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Equity IssuesWomen and Financial Independence:22 September 2004While women have always worked whether it be in the paid or unpaid sectors of the society, over the last few decades the financial position of women in Australian society has shifted. An increase in women's employment in the formal economy, the decline of the idea of family male breadwinner and changes in the social structure have meant that women's incomes now make a more formal and important contribution to maintaining their own lives and that of their families and sustaining the community in general. Women's increased workforce participation has also heightened calls for gender equality and for autonomy and financial independence from men. Women's incomes have become increasingly important not just for their own independence but also for their families and society in general. However the concept of independence and self-support is somewhat slippery and problematic for women. There are issues that women need to consider when faced with the current debate about self-support, independence and individual responsibility. Issues such as women's caring responsibilities, their workforce experience, pay inequity and later life experiences all make an individualist concept of independence irrelevant for Australian women. This article tries to grapple with some of the issues that effect the financial situation of women in Australian society. Firstly, what do we mean by independence?Are we talking about financial independence, does having enough money provide us with independence and choices? Are we thinking about a wider notion of autonomy? Are we thinking of our freedom from oppressive relationships and the autonomy to make choices about issues such as the nature of relationship with partners, family, the labour market and other institutions in society?Some see true financial independence as being autonomous from both the state (i.e. welfare) and from partners or other persons or institutions. Financial independence is often associated with individualism and self-support. This is a rather strange way to think of life and society. When we consider life cycles the idea of autonomy, independence is somewhat more complex. We need to have a broad idea of autonomy and independence that encapsulates us as broader social beings who have different and varying life experiences. We live in communities, we have times when we need support or we need to support others. After all that's why we are union members. We are in fact interdependent. What Australian women look like and why financial independence is an elusive concept.When we think of women's independence we have to consider, in particular, that women still take prime responsibility for the care of the family and how this impacts our work-life experience. For most women, when we consider financial independence we need to include the ability to care for dependent children and others. Women's incomes are more often shared among themselves and their children, this is less likely the case for men.The characteristics of the Australian working woman's workforce are, speaking generally, that working age women are becoming older on average, are having fewer children, less likely to marry, to marry and have children later. We are less reliant on men. While there are more job opportunities opening up we are still channeled into certain jobs such as teaching public sector, retail and service workers. Many are part-time and casual workers. We are more educated however much of this is not reflected in wage outcomes. We have seen a growth in women's employment, however while women's full-time participation rate has increased most of the growth in employment has taken place in the part-time and casual forms of employment in the service sector of the economy. These are of course low paid and insecure forms of employment with few of the benefits of full-time work. Even those who are in full-time work are clustered in the low to medium income groups. About 85 per cent of women workers earn under $50,000.00 and therefore are not entitled to the Howard Government Tax cuts. Casual workers are paid 21% less than permanent workers. Median hourly earnings for a casual worker are $15.00, median hourly earnings for permanent workers are $19.00. Casual workers quite often don't have access to various forms of leave. Consider the case of a casual worker, women in her mid forties who suffers an illness. The scenario of being low paid, having no sick leave and no other accumulated leave - a dreadful prospect. Among women public servants, the average wage is between $35,000 and $45,000. The profile of public sector workers is a women, aged over 35 earning between $35,000 - $45,000. About 70% of the female public sector workforce earn $40,000. Again, most weren't eligible for the tax cuts. Only 25% of managers are women and less than 9% of board positions in Australian companies are held by women. Marriage rates have declined and divorce rates increased indicating less permanency in relationships and therefore fewer guarantees for women who depend on their partners for financial support. In 2001 the number of divorced women aged over 60 outnumbered widows of that age. Widows are more likely to inherit family homes and husband's savings and superannuation and get a pension at aged 60. A survey by the Australian Institute of Family Studies found that the average value of a woman's superannuation at divorce was $5590 whereas for her husband it was $22,300. One parent families are the fastest growing type of family in Australia. Lone parents were predominately women (83%) and lone mothers tend to have younger children living with them than lone fathers. Lone parents are more likely to rely on government pensions and allowances as their source of income and lone parents are over-represented in what are termed as low income groups. Lone parents are more likely to live in rented dwellings and when surveyed by the ABS experience financial stress such as cash flow problems and are unable to raise money in an emergency. While we often think of sole parents as caring for younger children we also need to consider the increasing dependency of young adults on parents, particularly with children staying on longer at school and going on to universities. Parents have increasing financial responsibilities for maintaining young adults. There is a strong link between the presence of children and other dependents on the participation rate and on working hours. As mentioned above part-time and casual work is paid at a lower rate then full time work. Women with caring responsibilities often take jobs with lower pay in order to attain more flexible working conditions. Average weekly earning for part-time workers is about $16,000. When we consider women