Pay Equity Challenge Coalition press release – 22 December

Poorly Paid Women-Dominated Jobs More Pronounced at Christmas

The injustice of being a woman in a job that earns significantly less than a man in a similarly skilled and responsible job is exacerbated during the Christmas period, says the Pay Equity Coalition.

“The effect of the gender pay gap is worse at Christmas time even though the recent Court of Appeal decision in Terranova v Service and Food Workers Union and Bartlett has found that in female-dominated work the Equal Pay Act 1972 requires equal pay for work of equal value, not simply the same pay for the same work,” says Pay Equity Coalition spokesperson Angela McLeod.

“With at least 3000 individual cases before the courts, it is great that we are, in theory, achieving success however, we still have far to go.

“It is a milestone that a woman’s right to take a pay equity claim before the courts has been recognised. It is important in a free and democratic society which respects the rule of law that discrimination of women’s pay rates should be examined and rectified.

“Women are nearly 50 percent of the workforce, and they will be working right up until Christmas while having to balance Christmas events, manage childcare and all the Christmas financial pressures. It is a stressful time.

“The fact that many women are in lower paid occupations just because their jobs aren’t as well recognised as their male equivalent, is grossly unfair.

“The problem is insidious. Occupations predominantly performed by women tend to be low paid even though many of these women are breadwinners for their family. Their jobs have traditionally been undervalued.

“The Courts have recognised pay discrimination and it is time to correctly value women against equivalent skills and responsibilities performed by men in predominantly male-dominated occupations.

“A cracker Christmas present for women and their families would be equal pay,” says Mrs McLeod

ENDS

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