International Women's Day 2017

As thousands of women unite for Sydney’s International Women’s Day march, new analysis shows women earn a crippling one third less than men when full-time and part-time workers are considered.
The data by the Australian Institute and the Centre for Future Work reveals traditional measures of the "gender pay gap" indicating women earn around 17 percent less than men, in ordinary pay equivalent full-time positions, is actually way off the mark when the disproportionate concentration of women in part-time work is considered. Including part-time workers, women actually earn exactly one-third less than men.
The research also shows the Turnbull Government’s cuts to penalty rates of up to 50 percentage points of base wage on Sundays and public holidays will further exacerbate the gender inequality in earnings.
Unions NSW Assistant Secretary Emma Maiden said the Sydney International Women's Day march on Saturday is a time to celebrate the achievements of women but also to reflect on the continued inequality faced by women, especially in the world of work.
“The data is clear. The Turnbull Government is failing women by slashing penalty rates in the female-dominated hospitality and retail industries. Cuts to penalty rates for these workers will impose a higher burden on women. Women who can least afford it and certainly don’t deserve it.
“The Turnbull Government has turned its back on hundreds of thousands of women and families who rely on penalty rates to make ends meet and put food on the table each week.
“The Prime Minister must act now to support working women and follow through on his commitment to equality by overturning this unfair pay cut that will hit working women hardest.”
The Centre for Future Work data highlights retail and hospitality sectors are among the biggest employers of part-time workers, very often in casual and irregular positions. Women make up most of the workforce in both sectors, and they occupy an even larger share of part-time positions: 70 percent of women in food and beverage services, and 60 percent of women in retail, are in part-time jobs. Most of the workers whose Sunday wages will be cut are women - and they were already among the lowest-earning workers in the entire labour force.
Economist and Director of Centre for Future Work Jim Stanford who undertook the research said it's impossible to separate the impact of the pure gender pay gap from the impact of women's concentration in part-time work.
“Both factors undermine women's earnings, and the penalty rate cut will have a further negative effect on that.”
Sydney International Women’s Day march organisers said the theme this year is forwards, not backwards. “The women's movement has come too far to be threatened by current attempts across the world to restrict our rights or control our bodies. Just like the Women's March on Sydney we are marching for health, economic independence, representation and safety,” Sydney International Women’s Committee Organiser Kate Minter said.