A woman's worth

[frenchyjen70]

WOMEN have slipped further behind men in the workplace.

A new Federal Government report released yesterday reveals the gender pay gap more than doubled last year.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency's 2012 Grad Stats report reveals the average starting wage for men was $55,000, up from $52,000 previously, while the female wage remained unmoved at $50,000.

Dentist positions had the biggest dollar-value difference at $14,400 more for men.

The report found women earned more than men in seven of the 23 occupations examined - including biological, physical, social, computer and earth sciences, pharmacy and engineering. But the premiums were smaller, on average.

WGEA research executive manager Carla Harris said the results were "disturbing".
"The lesson here is that the gender pay gap continues to have a very real impact on the bank balance of young women starting their careers," Dr Harris said.

The gender pay gap for graduates was 9.1 per cent on average, up 5.2 percentage points from 2011.

"I'm certain that any female school leaver contemplating a career in dentistry would be outraged knowing she can expect to earn $14,000 less than a man in her first year on the job," Dr Harris said.

Only education, humanities and medicine had no gap.

Despite being dudded on pay, more women are striving for tertiary qualifications.

The report found women hold 54.7 per cent of all bachelor degrees.

"It is very disturbing that men's starting salaries have increased over the past year but that those of women have not, especially given that women make up the majority of university graduates," Dr Harris said.

Women Lawyers Association of Queensland president Kathryn Finlayson was shocked by the pay gap and said many students would be too.

"There really is no excuse for paying graduates of equal ability different amounts for the same work simply on the basis of gender," she said.

"It is something you do see as people get more experienced because of the decisions women might make, pursuing different interests, wanting a family and maybe going part-time or taking a few years out," she said.

"(But) I would have thought they would pay all graduates the same.

"It may be that people do not know because salaries are confidential and they don't talk about it."

Australian Dental Association council member Professor Ian Meyers, a Brisbane dentist, questioned the figures.

"I do not see how that could possibly be the case," he said.

Prof Meyers said some female graduates opted for more flexible working hours, which could explain the difference.

"The qualification is identical. The only possibility is that some of the female graduates do not want a full-time job," he said.

"There's also a wide variety of different employment groups within the category of dentistry. So a dental assistant for example would have a lower starting salary than a dentist.

"Currently within Australian universities and particularly in Queensland there is a very equal mix going through dental courses. But in oral health therapy for example there are a lot more women."

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[Super Nova]

I see that argument that it is not fair.

My question is... "well what are you women doing about it?"

Complaining is not going to fix it. Do you expect government to fix everything.

Could there be a good reason why this occurs?