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Helen Conway, Director of Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA)
EOWA Director, Helen Conway, has had extensive business
experience. Following ten years in private practice as a
lawyer, including seven years as a partner, Helen joined the
corporate sector where she held various executive positions
in companies covering the insurance, transport, downstream
oil, retailing and construction industries. In addition she
has held various directorships in the health, transport and
superannuation sectors.
Helen has an established track record in the equal
opportunity sphere focussing in particular on initiatives in
support of women. She spent ten years on the NSW Equal
Opportunity Tribunal including three years as its Senior
Judicial Member.
Helen’s appointment as Director of EOWA is for a period of
five years commencing on 27 April 2011. Interview with Helen Conway
Do you believe that employers understand the problem of pay
equity and know how to investigate it using a pay equity
audit to identify where gender pay inequities may exist
within their workplace, so that they can remove the barriers
to women’s workforce participation and career progression?
There is clear evidence that many employers do not
understand what pay equity means and are effectively in
denial about any gender pay gap which exists in their
organisations. This is unacceptable in 2011.
How does EOWA encourage employers to investigate possible
sources of gender pay gaps?
EOWA guides employers to understand the issues and examine
them within their organisations, to develop practical and
effective strategies to address them, to analyse, evaluate
and revise their HR policies and practices, and to review
and report on progress and achievements. We provide the
Mind the Gap pay equity online course, payroll analysis
tools, helpful fact sheets, illustrative YouTube clips,
business cases and case studies, comparative research and
statistics and practical implementation and monitoring
advice.
We are currently leading and sponsoring the development of
an Australian Standard on Gender-inclusive Job Evaluation
and Grading.
We also require EOWA
Employer of Choice for Women organisations to
undertake a remuneration analysis to understand any
gender pay equity issues in their organisations and explain
what they are doing about it.
Under proposed changes to the legislation governing EOWA,
there will be an increased focus on pay equity and we will
intensify our efforts to facilitate better pay outcomes for
women.
Does EOWA provide specialist personnel to help employers
gather pay equity data and systematically analyse it within
an organisation?
EOWA’s client consultants work with our 3000 or so reporting
organisations across the range of gender equity issues,
including pay equity. EOWA also has a specialist Pay Equity
Adviser who works with EOWA staff and reporting
organisations.
EOWA is further developing its payroll analysis tools and
preparing workshops on carrying out pay equity reviews. The
workshops, which are to be delivered later this year, are
targeted at HR and remuneration consultants and other
interested stakeholders. These workshops will build capacity
for doing high quality pay equity reviews, and will engage
HR and remuneration practitioners in understanding how they
can deliver these reviews as part of their mainstream
remuneration suite. How do you regard the decision that was handed down by Fair Work Australia (FWA) in May 2011 for the Australian Services Union’s (ASU) Equal Remuneration Case confirming that gender was an important factor in creating the gap between pay in the Social and Community Services sector and pay in comparable state and local government employment. Whilst this is an important step towards equal pay, it seems that it will be phased in over a number of years and funded by cuts to services and jobs. Do you believe that this case has sent the right signals to employers and employees for similar cases to follow?
The case is still underway, with a further hearing on
21 September and a final hearing on 24 October which will
deal with the key question of remedies. The interim ruling
in the case determined that pay for social and community
workers is affected by gender-related undervaluation,
and they are paid less than public sector social and
community workers for work that is generally of comparable
value. Fair Work Australia found that neither proof of sex
discrimination in the existing rates, nor comparisons with
male dominated groups, was required for the finding of
gender-related undervaluation. Fair Work Australia
considered a wide range of evidence in the case, especially
in relation to the value of the work undertaken, and
confirmed that assessments and comparisons of work value are
made according to the skills, responsibilities and demands
of the work, irrespective of similarities and
dissimilarities in tasks undertaken. These findings provide
very useful information for employers and employees about
how the new provisions are likely to be interpreted.
Although there are three legal options available for
Australian women to achieve pay equality - equal
remuneration applications, sex discrimination claims at both
federal and state level and adverse action claims - do you
believe that these legal avenues continue to be difficult
for Australian women to successfully achieve pay equality?
Equal remuneration, adverse action and sex discrimination
claims have proved to be very difficult avenues for pursuing
pay equity. The cases are complex for all participants.
There are few cases and there is not yet a substantial body
of expertise for developing and running them. The costs and
time involved can be substantial. In some countries, cases
are undertaken by contingency-fee and pro bono lawyers and
resources for the cases are met from punitive and other
damages and backpay. This does not occur in
Having effective legal redress for pay
equity problems is critically important in fixing
longstanding pay equity problems that date back to when sex
discrimination in pay was lawful and also in addressing
emerging pay equity issues. However, in view of the
prevalence and scale of pay equity problems that need
addressing, processing them all through the legal system
would be putting a long cavalcade of camels through the eye
of a very small needle.
What changes if any would you like to see to the Australian
legal system to reduce the gender pay gap?
The provisions of the Fair Work Act 2009 have now had their
first test in the social and community workers case. When
the case is completed, the findings and reasons for the
decision will provide guidance for negotiating agreements in
other sectors and organisations. The effectiveness of the
Fair Work Act provisions cannot be assessed until the
current proceedings are determined.
We need to remember that most of the gender pay gap reflects
differences in the labour market position of women and men
and is not amenable to legal solutions. Women and men are
concentrated in different occupations, industries and job
levels. Women still do more of the unpaid caring work which
limits their working hours, in a day, a week and a working
lifetime. It also critically affects their opportunities to
progress to the full range of jobs and job levels. While in
some cases these obstacles reflect unlawful discrimination,
for the most part they reflect different work patterns for
men and women, in contexts where there are still significant
rigidities in labour markets and employment practices and
arrangements.
As Companies listed on the stock exchange are required to
since January 2011 set gender diversity targets at board and
senior executive levels and to report every year on their
progress towards achieving those targets, how optimistic are
you that this will be achieved within five years or do you
believe that it would be better to introduce mandatory
gender quotas for corporate boards as we have waited long
enough?
The effectiveness of the current measures cannot be assessed
yet. We are yet to see the first round of reporting on the
obligation under the ASX Guidelines to set objectives for
achieving greater gender diversity. I am optimistic, at
least so far as Board composition is concerned, that we will
see far better gender diversity given the number of recent
female Board appointments.
Quotas for women on boards have been used to great effect in
some countries but they can also have unintended
consequences, including undermining the legitimacy and the
standing of the women appointed to meet the quotas.
Are you interested in finding other ways
to tackle notions of gender inequality in the consciousness
of Australian society?
EOWA has specific responsibilities for working on gender
equity in workplaces. We recognise that women's and men's
choices and opportunities are inextricably interrelated. The
proposed new legislation for EOWA will explicitly include a
focus on the caring responsibilities of both men and women.
Raising awareness and promoting a wider range of quite
concrete possibilities in workplaces - for example, more
flexible work options for men so they can share the caring
responsibilities - can enable, reflect and reinforce changes
in consciousness about gender roles in Australian society.
EOWA will continue to identify new opportunities for
communicating about what enables and inhibits gender
equality through its work on gender equality at work. |
