privileged. It does mean, however, that a white person living in Kidsgrove will not have to consider whether they will face discrimination – whether <a href="https://theconversation.com/black-people-are-often-associated-with-deviance-but-i-never-understood-the-true-impact-until-i-was-racially-profiled-179259">out shopping</a>, going to <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-governments-report-on-race-gets-wrong-about-the-education-system-159494">school</a> or <a href="https://theconversation.com/racism-in-football-new-research-shows-media-treats-black-men-differently-to-white-men-160841">playing football</a> – simply because of their skin colour. That is a specific disadvantage they don’t have to even think about. And it is the not having to think about that is the privilege. </p>
<h2>6. Pronouns</h2>
<p>Gender identity and gender presentation are not always aligned. Sometimes one’s gender identity evolves over time. The move to be explicit about which pronouns we want people to use when referring to us in the third person – as the American singer Demi Lovato did <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-57169541">in 2021</a>, when they came out as non-binary – can be a way to signal one’s gender identity. </p>
<p>A recent viral video showed a man, when asked what pronouns they use, rejecting the whole idea by replying, “<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@lewisbuchanclips/video/7071340007830670597?_d=secCgYIASAHKAESPgo8S%2B0HFptg8BOr119CPKvty7lKYtfRaUmCqVEINkEE%2BeNfcl4VBh8DPTXT5xnrrVoQx9wdIYVp8ZrfFFHYGgA%3D&_r=1&checksum=1ab29ae040da95f731b9b82d69f4c6192ef26c87f4f78d353e2344517277362b&language=en&preview_pb=0&sec_user_id=MS4wLjABAAAATLpAjyU8PW1jLh3GEyxxJ05piRivNwMCUMZ5kS2l9BY2Pdu-W2ImIL4zbwhQ2-gM&share_app_id=1233&share_item_id=7071340007830670597&share_link_id=DA2A3D39-D367-4DB4-9C4F-E9D8045CB014&social_sharing=v1&source=h5_m&timestamp=1646612193&tt_from=copy&u_code=dh5436e595kag6&user_id=6929956997144052741&utm_campaign=client_share&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=copy">I don’t do pronouns</a>”. Sharing your pronouns if you are cisgender (that is, not trans) <a href="https://www.stonewall.org.uk/about-us/news/international-pronouns-day">is easy</a>, however, and signals solidarity with trans and non-binary people. </p>
<p>It is also helpful because we can’t always assume we know what someone’s gender identity is. Misgendering (calling someone by the incorrect pronoun) can contribute towards the stress a trans person experiences as a minority. Recent <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/60c1cce1d3bf7f4bd9814e39/Maya_Forstater_v_CGD_Europe_and_others_UKEAT0105_20_JOJ.pdf">tribunal decisions</a> have mentioned that regular, deliberate misgendering could be considered <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5d9b0c8aed915d35cff2225d/Dr_David_Mackereth_v_The_Department_for_Work_and_Pensions___Advanced_Personnel_Management_Group__UK__Ltd_1304602_-_2018_-_Judgment_and_reasons.pdf">discrimination</a>. If you make a genuine mistake, though, apologising and correcting yourself “<a href="https://www.vogue.co.uk/arts-and-lifestyle/article/getting-pronouns-wrong">need be</a> no more complicated than correcting yourself after getting someone’s name wrong”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ciarán McFadden has previously received research funding from The Irish Research Council, The Fulbright Ireland Commission, and the Carnegie Trust.</span></em></p>Diversity terms often involve decades of scholarship being reduced to a single word. Understanding them – and knowing how to explain them – is crucial.Ciarán McFadden, Lecturer in Human Resource Management and Organizational Behavior, Edinburgh Napier UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1807772022-04-13T20:33:42Z2022-04-13T20:33:42ZFewer than 1% of New Zealand men take paid parental leave – would offering them more to stay at home help?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/457529/original/file-20220411-10942-h2ic9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C10%2C6679%2C4456&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The revelation that women’s KiwiSaver retirement savings <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/464724/new-study-shows-gender-wage-gap-persists-into-retirement">lag 20%</a> behind men’s represents a double threat: not only are women paid less during their working lives, they will also be poorer when they retire.</p>
<p>This is perhaps to be expected – the gap in retirement savings reflects the gender pay gap overall. Many women who do the same work as men are comparatively underpaid, meaning they have less money to save for their retirement. </p>
<p>COVID-19 worsened the pay and savings gender gap. The government’s <a href="https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/covid-19/who-received-the-covid-19-wage-subsidies-september-2020.html">direct financial assistance</a> favoured male-dominated sectors like construction, rather than female-dominated, low-wage sectors like hospitality. </p>
<p>On top of this, a COVID <a href="https://www.1news.co.nz/2021/11/16/increased-number-of-births-in-2021-confirm-lockdown-baby-boom/">baby boom</a> will likely see old trends reinforced, with more women than men taking time out of the paid workforce. In turn, this will see them <a href="https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/458102/bad-then-worse-now-how-covid-19-will-hurt-retired-women.">disadvantaged when they retire</a>, perpetuating the cycle.</p>
