Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity

This paper explores the issue of gender equity and re-assesses the likely experience of women under the new Australian industrial relations regime. Proponents of the changes have consistently argued that women's position (as measured by financial and non-financial (eg. flexibility) indicators)...

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Main Authors: Jefferson, Therese, Preston, Alison, Guthrie, Rob
Format: Conference Paper
Published: Society of Heterodox Economists 2006
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36878
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author Jefferson, Therese
Preston, Alison
Guthrie, Rob
author_facet Jefferson, Therese
Preston, Alison
Guthrie, Rob
author_sort Jefferson, Therese
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper explores the issue of gender equity and re-assesses the likely experience of women under the new Australian industrial relations regime. Proponents of the changes have consistently argued that women's position (as measured by financial and non-financial (eg. flexibility) indicators) will improve under a system 'more responsive to individual needs'. However, the data presented in this paper show that the biggest losers in the pre-WorkChoices system of individual bargaining have been women non-managerial employees on individual contracts. We extrapolate from this to suggest that this group is likely to see a further deterioration in their relative pay position over the next few years. We also highlight important changes required to data collection methods if we are to adequately monitor equity outcomes under this new regime.
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publishDate 2006
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-368782017-01-30T13:58:14Z Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity Jefferson, Therese Preston, Alison Guthrie, Rob This paper explores the issue of gender equity and re-assesses the likely experience of women under the new Australian industrial relations regime. Proponents of the changes have consistently argued that women's position (as measured by financial and non-financial (eg. flexibility) indicators) will improve under a system 'more responsive to individual needs'. However, the data presented in this paper show that the biggest losers in the pre-WorkChoices system of individual bargaining have been women non-managerial employees on individual contracts. We extrapolate from this to suggest that this group is likely to see a further deterioration in their relative pay position over the next few years. We also highlight important changes required to data collection methods if we are to adequately monitor equity outcomes under this new regime. 2006 Conference Paper http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36878 Society of Heterodox Economists fulltext
spellingShingle Jefferson, Therese
Preston, Alison
Guthrie, Rob
Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity
title Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity
title_full Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity
title_fullStr Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity
title_full_unstemmed Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity
title_short Australian Workplace Agreements and Gender Equity
title_sort australian workplace agreements and gender equity
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/36878