Failing to live up to the promise

The Politics of Equal Pay in ‘New’ Workplace and Industrial Relations Institutions

Bibliographic Data

ID6234450
AuthorsFiona Macdonald (0000-0003-1966-0810, RMIT University, corresponding author), Sara Charlesworth (0000-0001-6975-9283, RMIT University)
Year2018
Volume53
Issue4
Pages446-462
Publication date2018-10-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1036-1146 • E-ISSN: 1363-030X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/10361146.2018.1502256
OpenAlexW2884054996
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited11

Workplace and industrial relations regulations are key sites for policy intervention to address Australia's gender pay gap, which, at 15.3 per cent, is almost as large as it was in 1997. In both the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) and the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 (Cth) the goal of equal pay has a more central place than it did in predecessor legislation. In particular, the Fair Work Act has the potential to deliver more gender-equitable wage structures through addressing systemic gender-based undervaluation at the industry level. Adopting a feminist institutional approach this article examines equal pay policy in the operations of workplace and industrial relations regulation to ask why, despite some recent successes, this potential appears unlikely to be realised

Economics · Gender equality · Gender pay gap · Gender relations · Intervention (counseling · Labour economics · Legislation · Political science · Politics · Public relations · Sociology · Wage · Work (physics · Engineering · Gender Diversity and Inequality · Gender Studies · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Industrial Relations