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Gender Inequality In Australia

Decent Essays

Australia has a unique history that has shaped the diversity of its peoples, their cultures and lifestyles today. Our diversity makes Australia a great place to live. Members of the Toowoomba Regional Council Harmony Day Committee, thank you for the opportunity to present to you an issue of prejudice that is still highly prevalent in our society, gender inequality. Over your lifetime you have probably been confronted by the idea that men are paid more than women. But what does this mean and why does this division exist? Why do we devalue the economic contribution of a woman to the extent that we pay her less? No country in the world can yet say that they have achieved gender equality. In almost every country, women are paid less for an hour’s work than men. The fact the gender pay gap persists is horrendous. In Australia, the principle of "equal pay for equal work" was introduced in 1969 by the Australian Government, anti-discrimination on the basis of sex was legislated in 1984 (Commonwealth of Australia 1998). Nevertheless, pay discrepancies based on the gender of an employee still exists. The Workplace Gender Equality Agency claims ‘removing the gap’ could take up to 50 years in Australia, (Peetz, Murrary 2017). Members of the Harmony Day Committee, it is evident that we need to curtail our beliefs and values towards pay equality and furthermore, we need to support our values, we need to make a tangible change. This can be done by advocating to close the ‘pay gap’

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