Glass Ceiling and Gender Pay Gap in Australia - Essay Example

GLASS CEILING AND GENDER PAY GAP Student’s Name Course Professor’s Name University City (State) Date Glass Ceiling and Gender Pay Gap Introduction Although Australia has made significant strides towards achieving gender equality in workplaces, universities, boardrooms and government, women still face many challenges in access of the country’s resources. Inequality in critical areas of their lives limits the options and opportunities that are available to them. Arguably, achieving equality in pay is not an easy task, as there exist numerous challenges some of which are difficult to handle. For example, some of the factors that result in gender pay gap are attributed to social and cultural factors. Case in point, the responsibility of raising children and housekeeping are often preserved for women, which makes them work fewer hours a week when compared to their male counterparts. As a result, they end up earning less amount of money based on the limited hours that they spend at work. Also, different career choices among men and women may have a huge influence on the increasing pay gap between them. Although challenges exist, the Australian government and other stakeholders should look for ways to empower women and other disadvantaged groups in the society as well as ensure equitable distribution of resources among all genders. Question 1 Australian women still face unequal access to the country’s resources despite the existence of laws such as the laws such as the Sex Discrimination Act of 1984. The Australian Human Rights Commission pinpoint out that women in the country who account for 46 percent of employees are paid less wages and salaries when compared men. The commission reports that working Australian women take home an average of $283.20 less than their male counterparts do each week whereas the country’s national gender wage variation stands at 18.2 percent (Australian Human Rights Commission 2016). Some of the causes of sex wage gap can be attributed to the concentration of women in low-paid industries and vulnerable forms of employment, caregiving that affect women’s work choices. Notably, most women spend many hours looking after children compared to men that have fewer family responsibilities. Secondly, despite the fact that Australian agricultural sector relies heavily on women whose efforts often goes unrecognized, as rural decision-making bodies do not adequately represent them. The lack of enough representation in agricultural politics and decision-making processes of farm organizations has made many women shy away from agricultural careers as they consider it as a less viable opportunity. A 2014 research by Lynne Johnston a postgraduate student at the University of Western Australia that showed that women’s role in primary producer organizations is still limited (Future Directions International 2015). Johnston described farming decision-making bodies as “closed social networks” where women have little or no participation. For example, Johnston research showed that there was only one woman on the board of National Farmers Federation. Question 2 Family life and neighborhood play a crucial factor in determining the immediate well-being of children and the economic and social status of the next generation (Johnson, 2014 p. 112). For example, growing up in a single-parent family can marginally but significantly impair school achievement, raise chances of teen pregnancy and criminal association, as well as lower future employment and earnings. Equally, neighborhoods with high levels of poverty and scarce social resources have been linked to development problems for kids living in them. Those with high crime rates, high residential turnover, weak communal bonds, and inadequate institutional supports make it difficult for children born in such areas to be successful in future. Often, such areas are reserved for the poor as the rich live in gated communities. The other social factor that adds to inequality is education as dropouts are discriminated in the job market. Often families that are less privileged often lack the means to educate their children in better schools further widening the gap between them and the rich (Johnson, 2014 p. 112). Mostly, access to quality educational facilities depends on private financing and the ability of individuals to foot the bills. Thirdly, cultural factors also contribute to inequality as they shape gender identity and roles. Culture can be defined as learned values, knowledge, rules, and customs shared by members of a collectivity such as a race (9). The process where kids acquire values, behaviors, and motives considered as appropriate for males and females is called gender typing. For example, girls are taught to be less aggressive when compared to boys. Girls who display aggressive behavior are usually rebuked and reminded that such behavior is the preserve of males. Usually, they are expected to be sensitive, supportive, and more submissive compared to boys. Girls may be taught that men are the providers of families and, thus should have better jobs and wages than women should. When they are married, women are usually expected to take care of children, which limit or hinder their career growth. Question 3 Marxist feminists associate themselves with the economic principles of Karl Marx. Mark through economic laws demonstrated how capitalists exploit the working class for profit (Holmes, Hughes, and Julian, 2014 p. 22). Therefore, Marxist feminists see capitalism as the chief agent of women’s domination. Marxist feminists adopt the traditional Marxist view that society exists as a class system and see women as a sex class. They see the investors greed for profit as the cause of women’s second-class status as well as other forms of discrimination such as segregation and homophobia. Female workers are usually exploited more than men with those of color bearing the heaviest brunt due to race unfairness. Additionally, they claim that women are a source of unpaid household labor, a factor that enables capitalists to save massive amounts of money annually. Frederick Engels, a life-long collaborator of Karl Marx, had demonstrated in "Origin of the Family, Property, and the State" how women’s discrimination started in pre-historic times when matrilineal societies were substituted with patriarchal ones that valued private wealth and property (Andersen and Taylor, 2016, p. 19). The patriarchal system particularly made women powerless and domestic slaves. Marx and Engels view women’s venture into paid labor as a move towards freeing them from depending on men. Nonetheless, they note the move does not free them from class domination. Besides, Marxist