Historically, women were employed as a source of cheaper labour with wages that were tokenistic rather than meeting the needs of household costs. If the work was caring related such as nursing or teaching (think also, HR) it was seen really as an extension of women's unpaid work at home. We feel a bit more enlightened these days and every worker and employer will say that "of course they pay men and women equally". The reality is that women's working conditions and pay are still being influenced by historical norms but it's an unconscious bias.
The proposed Equal Remuneration Case is set to compare the (low) wages of the female dominated Community Services Sector against a comparable male dominated sector to determine whether this skill set is being pay equitably. The Gillard goverment has raised an objection on the basis that correcting these pay differences will be too costly. She's proposing that we continue to knowingly underpay women. A modern approach, no?
Read more: SMH newspaper article Gillard backtracks on support for equal pay for women
Follow the Equal Remuneration Case
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