Source : Perth Now news
Australian women are less likely than men to stay in high-paid roles because of domestic expectations, despite entering them at the same rate.
Women are dropping out of management positions at high rates, Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s chief executive Christine Castley said ahead of celebrations for the organisation’s 40th birthday.
The enforcement agency was founded under Bob Hawke’s Labor government, during which the then-prime minister famously encouraged his constituents to stay home from work on the day of a historic Australian sporting win.
He was predominantly speaking to men, given that more than half of the nation’s women did not have paid jobs.
Now, roughly two-thirds of Australian women work outside the home, in both full-time and part-time roles.
But four decades later, Ms Castley said most companies were still struggling to retain females in the best-paid positions, particularly in industries saturated by men, as they were expected to do a far greater share of at-home labour.
Women were far more likely to take on part-time roles than their male counterparts as a result, and most management jobs are full-time positions.
“That means people who are predominantly in the part-time workforce generally tend not to stick with it because they have to make choices about priorities,” Ms Castley said.
“That choice is usually falling on women, particularly when it comes to family responsibilities.”
Promotion of paid parental leave for both genders and flexible working hours were key to creating better retention in management roles.
International engineering and construction firm Laing O’Rourke, which will appear at the agency’s anniversary event on Wednesday, introduced six months of fully paid parental leave for all parents in 2022.
Women made up 14 per cent of the best-paid employees in the company’s construction arm during the 2024-25 financial year, compared with less than 10 per cent across the industry.
Agency data also showed that women were 30 per cent of Laing O’Rourke’s construction employees, compared with an industry average of 21 per cent.
Ms Castley said the differences proved that considering overall employee wellbeing strengthened equality.
“This is about how we make workplaces (function) for people to have better lives at home and work, and that means both men and women,” she said.
The agency will mark its anniversary with an event at Government House.
