Women Graduates Still Left Behind

The release of the Postgraduate Destinations 2006 report today by Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) highlights a discrepancy that is true of women in the workforce across the board. The OECD report Education at a Glance, also published this week, points out that women in OECD countries earn between 50% and 80% of what their male counterparts take home even with similar levels of educational attainment.

Kate Barnsley, National Women’s Officer for the Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations (CAPA), notes a number of concerns the GCA report highlights: “It is disconcerting that at this stage in the game we are still finding that women’s earnings trail so far behind men’s. This is a clear indication that there is systemic discrimination against women.

It is also of great concern that women graduates are less likely to have a stable work environment and receive fewer benefits from their employers.”

This report adds to concerns raised by recent reports on the impact of WorkChoices legislation on working women and data in the recent Universities Australia report on student finances indicating that women students were less likely to be financially independent.

“Let’s be clear here, this is happening because we are women; we earn less in the same jobs, with the same qualifications as men. We are financially less secure while we study and then look forward to a lifetime of being on the back-foot when it comes to working.

We will not achieve true gender equality until the pay gap between men and women is addressed.”

CAPA calls on the government to get real about the issues affecting our economy and address the ongoing systematic discrimination against women in the workplace.