When it comes to gender equality Australia is in the middle of the OECD pack
A new OECD report "The pursuit of gender equality - An uphill battle" shows Australia is a mid-range performer among OECD countries across most
gender equality outcomes. A comparison of countries shows young women in Australia have
made significant gains in educational attainment, and now
make up 58.7% of all graduates from undergraduate degree
programmes – a share slightly above the OECD average.
Despite this strong educational performance, women are
less likely than men to engage in paid work and continue to
earn less. The median full-time working woman in Australia
earns 87 cents to every man's dollar, relative to an OECD
average of 85.7 cents to the dollar.
The report finds that many factors contribute to the gender wage gap, including women's higher likelihood of interrupting their careers for childrearing and employer discrimination. Another key contributor to the wage gap is job segregation by gender. Although Australian women are more likely than men to go to university, women are much less likely to study (and later work in) the lucrative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Related to this, there is also highly gendered segregation in job sector: only 8.7% of women in Australia work in industry, compared to 30.9% of men. Across countries, including Australia, women are much more highly concentrated in service jobs, which tend to pay less than more technical roles.
The report finds that many factors contribute to the gender wage gap, including women's higher likelihood of interrupting their careers for childrearing and employer discrimination. Another key contributor to the wage gap is job segregation by gender. Although Australian women are more likely than men to go to university, women are much less likely to study (and later work in) the lucrative science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields. Related to this, there is also highly gendered segregation in job sector: only 8.7% of women in Australia work in industry, compared to 30.9% of men. Across countries, including Australia, women are much more highly concentrated in service jobs, which tend to pay less than more technical roles.
In summarising that Gender equality in Australia has room for improvement the report concludes:
Achieving gender equality in Australia will require a multifaceted approach. Women's disproportionate responsibility to provide unpaid caregiving presents a major barrier to women's labour force advancement across sectors, and Australia must recommit to gender equality in caregiving and promoting both parents' labour force participation. This requires strengthening policies that make it easier for both mothers and fathers to work, including longer paid parental leave, good-quality childcare, tax incentives, and out-of-school hours care. Australia has initiated some novel campaigns to break down gender stereotypes, but more work is needed.
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