FEATURE
Victoria’s first Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent, addresses attendees at the 2021 Master Builders Victoria International Women’s Day Breakfast.
Master Builders Victoria International Women’s Day Breakfast – Keynote Address, Dr Niki Vincent Dr Niki Vincent Victorian Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner
An edited excerpt of the speech delivered by Victoria’s Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner, Dr Niki Vincent at Master Builders Victoria International Women’s Day Breakfast on Thursday March 4, 2021. Learn more about the Commissioner’s work at www.genderequalitycommission.vic.gov.au Published with the Commissioner’s approval. “I’ve been in the role of Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner for a little over four months now and this year’s theme for International Women’s Day of ‘Choose to challenge’, really resonates with my role in calling out gender bias and inequality. The Gender Equality Act 2020 comes into effect on March 31 and is a nation-leading piece of legislation that applies to about 300 organisations in Victoria and places a positive duty on our public sector to do better. The Act is designed to improve workplace gender
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equality in the Victorian public sector, universities and local councils and is committed to making reasonable, real, and measurable progress. The Act also has dispute resolution powers and while it specifically applies to the public sector, I hope it sparks change much more broadly than just the public sector. As well as celebrating women’s achievements, International Women’s Day is also about calling out inequality. It wasn’t until 1972 that women were granted to the right to equal pay, although we know pay discrimination still exists, as does the gender pay gap. In 1977, the Victorian Equal Opportunity Act outlawed discrimination on the basis of gender, but women still face discrimination at work, including unintended bias in recruitment processes. According to the World Economic Forum, gender parity will not be attained for almost a century and that’s why we must take action now, and ‘choose to challenge’. Let’s look at the statistics. I don’t need to tell you that the construction industry is one of the most male-dominated industries in Australia. Despite attempts to increase women’s participation, there’s been no significant change since the 1980s.
We know for example, women are less likely to be promoted (of promotions in construction across all levels, women made up only 20.7% — compared to 48.9% across all industries). Women are even less likely to be promoted to leadership positions (women make up 18.5% of these promotions compared to 47.3% on average across all industries). Women make up just 2.7% of CEOs and equivalents in construction. All of this tells us that a woman’s career is less likely to progress within the construction industry, and we know that they are more likely to leave their role. Then there’s the gender pay gap. Based on total remuneration, the gender pay gap in construction in 2020 was 26.1%. It’s a slight improvement on previous years, however, construction lags well behind other industries. If we break it down further to Building Construction, the gender pay gap is even higher — 36.6%. That’s an increase on previous years and it’s well above the average of 20% across all industries in Australia. So, what’s causing this gender pay gap? When a workforce is segregated by gender it reinforces gender stereotypes and limits people. Women make up less than 1 in 5 employees in construction. When
Volume 76 Issue 02
