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campusreview.com.au
All aboard for
gender equity
Closing the
gap between
men and
women in the
workplace
requires
sweeping
cultural
change.
By Jan Thomas
22
R
eal progress has been made towards gender
equality over recent decades and these
hard-won achievements are nothing to be
disparaged. However, there remains much to be done.
The all-too-familiar story is that women’s
participation and voice as decision-makers at all
levels outside of the home lags behind men; women
remain disadvantaged in the workplace and women’s
financial position lags behind men’s at all stages
of life, which makes them far more vulnerable,
particularly in old age.
This is despite Australian women clearly having
the potential to compete with men, as reflected in
educational achievement. For example, women have
outnumbered men in higher education since 1987 and
outperform men in education on virtually all indicators,
including in Science disciplines, where they are
significantly underrepresented.
To state what should be the obvious, it simply makes
no sense in the information age for one group that
consistently outperforms another in education to
be consistently outperformed in the workplace and in
positions of power.
So why is progress in gender equality proving so
slow to achieve? A major reason is, of course, the
different behaviours towards workplace participation
associated with entrenched gender roles. Put quite
simply, women’s traditional role as carer is crippling
when it comes to careers. This manifests through
women tending to take the bulk of the responsibility
not only in parenting but also in broader carer
responsibilities. Citing Australian Human Rights
Commission figures, Australian women account
for 92 per cent of primary carers of children with
disabilities, 70 per cent of primary carers for parents,
and 52 per cent of prim