50 years after Australia’s historic ‘equal pay’ decision, the legacy of ‘women’s work’ remain

Source:
June 19, 2019 is the 50th anniversary of Australia’s industrial relations system endorsing the principle of “equal pay for equal work”. Yet, five decades on, a gender pay gap remains. The 1969 decision was a breakthrough, but also highlighted the problem of putting principle into practice, given a legacy of past decisions being based on clear notions of “male” and “female” jobs. While various factors contribute to the overall gender pay gap, about 30% is due to gender concentrations by industry and occupation.