HR news this week is all about International Women’s Day

International Women’s Day fell on 8 March, so unsurprisingly, many of the HR news stories of the week were focused on women in the workplace.

Childcare costs impacting gender pay gap

As reported by the Independent, increases in childcare costs in the UK have widened the gender pay gap.

According to accounting company PwC, the average pay gap in the country climbed 2.4 per cent, to a total of 14.4 per cent in 2021.

PwC senior economist Larice Stielow commented: “The motherhood penalty is now the most significant driver of the gender pay gap and, in the UK, women are being hit even harder by the rising cost of living and increasing cost of childcare.”

Thankfully in Australia, the government is introducing a childcare subsidy for families who earn under $530,000 a year.

Services Australia said: “The income limit to get the maximum CCS (Child Care Subsidy) is increasing. Families earning up to $80,000 will get an increased maximum CCS amount, from 85 per cent to 90 per cent.”

Gender equality still hundreds of years away

CNN covered the comments made by UN chief Antonio Guterres, who said gender equality is 300 years away.

Mr Guterres spoke to the Commission on the Status of Women, where he outlined how gender equality is “vanishing before our eyes … Women’s rights are being abused, threatened, and violated around the world.”

Heavy criticism was placed on countries like Afghanistan, where women’s rights have been taken away, including opportunities for employment and education.

According to Mr Guterres, tech and science industries across the world are also affected by inequality: “Centuries of patriarchy, discrimination and harmful stereotypes have created a huge gender gap in science and technology ... Let’s be clear: global frameworks are not working for the world’s women and girls. They need to change,” he said.

More work needed

Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) discussed how there is more that Australia could be doing to help close the gender pay gap.

The removal of “pay secrecy” clauses introduced recently is a good step, argued SMH, but this could take time to become normal practice.

This is where breaking the pay discussion taboo is important.

“Of all the taboos around money, talking about one’s pay has got to be the most difficult to break down … Employers have long argued disclosure of pay causes jealousy and disquiet among employees who discover they are relatively lower paid,” said SMH.

“However, it is precisely this disquiet, I would argue, which needs to be unleashed to encourage women to push for higher pay.”

SMH encourages men and women alike to use International Women’s Day to break tradition and start discussing pay openly, as “knowledge is power”.

Make change everlasting

IT Brief reported on how organisations can go beyond International Women’s Day and bring more support into the workplace.

The article referenced a Chief Executive Women statement that said, “it will still take 100 years to achieve gender equality for CEO roles at Australia’s top companies, based on recent trends. Around 15 per cent of these businesses still have no women in leadership roles at all.”

With this in mind, IT Brief offered some suggestions to create a more inclusive workplace for women:

• Take an active approach
• Put time back in women’s hands
• Support women through all life stages
• Listen and learn

Going beyond the recognition of International Women’s Day and introducing policy that supports employees permanently is what will bring true equity and inclusivity to the workplace.