In 1972, the Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission granted women the right to equal pay for work of equal value. Yet, more than fifty years later, the gender pay gap persists. The historical undervaluation of work primarily done by women remains a key driver of this gap and the entrenched inequalities in the labour market today. Female-dominated industries and occupations, particularly in care, such as childcare, disability care and support, aged care and education, continue to be undervalued and underpaid. This enduring injustice stems from the incorrect perception of these roles as being low-skilled and thus less deserving of fair remuneration.
The value of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) work, performed by a predominantly female workforce (93.3%), has been unappreciated for decades. But numerous research studies show us that value quality and accessible ECEC brings to our entire community is colossal. Children benefit greatly from quality ECEC, and its value is carried on throughout their lives.
The benefits of early childhood education are not confined to children. Every Australian is a recipient of the value created by workers in the ECEC sector. We benefit from a stronger economy, driven by higher tax revenue from parents who can work more, and from children who earn more over their lifetimes. ECEC also reduces social public expenditure, by decreasing the rates of school repetition, the demand for special education, and the strain on our health and criminal justice systems.
This is why it is important that this publicly funded wage increase is acknowledged as one rooted in justice (as it is in the title of this Bill). A wage increase for ECEC workers is a step closer towards fair compensation for the value of the work they perform. Wage justice and gender equality are intrinsically linked, and as the Government has previously acknowledged: ‘[e]quality cannot be achieved while there is still a high gender pay gap and women experience higher levels of poverty’.
Since its election in 2022, the Albanese Government has made strides in addressing gender-based wage injustices that have been baked into our industrial relations system. Pursuant to the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Secure Jobs and Better Pay) Act 2022, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) must now make its considerations free of gender-based assumptions and cognizant of historical gender undervaluation when determining if the variation of modern awards or minimum wages is justified by work value reasons. Additionally, the 2022 Act introduced the promotion of gender equality and women’s full economic participation, and the elimination of gender-based work undervaluation, as objectives of modern awards and the minimum wage. The promotion of gender equality is now also an object of the Act. The FWC is currently undertaking a priority review of award classifications and minimum wage rates for five priority awards, including the Children’s Services Award 2010, on work value grounds to remedy gender-based undervaluation. It will take into consideration the new object of the Act, of modern awards and the minimum wage, and the new equal renumeration principle.
We understand that this Bill is part of a larger set of policies to ensure Australia has an accessible, affordable and quality early education system and that workers are supported and properly valued when performing the essential work to achieve this. A government funded wage increase is an important acknowledgement of the value ECEC workers provide not only to children and families but to our entire community, as well as a necessary measure to address dire workforce shortages. This Bill alone won’t fix issues in the ECEC sector but without taking steps towards ensuring we have a strong workforce, nothing will.
Our submission provides comments on the policy objectives, and the extent to which a government funded wage increase could achieve them.
