Equal Pay Day Sunday 2nd September
Each year, on Equal Pay Day, men and women stop to reflect on the gender pay gap and the extra time it takes the average full time female worker to catch up with the annual earnings of the average full time male worker to June 30. To earn the same as men, women have had to work the extra 64 days between 30th June 2012 and 2nd September.
This Equal Pay Day economic Security4Women (eS4W) has a focus on small business and is exploring their contribution to gender equity in the workplace.
“Many small business people work with their employees on a day to day basis. In this way they are well placed to meet the needs of their staff by being able to provide a flexible work environment and support at the workplace” says the Executive Officer of eS4W, Ms Kimberly James.
eS4W member COSBOA recently reported that almost 70 per cent of the workforce is employed in small business. For such a large employment base eS4W is working towards understanding how gender equity fits with small business and what supports small business needs to become ‘gender aware’.
“While small business remains the primary employment source for most Australians, eS4W would also like to acknowledge the progress towards gender equity being made by large corporations and big business” said Ms James.
“In March this year the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) named 125 organisations as ‘Employer of Choice for Women’ (EOCFW). In these organisations the average gender pay gap or 15.4 per cent is less than the national ABS average of 17.6 per cent for all industries and there are 13 EOCFW organisations with no gender pay gap at all. eS4W congratulates all these organisations”.
eS4W member Business and Professional Women Australia will be holding an Equal Pay Day Breakfast in Queensland and the CEO of John Wiley and Sons, Australia Ltd one of EOWAs ‘2012 Employer of Choice for Women’, will be speaking about the company’s work towards Gender Equity in the Workplace.
EOCFW recipients will also feature on the eS4W website and in our social media outlets. www.security4women.org.au and www.facebook.com/es4wa.
Media inquiries: Kimberly James, Executive Officer: 0430 051 785
eS4W Media Release 30 08 12 – Equal Pay Day
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