supporting families this carves out a very meager existence. Furthermore, many women do not have a right of return either part time or full time to their positions after maternity leave. Prof. Bruce Chapman calculated that a women with average education who has a child will have lifetime earnings totaling $160,000 less than a woman who does not have children. An important constraint on women's economic integration in coming decades is likely to be the roles they take on in caring for elderly parents and other family members. We know by looking at women's later life work patterns that women bear the major responsibility in caring for elderly and disabled family members. Also as people get older the likelihood of having a disability increases and for those with disabilities there is a heavy reliance upon family members to provide support. Women and retirement incomesProviding for one's retirement years has become an interesting political debate with more emphasis being placed upon individualism and self- support in post work years. Economic problems associated with the ageing workforce have been highlighted in the media and in policy debates. Some argue that younger workers cannot adopt the responsibility for intergenerational debt. We have been subjected to scare campaigns that we will find ourselves living in poverty in our old age and that taxpayers shouldn't bear this burden.In Australia women live longer than men and women are more reliant on the aged pension than men. Seventy-two percent of residents in aged care homes are women. Australia's old age pension rate is about 25% of average weekly earnings; this may not be enough to meet the needs of a comfortable retirement. Because of their life experiences, women spend less time in paid employment than their male counterparts. This has significant impact on such things as earnings, savings, retirement income and even the payment of education costs The new changes to HECS mean that because of women's employment pattern the regressive nature of the system will have a greater impact on women workers. Women will be discouraged from taking up tertiary studies - this will impact upon their life earnings and retirement incomes. In 2000 the median superannuation balance for women was $4896 while for men it was $9535. The two reasons for such differences are the high incidence of full time work for men and the atypical work arrangements of women. In 1996 men born in 1950 spent on average 27 years in full time employment whereas women spent 14 years in full time employment. Women spend more time in part-time employment then men. Research by Jefferson and Preston indicates that a 35 % difference between male and female baby boomers' superannuation accumulation. Furthermore, men are more likely to be paid more and are more likely to move into higher status occupations. Women are more likely to be in low paid jobs and to remain in low paid jobs. This again effects superannuation accumulation. Pay EquityThe problem of pay equity must be addressed for women to attain autonomy. If women are not paid and valued properly this inhibits their life choices. We know that work done by women is consistently paid less than work done mainly by men with little regard to the value of the work to the employer or the consumer. Lower pay reflects the systemic undervaluation of women's work relative to that of men's work. The wage gap between men and women has remained fairly static at around 82-83% of average weekly earnings. As far as lifetime earning go - a 20 per cent gap between men and women's wages transposes into about $500,000 over a lifetime.Approximately three quarters of women earn under average weekly earnings. Full time women workers in the organised sector are the best paid and part-time workers in the non-organised sector are the worst paid. Women in trade unions do better than women who are not. Women through their unions continue to fight for pay equity. Minimum WageAn important measure in the fight for wage justice for women has been through adjustments in the minimum wage. The Living Wage Case taken annually by the ACTU is an important way to improve wages for women workers. This process reminds us of the importance of the Industrial Relations Commission in setting a fair wage. Unlike many countries where minimum wage adjustment are reliant upon decisions of politicians, the Commission hears evidence and makes decisions. For instance in many countries the minimum rate has declined under particular governments directions. In Australia, as women are more reliant on minimum awards the annual adjustment is an important way to stop women from falling well below a fair wage.An example of having a minimum wage which is not reliant on the whim of politicians can be found in looking at minimum wages in New Zealand. The minimum wage in Australia is about 64% of average weekly earnings whereas in New Zealand it is about 47% in the National Government period in the 1990s it dropped to 42%, a similar decline took place in Britain under the Thatcher Government. Independence or interdependence?As I mentioned above much of the discussion about financial independence is founded on notions of individualism and one's personal responsibility to care for oneself. However autonomy cannot exist within society without community support and a strong welfare system. While work can provide us with some financial independence and autonomy it is particularly true for women that because of their biological role of reproducing humans and our work-life experience, financial independence is an elusive concept. These are social costs and ought to be shared by society. We need support systems, social security policy that supports the autonomy of women. Policies that provide a decent means of living without being judgmental or highly conditional on oppressive rules and regulation. Women's independence and autonomy and freedom to make real life choices is not found in self-interest and individualism but found in good social security, health, education systems , pay equity, employment laws that allow the balancing of work/family and life issues. Workplaces that allows us to be free from intimation and harassment. Unions have fought long and hard for fair pay, pay equity, Medicare, sick/maternity/carer's leave, superannuation and workers compensation for their members to be free and independent from oppressive relationships. We as women trade unionist gain in our collective solidarity and must remain strong and active.
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© 2001 Community & Public Sector Union - State Public Services Federation (CPSU-SPSF) - National Office http://www.cpsu-spsf.asn.au/campaigns/women/20040922_197.html Site proudly designed and engineered by Social Change Online |
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