<p>Part of the solution, therefore, would be to enable more women to return to paid work by making it more attractive for men to take paid parental leave. Because right now, the number of new fathers choosing to do this is vanishingly small.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1511472175370309635"}"></div></p>
<h2>Old stereotypes persist</h2>
<p>These problems have wider implications for the rights of women to equality and freedom from discrimination under international and domestic law. </p>
<p>New Zealand’s Human Rights Act also prohibits indirect discrimination, meaning laws or policies that have a negative effect on certain groups – even if unintentional – are still discriminatory.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-coming-storm-for-new-zealands-future-retirees-still-renting-and-not-enough-savings-to-avoid-poverty-179661">The coming storm for New Zealand’s future retirees: still renting and not enough savings to avoid poverty</a>
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<p>Yes, New Zealand’s <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0129/latest/DLM121500.html">statutory parental leave scheme</a> mitigates some of the immediate financial burden of childbearing and child rearing. It appears, on the face of it, to promote gender equality, since either parent can be the primary carer and thus be <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0129/latest/DLM120458.html">entitled</a> to parental leave. Also, one parent can transfer their leave and <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0129/latest/DLM121550.html">pay</a> entitlements to the other. </p>
<p>However, the statutory leave payments are capped at NZ$621 per week, which is less than the weekly minimum wage. And while a partner is entitled to up to <a href="https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1987/0129/latest/whole.html#DLM120608">two weeks</a> of leave, that leave is unpaid.</p>
<p>This rather meagre scheme hasn’t prevented <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/125293248/2degrees-dials-up-its-paid-parental-leave-to-hold-on-to-workers">some companies</a> from generating their own, more generous packages, some of which provide paid partner’s leave.</p>
<p>Yet the statutory entitlements are transferred in less than 1% of cases, and only 4% of partners take unpaid leave. It seems the present system serves to reinforce old <a href="https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/f58553252a/ris-2015-modernising-parental-leave.pdf">stereotypes</a> of women as carers and men as earners outside the home. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1512144390567116800"}"></div></p>
<h2>Stay-at-home dads</h2>
<p>One way to change this would be to introduce non-transferable, paid partner leave. This would apply irrespective of whether the primary carer has an entitlement to paid parental leave themselves. </p>
<p>Such a scheme would offer greater incentive for men to look after their young children at home, freeing up more women to go back to work. </p>
<p>There is evidence this works. Sweden introduced <a href="https://journals.openedition.org/rsa/456">paid parental leave</a> in 1974, but the number of fathers taking leave only jumped significantly when non-transferable paid leave was introduced in 1995.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-wonder-dads-arent-taking-shared-parental-leave-most-employers-have-failed-to-embrace-it-104290">No wonder dads aren't taking shared parental leave – most employers have failed to embrace it</a>
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<p>A number of other countries are <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/95086/file/UNICEF-Parental-Leave-Family-Friendly-Policies-2019.pdf">already guaranteeing</a> paid parental leave that includes paid paternity leave or leave reserved specifically for fathers of infants. And a <a href="https://women.govt.nz/sites/public_files/parental-leave.pdf">similar recommendation</a> was made by New Zealand’s National Advisory Council on the Employment of Women as far back as 2008.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.oecd.org/policy-briefs/parental-leave-where-are-the-fathers.pdf">OECD research</a> suggests paternity leave payments need to be equivalent to half or more of a father’s previous earnings. Given the existing gender pay gap means fathers are already likely to be earning more than mothers, a partner-specific scheme would inevitably favour men.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/paid-family-leave-makes-people-happier-global-data-shows-179539">Paid family leave makes people happier, global data shows</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Happier families</h2>
<p>Offering boosted paternity payments for men as a way to close the gender pay gap may seem paradoxical. But it does highlight the <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/cap-doesnt-fit-for-paid-parental-leave">ineffectiveness</a> of current systems offering lower payments that are taken up mainly by women. </p>
<p>Again, <a href="https://www.ifau.se/globalassets/pdf/se/2010/wp10-4-the-effect-of-own-and-spousal-parental-leave-on-earnings.pdf">Swedish research</a> suggests separate payments to fathers can serve to close the gender pay gap by allowing mothers to return to the paid workforce. Opportunities for promotion and pay rises can then increase retirement savings.</p>
