Gender equity bill shows promise for ‘undervalued’ care sector: podcast

A government pledge to establish an expert panel looking into wage inequality in the care sector could significantly benefit women working in aged care.

Last week, employment minister Tony Burke indicated that federal Labor's "Secure Jobs, Better Pay" bill will contain measures to enshrine gender equity under the Fair Work Act.

Burke also pledged to create two new expert panels within the Fair Work Commission, the first to look explicitly at pay equity and the other dedicated to the care and community sector.

"Women should not be paid less than men – it’s that simple. That’s why gender pay equity will be at the centre of our workplace reforms,” he said last week.

UTS pro-vice chancellor and aged care expert professor Verity Firth said while the bill has yet to be seen, spotlighting an "underpaid, undervalued and increasingly insecure" workforce could have a sweeping impact.

"Hopefully it will have a lot of influence," Firth told Aged Care Insite.

"When you've got centuries of economic inequality, and when you seek to rectify that inequality, whether it's through better wages for women working in aged care and childcare, there is going to be a cost - but i don't think that's a reason for not doing it."

Aged Care Insite spoke to Firth about tomorrow's budget and addressing the gender pay gap in aged and community care.

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