In every neighbourhood across Australia, doctors, nurses, teachers, carers and childcare workers are still turning up to work, in a tireless battle against a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.
These workers are the first responders in an ongoing health and economic crisis. And they are almost all women.
The coronavirus has revealed the true value of the so-called “caring workforce”. As most of the economy grinds to a halt, these essential workers have been left on the frontline, fighting an invisible enemy that threatens our very way of life.
But for most of these female workers, they will take home significantly less pay than their male counterparts for exactly the same work. And they are far less likely to have the security of a permanent job.
The coronavirus is exposing longstanding inequalities in Australia’s workforce. This includes extremely high rates of casual and insecure work, of which female workers bear the brunt.
It has also revealed the true value of female-dominated industries that have spent decades trying to shake off the belief that because a woman does it, it’s not very hard to do.
Women make up the overwhelming majority of Australia’s mammoth health care and social workforce. Of the 1.7 million workers in the sector, four out of five are female. But it’s also one of the sectors that has the biggest wage gap, with men earning nearly 24% more a week on average than women.
Health and social services covers more than just hospital staff. The bulk of the workforce is made up of nurses, followed by aged and disability carers, child carers, receptionists and personal support workers.
“They are the people that we can’t do without,” Annie Butler, federal secretary for the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, told Crikey. “Until it’s demonstrated to us by a crisis, we chose to ignore how valuable those workforces actually are.”
Unions have long been at pains to point out just how valuable these professions are. They are now at the forefront of a fight to reshape the post-virus workforce.
“The recovery from this crisis needs to include a significant reversing of the rates of insecure work and greater respect for all workers,” Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said.
But it’s not just unions saying something needs to change. Cherelle Murphy, chief economist at ANZ, says the crisis has been the perfect storm for women, who are also more likely to pick up unpaid labor at home and see their retirement savings dwindle.
“Lower income for women means lower super balances, lower independence, lower domestic autonomy,” she said. “And we know that these are not easy times for women if they do lose their income.”
The government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency agrees that workplace reforms are needed, but says it is up to employers to take the lead in reshaping how women, particularly those in low-paid and insecure work, are valued.
“In looking at our economic recovery, we need to look at how we might reevaluate policy to recognise the importance of women,” director Libby Lyons told Crikey.
But the path forward in doing that is unclear. Alison Pennington, a senior economist with the Centre for Future Work, says there are powerful forces at play when it comes to maintaining the status quo.
“On the one hand we have a society that codes women’s work as less and says women should be paid less. Then there’s the reality that women’s work is core to how we get through this pandemic.
“It’s entirely possible we hold onto this cognitive dissonance after the crisis.”
Pennington says business groups will work hard to maintain casualisation rates and keep workers on minimum pay, decisions that affect women more than men.
“We know that it’s very profitable to say that caring work or essential work is natural to women, that it’s not a real skill,” she said.
“But if we as a society think these jobs are essential, then they should all be permanent.”
Others are more optimistic about the road ahead.
“There is a growing appreciation for what a challenging job we do is and how important it is,” Meredith Peace, president of the Australian Education Union’s Victoria branch, told Crikey.
“I hope we see better pay for those who play those vital roles because they are sadly undervalued by our community.”
Stephen, I think you will find that even in the industries you mention that men do get paid more even with structured wage rates. The reason is that most women have breaks in continuous employment because of their unpaid care work, reproducing the labour force the economy relies on, looking after children, the elderly and others. The men end up in higher paid positions not because of competence or performance, but because they have been there longer.
There is also the issue that the market economy values the sorts of work women do, such as care of others, far less, than say making lazy rich people richer (noting that the vast majority of the wealthy didn’t earn their wealth but inherited it).
I do recall that a few decades ago the NZ government decide to pay midwives the same amount for an uncomplicated birth as obstetricians. This brought incredulous yells from the obstetricians, claiming they were better trained etc etc. They promptly launched an ‘equal pay case’ in the NZ courts. Unfortunately the obstetricians almost as quickly withdrew their case when they found out the midwives were intending to enter evidence in court about the obs actual training, & in particular what they really got up to at their industry sponsored ‘professional development courses’. I haven’t closely followed the outcomes since but my understanding is that many, if not most, births in NZ are attended by midwives only (with equal pay) & this saves the public and the mothers heaps in avoided ‘birth complications’.
I think you will also find that the increase in female participation in the paid or market economy over the last 30 years has been wrongly counted in GDP as ‘growth’, when it has actually to a significant extent been only a transfer of what was previously done in the unpaid economy (& not counted in GDP) to the paid economy. …childcare is the biggest example.
With COVID-19 it will be interesting to see how this plays out. There is already a tension with the government wanting women back in the workforce, but many are reluctant to send their kids to childcare/school, institutions we all know from experience are great sprats of infections & disease.
We must recognise women’s contribution, and work towards equality in reward.
Further cognitive dissonance is when the Prime Minister and the Victorian Premier state loudly that we must believe children when they speak of abuse.
When will they start believing women…… and when will the first response from officialdom change from “what did you do to provoke him”
Georgia, it’s a real pity that your piece ignored the substantial work of women in the UNPAID workforce, which is substantial part of the ‘care economy’. You incorrectly conflate work, and care work, to only remunerated or paid work. It’s a glaring omission. I would suggest you read some of work of eminent feminist economists such as the US’s, Nancy Folbre, or Australia’s Julie Smith, or Nz’s Marilyn Waring.
Georgia, it’s a real pity that your piece ignored the substantial work of women in the UNPAID workforce, which is substantial part of the ‘care economy’. You incorrectly conflate work, and care work, to only remunerated or paid work. It’s a glaring omission. I would suggest you read some of work of eminent feminist economists such as the US’s, Nancy Folbre, or Australia’s Julie Smith, or Nz’s Marilyn Waring.
“In every neighbourhood across Australia, doctors, nurses, teachers, carers and childcare workers…”
“But for most of these female workers, they will take home significantly less pay than their male counterparts for exactly the same work.”
Do you have any data to support higher pay for male nurses, teachers, carers or childcare workers? My understanding is that all these jobs exist within fairly standardised pay structures. I am not aware (certainly in the public system) of any male nurse or teacher being paid higher wages than females in equivalent roles.
Wage gaps exist, but I don’t believe in the industries you highlight (doctors may be different).
I suspect you will keep asking in vain Stephen. This stuff seems to be taken as a given nowadays and they all cite each other and all the accumulated cross cited articles become the proof. It’s a common ruse elsewhere too. You are quite correct about very standardised pay rates in those jobs.
It’s a pity because there do seem to be income disparities but the more obvious reasons like raising children, caring for aging relatives and differing job category participation are routinely dismissed. Goodness knows why.
In Australia, the overall gender pay gap stands at 18.8 per cent, with a man working full-time earning $1587.40 a week compared to a woman working full-time earning $1289.30 a week – a difference of $298.10 a week.
New Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows women working in the health care and social assistance sector were earning 29.1 per cent less than men in 2014.
https://healthtimes.com.au/hub/workplace-conditions/60/news/kk1/male-nurses-earn-more-than-female-nurses/715/