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Three years into the COVID‐19 pandemic, this article considers the longer‐lasting economic impacts on the Australian workforce through a gender lens. Using Australian Bureau of Statistics data, it analyses changes in employment, earnings and educational participation relative to the pre‐pandemic trends that were predicted to have otherwise occurred. Despite women's employment moving back towards pre‐pandemic levels more rapidly than men's, the pandemic also saw a widening of the gender gap in earnings and a larger fall in women's educational participation. This paper highlights the need for ongoing monitoring of labour market indicators through a gender lens to inform more responsive policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic theory suggests that women's labour supply decisions can be understood through the careful modelling of their preferences for work and leisure and of the constraints that they face. Potential factors that influence this decision-making process might be of an economic, demographic or institutional nature. The present paper reviews the empirical evidence on the influence of these factors on women's labour supply in Australia. It shows that while there is a broad consensus in some areas, there is generally a wide range of findings in relation to each potential determinant of labour supply. Moreover, this does not seem to have been narrowed by the use of more sophisticated methodology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates equity programs in the finance and insurance industry to identify the approach to implementing equal employment opportunity used by Australian organisations. The research uses data from organisational reports submitted to the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency in order to identify issues in one industry, and link organisational approach to equal opportunity with the employment status of women. Despite the high numbers of women employed in this female-dominated industry, there are limited numbers of women in management. The findings show no correlation between the equal opportunity approach used and numbers of women in management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how marriage affects the wages of men in Australia. It finds that there are wage advantages associated with marriage, although men benefit most, in terms of wages, from being married to a more highly educated woman. This advantage is greater where the wife does not work. These findings are more aligned with human capital theory than with assortative mating theory. The focus on the family reflects many of Bob Gregory's contributions, including his study in the Journal of Labor Economics in 2005 ( Meng & Gregory 2005 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider what it might mean to hold age as an analytic lens in historical research on women workers, in particular women teachers. Our study serves as a springboard for further discussion about what these new narratives might look like, and what they might reveal, or, moreover, what work they might do. In constructing an account of a woman physical educationist whose work traversed the first half of the twentieth century, we show how age could be seen to be functioning in the institutional spaces of South Australian education. While we do not suggest that specific details of this account are representative of women's work in education, let alone women's work more broadly, we do argue that it draws together and brings to the surface a range of general discourses that serve as a context for how we understand the ways women inhabited and shaped their work. Our account serves as an illustration of what happens to narratives when age is on the agenda, suggesting a more sustained interrogation of how a historical sense of women's positioning in work is deepened by a serious sensitivity to the ‘age function’. This is a necessary and, we feel, timely gesture, because of the way that the category of age in women's historical studies–where the interaction among discourses such as professionalism, education, feminism, citizenship and sexuality is considered–is little more than an absent presence, at best lying in the background, obscured from view and yet always demanding its own appearance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the effects of enterprise bargaining on the pay position of women and other target equity groups. Contrary to a priori expectations the paper shows a convergence in full-time and part-time gross gender pay gaps following the adoption of decentralized wage bargaining. Convergence in the latter reflects compositional (human capital) effects: the entry of less qualified and less experienced males into part-time employment. Overall the results show a deterioration in the pay position of men employed full-time relative to women and part-timers (men and women) brought about by slower wage growth amongst men in full-time employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Gender diversity in oral health leadership is important. Globally, this is dominated by men and does not equitably represent the increasing women in the workforce. Methods: Publicly available and gathered data on leadership positions for Australian professional associations, accrediting body, specialist academies, training institutions and the public dental sector were analysed for gender (men and women) diversity. Results: The gender diversity of the leadership varies across the oral health organizations and training institutions. Of the 383 identified leadership positions, 229 (60%) are held by men. Of the eight national dentist association presidents, six (75%) are men. Of the 65 leadership positions across 13 training institutions, 39 (59%) are held by men, and all schools training dentists are led by men. Men also dominate leadership roles in the specialist academies (62%), the research organizations (56%) and public dental sector (67%). Women do have the majority of senior leadership roles in the accrediting body (67%). Conclusion: Gender diversity of the oral health leadership shows some positive findings, but there is still an effort required to increase women leaders across many areas of this leadership. This should urgently be recognized as a problem, with the implementation of strategies to address this important issue. © 2023 Australian Dental Association. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We analyze the relationship between occupational gender composition and gender discrimination in recruitment and investigate whether there is hiring discrimination against men in female‐dominated occupations. We do this with a large‐scale field experiment where we submitted more than 12,000 job applications for 12 occupations in Australia, varying the gender of the applicants. Men received around 50% more callbacks than women in male‐dominated occupations, while they received over 40% fewer callbacks in female‐dominated occupations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In June 1969 the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission, acting on a claim from the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Unions began an important period in wage-setting in Australia. Prior to the Equal Pay Case for much of the twentieth century industrial tribunals in Australia had enforced a policy of wage discrimination against female workers. Changes to industrial relations legislation requiring equal pay for equal work were initially enacted by the states, beginning with the New South Wales Industrial Arbitration Act 1958. For workers covered by federal awards the principle of "equal pay for equal work" was adopted in 1969 in the decision, however, the terms of that decision meant that equal pay could only be implemented where "women did the same work as men and were likely to displace them." In 1972 the Conciliation and Arbitration Commission enlarged the concept of equal pay to encompass "equal pay for work of equal value."

