By David Paton, Organiser
The RTBU recently hosted our annual women’s conference which was highly successful. Women delegates, HSRs and activists from across the network came together to discuss matters that were relevant to them and their workplaces.
In today’s Australia:
• Women’s superannuation retirement balances are 47 percent lower than men.
• Women are reaching retirement with an average of $113,660 less superannuation than the average male. As a result, women are more likely to experience poverty in their retirement years and be far more reliant on the Age Pension.
• Australia’s current gender pay gap for fulltime work is 15.3 percent. Women earn on average $253.70 less a week than men.
• Employees in female-dominated industries such as health care and social assistance are paid significantly less than employees in male-dominated industries.
• Women are more likely to be in casual employment than men: 25.5 percent of all female employees in Australia are casual compared to 19.7 percent of male employees.
• Women spend 64.4 percent of their average weekly working time on unpaid care work compared to 36.1 percent for men.
• Raising children accounts for a 17 percent loss in lifetime wages for women.
• On average, Australian women have to work an extra 56 days a year to earn the same pay as men for doing the same work.
• 22% of females have experienced sexual harassment in the workplace at some point.
• 50% of women have experienced sexual harassment.
• 33% of women have experienced sexual or physical violence.
• 20% of women have experienced violence by a partner.
Across the combined networks, women make up approximately 25% of our workforce. In traditionally male dominated industries women often have to work harder, smarter and faster to achieve success. Therefore, it is crucial that women are given a safe space where they can discuss and address these issues together. The RTBU as always will continue to support our sisters at work.
