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Australia faces worsening levels of occupational gender segregation: Ceda
Men and women continue to be in traditional occupations, and executive positions remain skewed to men, according to new research by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (Ceda), AAP reports.
The research also found many talented women have left jobs or are actively considering leaving them because of a lack of flexibility or long, non-family friendly hours.
But only one in 10 organisations in Australia set flexible work targets and only 5% have targets specifically for men.
Women continue to dominate in health, care and education, while men make up most of the mining and construction workforce.
“People of any gender should be able to do the job they’re most suited for and most interested in,” the Ceda chief executive, Melinda Cilento, said on Tuesday.
Digital transformation, the energy transition and an ageing population will require a much more agile labour market than Australia has now, Cilento said.
“If economic and social barriers prevent flexible movement between occupations, we will not be able to respond to these changes,” she said.
In the submission to the federal government’s Employment White Paper, the leading thinktank warns of worsening levels of occupational gender segregation – where a job is done by either mostly male or female workers.
And this is despite a skills shortage and more women in the workforce.
Men are still 1.8 times more likely than women to be working in a science, technology, engineering and mathematics field five years after completing their qualification.
And the proportion of women studying and working in these Stem areas has barely changed since 2015, CEDA found.
This worsens the gender pay gap, as these fields are typically highly paid.