Abstract: Using the first 13 waves of the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, this study investigates the determinants of labour supply of married Australian women, with a focus on whether and to what extent there is state dependence in their labour supply. It is found that both observed and unobserved individual heterogeneity contribute to the observed inter‐temporal persistence of married Australian women's labour supply, but the persistence remains even after controlling for these factors. It is also found that non‐labour income, age, education, health and the number and age of young dependent children have significant effects on married Australian women's labour supply. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Underemployment is a serious and pervasive problem both in terms of its impact on those individuals affected, and for the economy as a whole. Underemployment is associated with job insecurity, increased casualisation and lower savings, and from a macroeconomic standpoint, underemployment is a signal of inefficiency in the utilisation of skilled labour. This article explores the patterns of underemployment for mature-age workers in Australia, a group for whom the prevalence of long spells of underemployment is especially marked. The research uses a 12-year panel dataset to analyse factors that contribute to a heightened risk of underemployment. Significant path dependency is revealed, whereby previous periods of underemployment increase the propensity towards further underemployment in the current period. Interestingly, most demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, except for the presence of older dependent children and a non-English-speaking foreign-born background for women, tend not to have any direct impact on the propensity for underemployment. These findings suggest the need for targeted interventions to triage these barriers aimed at highlighting the role of improved labour market attachment in promoting the well-being and economic contribution of mature-age workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the labour supply responses of married women in Australia to their partners' involuntary job loss. We study women's labour market activities in the periods before and after their partners' job loss. We find a significant added worker effect (AddWE) in terms of increased full-time employment and working hours. The findings also suggest that it is harder for the female partners of men who have recently lost jobs to enter the labour market than it is for those already working to increase their working hours to compensate for lost income incurred by their partners' job loss. The effect is persistent; one year after the partners' job loss, women would still like to work more hours than they actually work. These findings suggest that marriage plays a risk-sharing role through the AddWE in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether responses to survey questions about child care availability, quality and cost, aggregated at the local geographical level, have any explanatory power in models of partnered female and lone parent labour supply. We find evidence that partnered women and lone parents who live in areas with more reports of lack of availability, low quality or costly child care work fewer hours and are less likely to work than women in areas with fewer reported difficulties with child care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kelley CGE, Kelley SMC, Evans MDR, Kelley J. Attitudes toward home-based employment for mothers of young children: Australian evidence Int J Soc Welfare 2010: 19: 33–44 © 2008 The Author(s), Journal compilation © 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the International Journal of Social Welfare. People have mixed feelings about paid employment for mothers with young children. This might reflect opposition to women's work per se or, instead, fear that children are harmed by the mother's absence from the home. To find out, we developed new questions differentiating support for or opposition to mothers working for pay depending on whether the employment is home-based or outside the home. Data from a large representative national sample of Australia ( n= 1,324) show that public support for employment is about 30 percentage points greater if the mother works at home. Structural equation analyses show social differences in levels of support. Thus work at home provides a way of increasing labour force participation and earnings for mothers (with the welfare benefits that implies), which is congruent with public opinion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores full-time workers' understanding of and assumptions about part-time work against six job quality components identified in recent literature. Forty interviews were conducted with employees in a public sector agency in Australia, a study context where part-time work is ostensibly ‘good quality’ and is typically long term, voluntary, involving secure contracts (i.e. permanent rather than casual) and having predictable hours distributed evenly over the week and year. Despite strong collective bargaining arrangements as well as substantial legal and industrial obligations, the findings revealed some serious concerns for part-time job quality. These concerns included reduced responsibilities and lesser access to high status roles and projects, a lack of access to promotion opportunities, increased work intensity and poor workplace support. The highly gendered, part-time labour market also means that it is women who disproportionately experience this disadvantage. To foster equity, greater attention needs to focus on monitoring and enhancing job quality, regardless of hours worked. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study that investigates the hindrances why women will not pursue career in academic surgery in Australia and New Zealand. The study was administered by evaluating and assessing the number of published works that are done by women which reveals that they are underrepresented in funding applications. It also presents recommendations on how to advance the future of women academic surgeons as well as the case studies surgeons in academic fields.

