Its just not fair

LOCAL women have backed statistics revealed by CoreData and careerone.com.au in regard to inequality between men and women in the workforce.

The data shows that equality is still very much a yet to be realised ideal for many working women.

Australian women believe motherhood hinders their chances of promotion and that the career fast track is still dominated by men, according to the survey.

Deputy mayor of Shellharbour and business woman, Michelle Greig said many of the top jobs were still dominated by men.

I feel there is still a boys club attitude in many fields, especially for working mothers, she said. The attitude is that a woman is somehow unreliable because she will put her children first.

Despite laws aimed at a balance in the workforce, there is definitely a mind set against women achieving success in their chosen career.

The survey of 1027 respondents found that 50 per cent of female respondents believe motherhood hinders promotion prospects, with 51 per cent of women believing that pregnancy would negatively affect their career.

68 per cent of women believe men are paid more for doing the same job.

Yet only 36 per cent of men believe pay inequality still exists. 40 per cent of all respondents believe that gender influences career advancement at their particular employer organisation.

The survey also looked at how men and women react to work pressures following on from careerone.com.au's recent survey on stress. The latest survey found 58 per cent of female respondents have cried at work. Interestingly 13 per cent of men admitted they had also cried at work.

The survey group included 628 women and 399 men. Of those surveyed, 36 per cent prefer a male boss and 8 per cent a female boss, with 56 per cent expressing no gender preference when it comes to their manager.

"Its interesting to see that of those that did express a gender preference, three times as many respondents preferred a male boss, careerone.com.au editor, Kate Southam said.

I think gender preference is becoming less of an issue but what obviously remains a big issue is juggling a career and motherhood.

"Many women are made to feel they are not as committed to work once they have a child and if the demands of juggling both work and home are not supported by employers, women may indeed opt to devote their energies to their children."

"However, many want to remain in key roles and to continue learning and developing so they can take on more senior roles as promotion opportunities arise.

"In the current skill shortage, employers would be smart to review their internal policies that related to promotion pathways, work life balance and access to training to ensure it is accessible to all talented employees and not just those without children."

Cr Greig said she believed that assertive women are seen as aggressive, rather than strong.

We can only hope that the next generation of women benefit as women today continue to be strong and set a good example for their children, both male and female, she said.

At present, however, women have a long way to go before they are considered equal in the workforce.

A female manager from Shellharbour said she had suffered great injustice in the workplace due to being a woman.

I once worked with a chain of 60 stores, where only one of the managers was a female, she said.

It was impossible to gain promotion.

On top of this, we had one manager who prided himself with the ability to make every female staff member cry, as though counting the notches on his belt.

The Lake Times welcomes readers opinion on the survey.