<p>And there are <a href="https://www.unicef.org/media/95086/file/UNICEF-Parental-Leave-Family-Friendly-Policies-2019.pdf">wider benefits</a> to these family-friendly policies, such as improved health for mothers and children, improved educational outcomes for children, and <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/fathers-days-increasing-the-daddy-quota-in-parental-leave-makes-everyone-happier/A5PN3ULCRVYFPB2IKWQ2DWAAUM/">lower levels of stress</a> among fathers.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fixing-gender-gaps-isnt-just-about-women-men-will-benefit-from-a-more-equal-society-too-94874">Fixing gender gaps isn't just about women – men will benefit from a more equal society too</a>
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<p>Of course, another barrier to men taking parental leave is their fear of the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210712-paternity-leave-the-hidden-barriers-keeping-men-at-work">career and social consequences</a>. Those <a href="https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/money/2019/09/paid-parental-leave-cultural-shift-needed-to-encourage-dads-to-take-time-off.html">deeper stereotypes</a> of women as homemakers and men as providers will not disappear overnight, as the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jul/10/sweden-parental-leave-corporate-pressure-men-work">Swedish experience</a> shows. But the fact a female prime minister’s male partner has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/commentisfree/2018/aug/06/clarke-gayford-is-staying-at-home-with-baby-neve-so-whats-the-big-deal">embraced the caregiving role</a> is perhaps a start. </p>
<p>Longer term, however, making paid paternity leave a more <a href="https://www.wgtn.ac.nz/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/1816602/paid-leave-for-fathers.pdf">viable option</a> financially and socially for families will mean doing more to address the gender pay gap and its flow-on effects over a woman’s lifetime. </p>
<p>There’s no single solution to this multi-faceted problem, but encouraging more men back into the home with paid paternity leave would help shift things in the right direction.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180777/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claire Breen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Current parental leave schemes reinforce old gender stereotypes and the pay gap between women and men. Overseas experience shows better targeted leave for new fathers helps everyone.Claire Breen, Professor of Law, University of WaikatoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1806652022-04-08T06:34:29Z2022-04-08T06:34:29ZThe AFL has consistently put the women’s game second. Is it the best organisation to run AFLW?<p>Saturday’s Adelaide Crows versus Melbourne Demons grand final is full of promise. Two superb teams matched up on a day forecast to be warm and clear, playing in front of tens of thousands of passionate fans.</p>
<p>But while the Crows and Demons have been busy preparing for the match, the rest of the league has been in an all-too familiar state of limbo.</p>
<p>The issue this time is when the next AFL Women’s season starts. Players, fans and clubs were <a href="https://twitter.com/BeccaHayne/status/1503311540770205702">blindsided</a> when news broke in early March the seventh season was likely to begin in August 2022 (it has always started in summer).</p>
<p>The problem wasn’t the suggested start date – some, though not all players <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/august-company-shifting-the-aflw-season-is-a-winning-move-20220317-p5a5f5.html">are in favour</a> of this. The problem was the shambolic process. Players, clubs and fans weren’t initially consulted. A month later, no clarity has been provided.</p>
<p>Even more worryingly, this follows a pattern of devaluing those most invested in the AFLW. Is the AFL even up to the task of running the AFLW?</p>
<h2>How the AFL has devalued women’s football</h2>
<p>When it began in 2017, the new AFLW league was <a href="https://theconversation.com/growth-of-womens-football-has-been-a-100-year-revolution-it-didnt-happen-overnight-71989">celebrated</a> as a chance for women to finally be able to play Australian Rules football at an elite, national level.</p>
<p>But at the outset, it did not mirror the men’s competition. The AFL decided it was necessary to <a href="https://www.aflq.com.au/nab-afl-womens-rules-approved/">amend the AFWL rules</a> to “ensure this is a great game to play and exciting to watch”.</p>
<p>Key changes <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723520964969">included</a> making the ball smaller, making the game more than 20 minutes shorter and reducing the number of players on the field. </p>
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<p>Such changes sent a message the women’s competition is worth less. For example, the smaller ball was <a href="https://neversurrender.sydney/">harder to kick accurately</a> and didn’t travel as far, making it harder for women to demonstrate key skills valued by so many fans.</p>
<p>There have also been issues with a slew of injuries <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-20/aflw-acl-injuries-women-men-gender-inequality/100859924">that seem related</a> (among other things) to playing on hard grounds in summer, players not being afforded <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-11/erin-phillips-injury-crisis-part-time-demands-w-podcast/100749348">the benefits of professionalisation</a> as well as the exhaustion of combining part-time work with the demands of elite sport.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mark-kick-tackle-the-reality-of-fast-tracking-women-into-elite-afl-91007">Mark! Kick! Tackle! The reality of fast-tracking women into elite AFL</a>
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<h2>The AFL doesn’t pay women players enough to sustain a life</h2>