Background: Antenatal psychological well-being is multifactorially determined, including by social circumstances. Evidence suggests that workplace conditions are salient determinants of mental health, but it is not known whether employment conditions influence antenatal psychological well-being. Aims: To investigate the relationship between employment conditions and antenatal psychological well-being in Australian women. Methods: A sociodemographically diverse consecutive cohort of employed nulliparous women was recruited in late pregnancy. Data were collected by a structured interview assessing sociodemographic characteristics, employment arrangements, experience of pregnancy-related discrimination, and access to maternity leave entitlements. Participants completed two standardised psychometric measures of maternal mood: the Edinburgh Depression Scale (EDS) and the Profile of Mood States (PoMS). Comparisons of self-reported mood were made between women by experience of workplace adversity, using a composite measure of workplace events. Results: Of 205 eligible women, 165 agreed to participate. Of these, 114 of 165 (69%) reported at least one form of workplace adversity during pregnancy. More women without private health insurance (78%) reported workplace adversity than those who were privately insured (57%) (χ21 = 6.95, P = 0.008). Women experiencing workplace adversity had significantly worse psychological well-being as indicated by the EDS score (7.7 ± 5.1) than those who were experiencing no workplace adversity (5.5 ± 3.4), mean difference (95% CI) = –2.2 (–3.7 to –0.8), P = 0.003. Similar results were reported for the PoMS. Conclusions: Workplace adversity during pregnancy is associated with poorer maternal psychological well-being. Workplace conditions and entitlements are salient factors for consideration in assessments of antenatal psychosocial well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the possible consequences of rising divorce risks for the pattern of married women's labour supply in the Australian labour market. An extension of Becker's (1965) model of time allocation is used to inform an empirical analysis of this issue based on the 1997 Negotiating the Life Course Survey data. The empirical analysis in the article features a model that controls for the possibility of an endogenous relationship between women's involvement in paid work and the risk of divorce. Results show a significant positive relationship between the risk of divorce and the probability that a woman will be involved in full-time work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the widespread acceptance that work of equal value should be equally remunerated, men, on average, continue to earn noticeably more than women do. One reason often given for the persistence of this earnings gap is that work undertaken in female-dominated occupations and industries is under-valued relative to work undertaken in male-dominated occupations and industries, a claim that has been at the center of the recent Pay Equity Inquiry conducted in the New South Wales (NSW) Industrial Relations Commission. However, the assumptions made in the inquiry were not justified. First, it is assumed that the Industrial Relations Commission of NSW is correct in its supposition that a significant proportion of the gender wage differential is the result of occupation-based job segmentation. Second, it is assumed that industrial tribunals are able to directly influence relative wages through the award review process.

The setting of female rates of pay below male rates is a feature of the history of wage determination in Australia. The gap between in pay continues to grow despite the 1969 "equal pay for equal work" and 1972 "equal pay for work of equal value" decisions. A comparable worth policy would address pay differences arising from lower remuneration for female-dominated jobs. A typical policy of this type involves analysis of the characteristics of jobs in the dimensions of skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, and the adjustment of pay rates so that jobs deemed comparable in these dimensions receive the same remuneration. The likely labour market consequences of a policy of this type are analysed in this article.

There has long been a tension between institutional explanations of the gender pay ratio and the human capital model which predicts that females will be paid less than males because they have less human capital, as measured by years of formal education and labour force experience. The tension is made clear by the 1969, 1972 and 1974 Equal Pay and Female Basic Wage judgements of the Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission which increased the gender pay ratio by about 30 per cent over the period 1969 to 1975. It has been assessed that the ability of countries to influence the gender pay ratio depends on labour market institutions. Countries with centralised wage fixing systems and strong unions, such as Australia, were able to increase the relative pay of all women quite quickly during the 1970s. Other countries, such as the United States, found it more difficult to change the gender pay ratio, even though they responded with the institutional structures that they possessed.

The gender pay gap narrowed significantly in the 1970s through key decisions of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission. More recently, the ratio of average weekly ordinary time adult female to male earnings has remained fairly firmly pegged just below the 84 per cent mark, when the effects of part-time work, overtime, and juniors are excluded. The significance of part-time work and lack of access to overtime mean that these issues remain relevant to policy makers considering responses to the pay gap. The gradual edging up of women's earnings relative to men's over the century, through two world wars and the postwar years, largely reflected changing economic and social conditions and the need to protect men's work from women's "unfair competition," rather more than any principle of fairness.