Marion Baird & Alison Page

 
Whether about maternity leave, part time work, fertility rates, the glass ceiling or pay and superannuation gaps,debates about women's multiple roles in paid and unpaid work are never far from the public eye. This is because one of the most significant economic and social changes to affect business and family life in the past twenty years has been the rising participation rates of women in the paid workforce. This shift affects all aspects of work, family and community life and requires policy responses and innovations in a range of public and private contexts. Quality, targeted research that provides insights and solutions to the tensions and problems is also needed; and that is one of the objectives of the Women �♀ Work Research Group (W ♀WRG).
 

In this article we provide an overview of the Women �Š Work Research Group (W♀WRG) and the special colloquium it held in March 2008 to mark the 100th anniversary of International Women's Day (IWD). We also present the results of an informal survey on women's vision for the future conducted at the colloquium.

 

What is the Women ♀ Work Research Group?

 

Ongoing concern and unresolved policy questions about women and work has highlighted the need for quality research in Australia and the Asia Pacific region. In recognition of this, the W�♀WRG was established in 2006 by Marian Baird with colleagues in the Faculty of Economics and Business and across the University. Today, the group has 13 direct members (male and female) and a coordinator/research assistant, Alison Page.

 

The W♀WRG is a cross-disciplinary research group providing a scholarly environment for the examination of all aspects of women, work, family and community. It provides the first Sydney hub for the development and expansion of local knowledge and research expertise about women and work in Australia and the Asia Pacific region.

 

Over the past two years, the W�ŠWRG has also established external links with many colleagues in the private and public sectors and in unions and not-for-profit organisations. To date, it has hosted numerous seminars and workshops with local and visiting international academics; written briefing papers for policies in areas such as maternity leave, sex discrimination and mature aged workers and is developing a set of research agendas.

 

International Women's Day Special Colloquium of the W�♀WRG

 

A key aim of the W�ŠWRG is to conduct forums that link practitioners, policy makers and researchers and a key highlight this year was the special colloquium to mark the 100^th anniversary of International Women's Day.

 

The theme of the day was ‘Women’s Business – Current issues and future agendas’. Some of the latest research was presented and there were debates, interactions with policy makers and participant projections of the future for women, work and life in Australia.

 

The Honourable Tanya Plibersek MP Federal Minister for the Office of Status of Women opened the colloquium and the Honourable Verity Firth MP Minister for Women, NSW delivered the closing address.

 

Ms Anna McPhee, Director of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency presented recent findings on gender income distribution of top earners in ASX 200 companies.

 

Academics from various universities presented their latest research on a range of other topics including:

• Women’s current status in the Australian labour market.

• Gender pay equity reform.

• The status of paid maternity leave in Australia.

• Women union leaders and the history of women in Australian unions.

•  Institutions promoting equality for Australian working women.

• Gendered ageism in the Australian labour market and in consumer markets for products designed to arrest the ageing process.

• Lessons from overseas for Australia’s welfare to work programs.

 Full papers from the day will be published in a special issue of the Australian Bulletin of Labour and the presentations can be viewed at the W�♀WRG website.

 

Survey Results — a vision for Australian Women

 

There were over 70 attendees at the IWD colloquium with representatives from government, NGOs, unions, business and academia. During the day, attendees were invited to complete a short questionnaire on their vision for Australian women. Responses were sought to the following particular questions:

1. What would you like to see happen for women in the next 1 to 5 years?

2. What do you think we should do to make these changes happen?

Whilst the sample size may render the responses statistically ungeneralisable, W�♀WRG believes the responses represent an interesting cross-section of the opinions of some of its most valued collaborators and intends to draw on them in setting its future work plans.

 

The most significant policy issues for the next 5 years were seen to be:

• the introduction of mandatory paid maternity leave (40% of attendees noted this issue in their response to question 1);

•  the resolution of pay equity problems (30% of attendees noted this issue in their response to question 1);

• Other identified needs included: .. legal recognition of same sex relationships;

• access to quality affordable childcare;

• increased female leadership in all levels of government, business and unions;

• better recognition and valuing of unpaid care work;

• facilitation of means for both men and women to combine quality work and care responsibilities;

• policies to encourage older women to remain in the workforce;

• legislative changes which would ensure that ‘casual’ workers who effectively work on a permanent part-time basis are recognised as permanent part-time workers;

• the reintroduction of funding for a peak body for women;

• the reintroduction of campaigns against domestic violence.

• In terms of implementing these changes, respondents called for:

• further and better integration of economic analysis with social policy analysis;

• greater collaboration between researchers in areas of women’s policy and the community sector;

• the reintroduction of a feminist framework at all levels of education;

• continued lobbying on behalf of women of all backgrounds, educational levels and employment sectors;

• affirmative action in terms of female representation in senior and/or high profile positions in all sectors;

• more post-graduate scholarships for women;

• examination of job design at the organizational level to enable greater flexibility to achieve a better work/life balance. This would require a move away from current assumptions of full-time work towards a focus on the functions of each role.

 Clearly there is still much to be done across all areas of research, policy and implementation and the W�ŠWRG will continue to engage with academics, practitioners and policy makers in order to improve women's working lives.