Padavic and Reskin (2002) define the gender wage gap as the ratio of female to male wages for

work of equal value. A wage gap between men and women has been long acknowledged in Australia (Ryan & Conlon 1975) and the trend has continued into the 21st century (ABS 2005). There are several explanations that have been put forward to explain why the gender-wage gap persists in Australia. This essay will pick two of the explanations and critically evaluate each. The first session will focus on the persistent occupational segregation in Australian society, as well as the changes happening in recent years. The second session will concentrate on the focus of career break taken by some female workers due to the need of maternity leave and childcare, however, a growing number of female workers dont choose to take the career break nowadays. Even though there are formal and legal barriers to equal opportunity for women in the labour market, such as Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Act, some salient facts suggest the level of gender inequality that remains. For example, according to the pay equity statistics reported by Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency, in August 2010, the gender wage gap was 16.0%. This average weekly ordinary time earnings of females full-time were $227.20 per week less than their male counterparts. Australias 2006 gender wage gap figure was just below the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) average gender pay gap of 17.6% in median earnings of fulltime employees (EOWA 2006). The graph is shown in the appendices. One of the reasons for such gender wage gap is the occupational segregation. Sex segregation in the workplace is defined as the different distributions of men and women across occupation, jobs and places of work (Padavic and Reskin 2002). Sex differences have a substantial effect on social behaviour and social patterns, especially in workplace. People tend to work for the jobs which they have the skills in and that provide them with the satisfactions they desire (Browne 2006). In terms of competitiveness, dominance, statusstriving and risk-taking, males outperform than females (Browne 2006). For example, according to Conti, Collins & Picariello, adding a competitive element to a task increases the intrinsic motivation of males but does not do so for females (2001). Competition always comes together with career risk. Therefore, women prefer more stable and less stressed jobs, such as staff jobs human resources or corporate communications, while men would rather take line jobs, such as running a plant or division (Browne 2006).
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According to the research results conducted by Miller in 1994, in occupations where at least 70% of the workers are males, wages are 12% higher than in female-intensive occupations, while in the intermediate case where between 40% and 70% of the workers are males, wages are 5% higher than in female-intensive occupations. The wage differences in maleintensive and female-intensive occupations are most likely caused by the required skill levels and the working strength. However, Millers research was conducted over 10 years ago. The gender wage gap has certainly been much shortened nowadays, even though it still exists. The patterns in decline of gender wage gap are Women moving into Maledominated Occupations; Males moving into Female-dominated; Change in job structure (Andragogy: Occupational Segregation). For instance, there are more and more females in physical risky industries, such as policewomen and firewomen. There are also more and more females in nonphysical risky industries, such as senior positions in big corporations and government officials. These jobs require better qualifications and women earn better income from them. Besides the occupational segregation, career break taken by females is another main reason that the gender wage gap persists in Australia. Traditionally, it is womens role to take the responsibilities of taking care of the children and all the housework. Many female workers extend their maternity leave for a longer career break. Three researchers from the UK used the survey data from the state of Queensland in Australia and examined the effect of career breaks on the working lives of women (Arun, Arun & Borooah 2011). The literature review of their project shows that in both the USA and the UK, career penalty exists for the women with children and who took the career break, while not applied to the men. The survey results showed the same situation in Queensland, Australia. Gary Becker (1991) suggested that the employers might regard career breaks as periods during which a persons human capital stagnates. Therefore, women have to face the differences after the career break. The income of re-entering women at the same job position is higher than those who returned to a different type of job. Some of the women rather choose not to return. The average probability of not planning a return to work has risen to 30 percent, under the assumption that those child-related career breaks are long breaks.

Gender wage gap occurs mainly because the female workers do not have enough freedom and right to work after returning to the career developing progress after the child-related leave. Women often have to accept low quality employment because of their caring and household responsibilities (Crompton 1997). Low quality employment means lower pay. However, the research data shows that females in higher positions, such as managerial and professional jobs do not take career breaks as common as women working in lower quality jobs. However, womens traditional roles have been changed. Not only women can do all the caring work at home, but also many men volunteer to be househusbands at home nowadays. At the same time, there are growing numbers of women who are not married, not have children, or not choose to take any career break for child-related purposes. All these changes help to shorten the gender wage gap. In conclusion, gender age gap is shortening but still persists in Australia. The gender wage gap details were illustrated by official statistic figures and graphs from recent years. The percentage of Australian gender wage gap is just under the world average. There are many reasons for such a big gap, two of the key ones are occupational segregation between male and female, as well as the career break taken by females. Occupational segregation defines womens limited career opportunities, while career break interrupts or stops womens career development. However, people change their traditional approaches towards career and family. Such things like womens career alterations, men taking the career break instead of the women are happening nowadays. These new trends have shortened and will keep shortening the gender age gap in this country.

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Reference List
Andragogy: Occupational Segregation, viewed 28 September 2011, <https://www.msu.edu/course/lir/891/snapshot.afs/OCCUPATIONAL%20SEGREGATION.pdf >.

Arun, S. Arun, T. & Borooah, V 2011, The Effect of Career Breaks on the Working Lives of Women, viewed 23 September 2011, <http://www.borooah.com/papers/MS00.014R5_Borooah.PDF> .

Australian Bureau of Statistics 2005, Average Weekly Earnings, cat. No. 6302.0, ABS time series, Canberra. Retrieved: March 10, 2005, from AusStats database.

Browne, K 2006, Evolved sex differences and occupational segregation, Journal of Organisational Behaviour, J. Organiz. Behav. 27 pp. 143-162, viewed 20 September 2011, Wiley InterScience Database, DOI: 10.1002/job.349.

Crompton, R 1997, Women and Work in Modern Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Miller, P 1994, Occupational Segregation and Wages in Australia, Economics Letters, Vol 45, Issue 3, pp. 367-371, viewed 15 September 2011, via ScienceDirect database.

OECD Earnings Database 2006, Chart LMF5.1: Gender gap in median earnings of full-time employees, viewed 25 September, <http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/1/35/43199347.xls>.

Padavic, I & Reskin, B 2002, Women and men at work (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press.

Ryan, E & Conlon, A 1975, Gentle Invaders, Thomas Nelson Australia Ltd, Sydney.