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Women could be struggling to pursue leadership development due to a range of workplace barriers, according to the Australian Greens.
The political party said Australia’s working women face pressures from every direction and more needs to be done to ensure they have the same opportunities as their male counterparts.
In a new equality proposal, the Greens party said it is committed to helping women by seeking legislation that will help them better fill the financial gap they experience throughout their lives.
“A woman’s lifetime of lower pay, less full-time work and family care means many women are today likely to outlive any superannuation savings they may receive. Increasing numbers face serious financial shortfalls in retirement,” the plan stated.
One of the key battles areas is equal pay, the Greens claimed, with the gender-based salary gap largely unchanged over the last 20 years.
In fact, full-time working women earn nearly 17.6 per cent less than men in similar roles, an even bigger disparity than the 15 per cent recorded in 2004.
Public sector pay gaps are smaller at 13 per cent, while the private sector averages a 21 per cent difference.
People in full-time sales roles experience the biggest gap, with men earning 28 per cent more than women.
“A woman with children, on average, will earn around $1 million less than a man with children in her lifetime,” the Greens explained.
This means women in Australia retire with under 33 per cent of the superannuation that men do, with 87 per cent of women aged over 70 having no super.
The Greens said it is important to support changes to super that benefit women rather than disadvantaging them, particularly those with caring responsibilities.
According to the party, incentives for businesses to establish on-site childcare facilities could help to combat this issue.
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- Women are “striving for leadership” (informaaustralia.wordpress.com)
- Bonuses paid to men in the finance sector are worth triple those to women (abc.net.au)
- ACTU push to cut gender pay gap (theage.com.au)