Recognition at Last: Care Work and the Equal Remuneration Case

Abstract

Despite decades of intervention to promote equal pay, the gender wage gap in Australia persists. A key explanation is that equal pay strategies have had limited capacity to address the subtle, historical undervaluation that keep wages low in highly feminized areas of employment, especially where care work is performed. In this article, we examine a recent attempt to address the undervaluation of care work through a test case of the expanded equal remuneration clause in the Fair Work Act 2009. A highly feminized area of employment, the social and community services industry proved a strategic context for the case. We discuss three significant aspects of the case: the recognition given to the undervaluation of care work; the divergent interests of non-government sector employers and business associations; and strong contestation over who should pay, arising from the government’s third-party role as purchaser of social and community services.

Living Longer on Less

“…When women enter the workforce, they are more likely to enter female-dominated professions, which are devalued and pay lower wages (Cortis & Meagher, 2012). Once entering a profession, women have often faced considerable discrimination, particularly before legislative changes made such practices illegal (Jefferson, 2005).…”

“…The majority of participants had spent most or all of their working lives in feminized professions; only three did not mention having worked in such a profession. Working in feminized professions reduced the participants' superannuation as they tend to be lower paid than male-dominated professions as they are seen as less important because performed largely by women (Cortis & Meagher, 2012).…”

Industrial legislation in Australia in 2012

“…The Social and Community Services Pay Equity Special Account Act 2012 (Cth) (SACS Act) establishes a special Commonwealth account to meet the costs of pay equity orders following the social and community services equal remuneration decision (see Cortis and Meagher, 2012). The SACS Act entitles employers who receive funding under certain Commonwealth funded programs for service delivery, or under Commonwealth grants, who are covered by the pay equity order, or to whom a pay equity order applies, to receive funds from the special account to cover any shortfall in funding as a result of increased wages flowing from the pay equity case (SACS Act, s. 7(1)).…”

The impact of pay understanding on pay satisfaction and retention: Salary sacrifice understanding in the not-for-profit sector

“…Charlesworth and Marshall (2011: 676) cite a disability services employee in 2003 as saying: 'you get $4 more an hour if you take a job working in the local supermarket and stacking the shelves'. The Full Bench of Fair Work Australia acknowledged the low wages of the welfare sector in the Equal Remuneration Case decision in May 2011, resulting in the amendment of the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award 7 to provide pay increases of between 18% and 41% (Cortis and Meagher, 2012;FWA, 2010FWA, , 2011FWA, , 2012, accompanied by a AU$3b Commonwealth funding increase between 2012 and 2021 (Gillard, 2011(Gillard, , 2012. 8 This article will first test whether pay satisfaction is negatively associated with intention to leave.…”