Workplaces: why male power must be cut

Young women often say feminism is passé because they can choose to do whatever they want with their lives but fail to recognise the gender basis of valuing skills, tasks and even achievements. So choice is illusory. Women do choose to spend time with children more than men. But instead of being a workplace penalty this sort of choice should be integrated into a wider set of criteria so that the good life is more than paid work. And choice should mean a non sexist balance is possible.

A young woman in an online forum summed it up: “I am at the age now where babies seem to be popping up all over the place with colleagues, friends and family all welcoming new additions to their home. But in every single case it has been the mother who has taken a year off for maternity leave with the father taking a few weeks off to help after the birth (which is a great start).”

She goes on to say: “It seems that the problem lies with employers and society deeming it as acceptable for women to remain at home to care for their children while it is almost unheard of for men to do so. The other thing to consider is the difference between the wages of men and women. Of course if the man earns more it would be a lot easier financially for him to remain full time in the work force.” So change is not yet being seen as arriving.

Why not a norm of a 30-hour week for all those with care responsibilities? Or, more radically, work units of three hours but with hourly rates dropping once you pass 30? Shorter hours could be as productive and allow time for other responsibilities as well. Why not have an assumption that we all take time out, part-time or full time in our lives to care, say an allocation of up to four years over one’s working life allowed for all of us? Like a sabbatical or long service leave, it could allow people the dignity of approved care leave and a set pay rate, partly government funded. Income support should supplement low pay areas when others are being cared for and we may move away from the impasse where women were allowed to go so far and no further.

Let us revalue caring skills and change the balance of worth to a more pro-social set of values. Let us keep the creativity and excitement of passion and tensions and recognise that conflict can be creative and makes for change, but let us recognise that nurture is equally to be valued and allow all of us to mix the modes.

It is time to seriously revisit the split that came between factory and home in the industrial revolution. Men went out to work, away from home-based craftwork. The office followed and now it offers the main form of workplace for many. Many workers are already sole traders and types of sub-contractors, so employment is changing and we need to recognise these shifts in arranging our time. The use of high tech equipment means much can be done almost anywhere. Jobs like checkouts and personal care services, that need us to be there, will remain but need to be recognised as best offered in shorter shifts. It is time to undo workplace gender streaming and look at more flexible supported roles for all. It is the 21st century.

Women in the workplace data, reported by Crikey.com.au, April 10, 2008.

• Women continue to be over-represented in clerical, sales and service jobs, holding 87 per cent of advanced clerical jobs. They also tend to be disproportionately employed part-time. - From “Gender differences in occupation and Employment in Australia”, Alison Preston and Elizabeth Whitehouse, Curtin Business School paper.
   
• Women are massively under-represented in the top echelons of employment, with only six female CEOs in the ASX top 200 companies and one in the top 10. Overall, median pay for the top female earners in the ASX200 companies was a mere 58 per cent of the median male pay. Female Chief Financial officers on average earn half the wage of their male counterparts and female CEOs earn two-thirds of what male CEOs earn. It was, however, found that ASX200 companies with more women on the board tend to have more female top-earners. - Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency.
   
• Women on average in 2006 earned $941, only 84 per cent of men’s average weekly income. This is reflected throughout the age groups, with new graduate females in 2007 earning a median salary of $3,000 per annum less than their male counterparts. - Graduate Careers Australia.