feminists argue that to free women from oppression, international socialism and return to the cooperative, just foundations of early human living should be adopted. On the other hand, Liberal feminists believe that freedom is a fundamental value and that a just state is that one which guarantees freedom for its citizens. Radical feminists regard human beings as rational, autonomous, and self-interested individuals (Barker, 2000, p. 282). They also perceive freedom as personal autonomy and political independence. They emphasize that people should choose the life they desire and the conditions under which to live. Using the contractualist political theory, they argue that the state should ensure the society is governed by the rule of law that is acceptable to both women and men. They also insist that the conditions that people live in are pegged on the incorporation of women in the process of public thought and electoral politics. Liberal feminists attribute the oppression of women to social organizations that fail to recognize their freedom and other factors that would enable them to flourish. Due to disagreement among liberals on what freedom means, different groups have emerged among the Liberal feminists. Classical-liberal or libertarian feminism believes that both women and men should have autonomy from coercive interference. To them, the right to freedom from coercive barriers includes rights to freedom of conscience and expression, freedom over one’s body, right of participation, and freedom to procure, manage, and sell a property (Barker, 2000, p. 282). Also included is the freedom to compensation in case their rights are infringed and freedom of contract. It explains that coercive power should only be approved if it seeks to preserve the right of freedom from coercive interference. Besides, feminists believe that their political role is to halt laws that hinder women’s freedom as well as those that grant special privileges to them. Question 4 Although the International Labor Organization had recommended equal pay for both men and women for work of equal value in 1951, it was not until 1972 that women in Australia benefitted from it. In 1972, a Federal tribunal made the decision to award women with an equal pay for the same value of work done by men (Loudon, McPhail and Wilkinson, 2013, p. 60). As a result, female rates henceforth were not lowered for the same job that has equal value performed by men. In 1973, the commission set a minimum wage for all adults and in 1974, it dropped the idea of family support as part of the wage system. However, very little gains have been realized as the gender wage gap has stagnated around 18 percent for the last 4 decades. The functionalist perspective explains that differences in rewards within the society are justified as they motivate the most qualified individuals to exercise their talents in the best jobs (Andersen and Taylor, 2016, p. 29). Likewise, structural functionalists argue that stratification and inequality are unavoidable but beneficial to society. They claim that the society has its way of sorting people with the best people appearing at the top of its pyramid and those who are less worthy found on the lower layers. Notably, those who are found in the lower layers have less power and are given fewer rewards that the people at the top. For example, it makes sense for a manager of a company who has a major role in an organization to make more money than a secretary working for the same company does. It is important to note that a job’s functional importance is determined by the extent to which the situation is unique and requires skills. Based on this theory, for example, doctors ought to be highly paid because they undergo extensive training compared to custodians’ job that requires little or no training. However, several problems have been identified with the functionalist perspective approach. To begin with, it is hard to determine the functional importance of any job as specialization and interdependence make all position necessary for the competition of a task. For example, engineers are just as important as other employees in a plant to the success of a project. In another example, police officers in the U.S. earn $29,000 per year, whereas athletes earn millions of dollars per year. The puzzle is, are athletes more important than police officers in the society? The functionalism also fails to acknowledge that some individuals in the society may have an unfair advantage over others. For example, people who are born in wealthy families are more likely to have better jobs that those who come from less privileged ones. To sum up the above discussion, the Australian government and other stakeholders ought to come up with ways to ensure a just society that does not discriminate people based on their gender. Women in Australia still face many challenges that need to be addressed such as unequal pay as well as social and cultural factors that hinder them from achieving their full potential. Moreover, varied feminists perspectives have emerged that try to explain why women are oppressed in the society. For example, Liberal feminists believe that failure to include women in leadership positions is one of the leading causes of their oppression as they are unable to formulate and enact laws that address some of the issues facing them. On the other hand, Marxist feminists propose to blame the capitalist society perpetuating the discrimination of women in workplaces. Given different perspectives on the reasons for unequal society, the Australian government needs to involve all stakeholders to find the best solutions to discrimination and pay inequality. References List Andersen, M. and Taylor, H., 2016. Sociology: The Essentials. United Kingdom: Cengage Learning. Australian Human Rights Commission., 2016. Australian Human Rights Commission. [online] Humanrights.gov.au. Available at: https://www.humanrights.gov.au/education/face-facts/face-facts-gender-equality [Accessed 21 Sep. 2016]. Barker, C. (2007). Cultural studies. London: SAGE. Future Directions International., 2015. Empowering Women in Agriculture: Australia and Beyond - Future Directions International. [online] Future Directions International. Available at: http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publication/empowering-women-in-agriculture-australia-and-beyond/ [Accessed 20 Sep. 2016]. Holmes, D., Hughes, K. and Julian., 2014. Australian Sociology. Sydney: Pearson Australia. Loudon, R., McPhail, R. and Wilkinson, A. (2013). Introduction to Employment Relations. Sydney: Pearson Higher Education. Johnson, D., 2014. Poverty, Inequality, and Social Welfare in Australia. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag. Read More