<p>Despite the mismanagement of AFLW, players, clubs and fans were nevertheless expected to <a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2018/10/03/aflw-mo-hope-backlash/">remain grateful to the AFL</a>. To not complain. The fans were the <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0193723520964969">first to voice their disapproval</a>, building vigorous, joyful, critical communities of support for AFLW.</p>
<p>Players are also <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/the-w-with-sharni-and-sam/episode-fourteen-darcy-vescio/13826016">no longer prepared</a> to simply be grateful for the competition’s existence.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1755458620300207">recent research</a> has highlighted, although they’re grateful to be included, players know they’re actually key assets.</p>
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<p>AFLW players are paid a small fraction of the men. The average salary for men is <a href="https://www.afl.com.au/news/704938/show-them-the-money-who-are-the-the-afls-million-dollar-men#:%7E:text=Match%20Centre-,Back%20in%20the%20money%3A%20Who,the%20AFL's%20million%2Ddollar%20men%3F&text=AFL%20PLAYER%20wages%20for%20the,than%20%241.2%20million%20last%20year.">A$372,224</a> per year while most women receive <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-21/aflw-vision-aflpa-player-pay/100701404">$20,239</a> doled out in a precarious six-month contract.</p>
<p>The economic rationale is the AFLW doesn’t bring in as much income. But this crude accounting fails to factor in the goodwill and positive brand associations of the game.</p>
<p>Nor does it stand up to the realities of the costs of the men’s game. For example, new men’s teams like the Gold Coast Suns have required significant investment by the AFL, <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/sport/afl/2019/11/23/pay-equity-elite-athletes/15744276009107#hrd">without the same backlash as the women’s competition</a>. </p>
<p>Also, over the last decade the enormous growth in women and girls playing Australian Rules football has offset declining numbers of men playing the game, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17430437.2022.2041600?journalCode=fcss20">saving numerous local clubs</a>.</p>
<p>Federal, state, and local governments have poured <a href="https://www.westernbulldogs.com.au/news/1090080/bulldogs-welcome-federal-government-funding-commitment">millions</a> of dollars into renovating grounds to support women playing, while the most <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQSiY1YbwUk">compelling</a> advertisements featuring Australian Rules football tell stories of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTsd1bvd-HQ">girls</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZhO57NBJm0">women</a> playing the game.</p>
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<p>Yet the elite competition on which this economic, cultural and social growth is based doesn’t pay its players enough to sustain a life.</p>
<p>And when the players and fans agitate for more, they are called “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/the-w-with-sharni-and-sam/episode-thirteen-paul-marsh/13815832">whingers</a>” as sports journalist Sam Lane noted in a recent podcast.</p>
<h2>Is the AFL the best organisation to run AFLW?</h2>
<p>The AFL Player’s Association CEO Paul Marsh recently observed the AFL’s current lack of a clear, detailed plan for AFLW was simply “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/the-w-with-sharni-and-sam/episode-thirteen-paul-marsh/13815832">not good enough</a>”.</p>
<p>After six years of mismanagement the players, fans, and clubs deserve much more from the organisation currently in charge of the elite women’s football competition.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.polecom.org/index.php/polecom/article/view/119/345">Research on the WNBA</a>, the elite women’s basketball competition in the United States, suggested women players get paid less because of their secondary status within the culture of sport compared to men.</p>
<p>When the sustainability of the AFLW is raised, people tend to ask about the quality of the players, the number of fans, and the attention of the media.</p>
<p>As scholars of sport in history and society we think the spotlight should now focus on the AFL – an organisation that has consistently put the AFLW second to the AFLM, and is yet to invest in it fully, or to work closely and respectfully with the players and fans.</p>
<p>Is it willing to undergo the significant cultural and structural work required to ensure women are valued for the worth they bring? The players and the fans are watching.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180665/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Klugman has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adele Pavlidis has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Toffoletti and Michael Burke do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>This systematic devaluing of those most invested in the AFLW isn’t new. It’s time to ask if the AFL is up to the task of running AFLW.Matthew Klugman, Research Fellow, Institute for Health & Sport, member of the Community, Identity and Displacement Research Network, and Co-convenor of the Olympic Research Network, Victoria UniversityAdele Pavlidis, Senior lecturer, Griffith UniversityKim Toffoletti, Associate Professor of Sociology, Deakin UniversityMichael Burke, Senior Lecturer, First Year College, Victoria UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.