Women account for around 50 per cent of the population, but are largely under-represented in the political and corporate spheres. With the glass ceiling still being a big issue in society, there are calls for politicians to stand up and break the glass once and for all.
By MORSAL BASHIR
Imagine this. You’ve spent four years frantically studying your degree. You’ve worked hard and put in all the hours, and you’ve found yourself a job. You’ve been loyal to the company and you’ve gone above and beyond what is expected of you.
A promotion becomes available. It’s you against a man with fewer qualifications than you. You’ve been at the company far longer than him and have done twice the work.
He is promoted over you. Why? Because you’re female.
It’s a story we’ve all heard before, and it is the reality for thousands of women across Australia.
In July 2013, a survey of 500 Australian employers found many value men over women and prefer workers with no children.
The survey, created by workplace management consultancy Kronos, found 38 per cent believe men are better employees than women, while only 19 per cent prefer female workers.
It also found that 40 per cent prefer workers who do not have children or are not in relationships.
These are shocking and real statistics showing that despite women’s rights advancements over the last few decades, an inequality still exists within our society.
In 2014, the gender pay gap widened to a 10-year-high, with women earning 18.2 per cent less than men for the same work.
As a result, women would have to work an extra 64 days a year to equal men’s pay.
Professor of Social Work at Monash University Margaret Alston has blamed “the inherent culture of misogyny that permeates our culture” for the inequalities between women and men in Australia.
She said it is not long since inequalities were part of the legislation. “For example women in the public service, right up until the 1960s, had to resign when they got married. That has huge implications for women and women’s roles in the workforce.
“We’ve still got pay inequality … it’s the most ridiculous thing.”
Prof Alston investigated the troubles women encountered in rural organisations in her book Breaking through the grass ceiling: Women, power and leadership in agricultural organisations, published in 2000.
“I interviewed a whole lot of women and surveyed over 300 women who were on rural bodies of national, local, regional significance, and overwhelmingly they reported to me that it was a virulent culture that they found themselves in,” she said.
According to Prof Alston, of the 300 women the survey was given to, about 260 responded, with 35 per cent saying they had experienced some form of sexual harassment on that board.
The harassment ranged from sexist innuendos to gender-based put downs, right up to sexual violence.
“The glass ceiling is not only there; it’s kept in place through strategies and actions,” she said.
“There’s all these barriers, but even when you go through the glass ceiling, there are ways that the patriarchy reaffirms it.”
This can have dire implications for women in terms of self-worth and confidence.
Prof Alston said the lack of political action to tackle the glass ceiling meant that women were left to deal with it themselves.
“What we have is women having to try do that [deal with it] on their own, in their own personal space and thinking something is wrong with them,” she said.
This leads to women questioning what they’ve done wrong or beginning to doubt their capabilities, acting as a deterrent for more women to try step up and aim for high-profile jobs.
“I think for individual women, there’s a real need to understand the broader context of what is going on, and then to work at that sort of activist level to change that and to understand those processes.
“There’s also that sense that women are shamed into keeping the accepted, normative female position.”
Community campaigning organisation Fair Agenda works at an activist level in order to bring about change that promotes fairness and equality for women.
Fair Agenda’s executive director Renee Carr said she was concerned about the under-representation of women in powerful roles.
“When Fair Agenda launched earlier this year, we asked our members which issues mattered most to them, and the under-representation of women came out as the number one issue,” Ms Carr said.
“We’d like to see action taken to address this issue at all levels – including a focus on ensuring there is a better gender balance in the candidates put forward in winnable seats, as well as efforts to address barriers that affect women’s representation in leadership roles within the ministry and Cabinet.
“Women are around 50 per cent of our population, so there really should be an equivalent percentage of women in Parliament. But at the moment our Federal Cabinet has only one woman. It’s pretty outrageous.”
Despite the difficulties women face, Prof Alston believes the glass ceiling is not “insurmountable” and that “all it takes is very strong advocates in government” to bring about change.
For Ellen Sandell, the Greens candidate for the state seat of Melbourne, her aim is to help bring more women’s voices to the table.
“Gender balance is really important in any decision-making forum, particularly in our Parliament. When women aren’t represented in Parliament, the outcome can be dire,” Ms Sandell said.
“Unfortunately there are a lot of older, white, well-off males in our Parliament who have very conservative values, which really is out of step with the majority of Melburnians.
“We need people who will think long-term, not just the next term of Parliament, and progressive women can provide this vision.”
The lack of more women in the corporate and political spheres also means younger women are discouraged from trying to make it in those careers.
“We’ve had many great male politicians – but not having female and progressive voices in Parliament means we miss out on so much,” Ms Sandell said.
“How will young women ever be encouraged to go into politics if they never see any other young women up on the political stage?”
One of the major deterrents for younger women to attain high-profile jobs in business or in politics is the sense that a powerful woman cannot have a family and work at the same time.
“One of the really disappointing things … about women who reach really high levels of power, is that they usually don’t have a family because it takes so much of their time,” Prof Alston said.
“It’s really disconcerting for younger women to see that … we have to make all that space attainable for everybody, and I’m hoping that Tanya [Plibersek] will get up into the prime ministerial position, because she’s had three kids and manages it very well … we have to get those role models accepted.”
Julia Gillard managed to create a crack in the glass ceiling and there is now a need for more women to do the same, Prof Alston said.
“We’ve got to get some of these other women through that crack to widen it, so women coming behind, little girls like three, four and five now can say, ‘yeah, I want to be prime minister’.”
So what can be done about the glass ceiling?
“We need women to be active [and] we need men to recognise it as well,” Prof Alston said.
“I think it needs for the younger generation to come forward together, recognising that in-joint egalitarianism is a truly positive way of life, and if the younger generation can do that together, then we’ve got no worries.”