The Gender Pay Gap Clare Skinner Director of

The Gender Pay Gap Clare Skinner Director of Emergency Medicine Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital ACEM ASM Hobart November 2019

Acknowledgements To women – past, present and future Thank you for your hard work • Seen and unseen • Public and private • Physical and emotional • Formal and informal • Paid and unpaid I see you, I remember you, I acknowledge you Thank you for the world you have created for me, my daughter and my son

Acknowledgements I am highly privileged • I am learning about how power and privilege work • I will use my privilege to drive change and support others Consider your own privilege You may find it interesting to take an implicit bias test Project Implicit https: //implicit. harvard. edu/implicit/

This is not all about me • I’m very well paid to do a job that I love • I’m not angry • I don’t hate men • I don’t feel hard done-by • In fact, I feel very, very lucky

The Sisterhood My sisterhood reaches far beyond my biological sisters It is a source of support, criticism, competition and inspiration There are some wonderful men in my sisterhood too

A Brief History of Feminism • First wave – 1850 s-1920 s • Legal recognition – the right to vote • Second wave – 1970 s-1980 s • • Sociocultural – more than wives and mothers Radical feminism – no need for men Liberal feminism – gender-neutral society Tension – equality vs difference • Third wave – 1990 s • Abolishing gender stereotypes • Inclusive feminism – race, class, culture • Freedom from male control and expectations

Fourth Wave Feminism • Began 2012/2013 • Focus on empowerment of women • Driven by social media • Intersectionality – power and privilege • Justice against assault and harassment • Equal opportunities for girls and women • Bodily autonomy • Equal pay for equal work

The Gender Pay Gap ‘The gender pay gap measures the difference between the average earnings of women and men in the workforce. It is the result of the social and economic factors that combine to reduce women’s earning capacity over their lifetime. ’ Workplace Gender Equality Agency

Emergency Medicine Specialist – Income 2015/16 (ATO) $232 595 $165 786

It’s because women work fewer hours than men…

Earnings per hour • MABEL survey • Annual income (pay summary) • Medicare billings • Emergency doctors • Male $177 • Female $156 • Gender pay gap in EM • $21 per hour • $43 800 per year

That’s a 12% gap

We’ve got the award – pay and conditions are the same for men and women…

‘International analysis demonstrates that within specialty discrimination exists even when controlled for other observable characteristics. ’ Level Medicine

Variation is due to: Seniority of roles ‘Females are under-represented at senior levels’ Access to discretionary pay ‘Female doctors tend to undervalue their work and to be less demanding in their negotiations for remuneration. ’ Level Medicine

The gender pay gap just reflects women’s choices. . .

Women’s ‘choices’ • Choice of partner • Choice to have children • Choice to work part-time • Choice not to apply for senior roles • Choice not to negotiate ‘like a man’ BUT – men make choices too

The myth of negotiation Women do ask for more money Women do ask for promotion They get knocked back more often than men They learn to ask for less They learn to ask less often They eventually stop asking

It doesn’t make sense for me to work – childcare costs nearly as much as I earn…

‘The gap between women’s and men’s earnings is a symptom of a broader cultural problem in workplaces. It reflects the historic and systemic undervaluing of women’s workplace contributions and the significant barriers that lead to the underrepresentation of women in senior executive and management roles. ’ Workplace Gender Equality Agency

Where are your kids?

‘Females and males differ with regards to the frequency of career interruptions in order to care for families or take other caring roles. ’ Level Medicine

Female doctors are disadvantaged by being mothers ‘Females with dependent children earn less than females without dependent children. ’ ‘Males with dependent children have higher earnings than males who do not have dependent children. ’ Level Medicine

‘Closing the gender pay gap goes beyond just ensuring equal pay. It requires cultural change to remove the barriers to the full and equal participation of women in the workforce, including the genuine equal choice to access the same career or work opportunities as men in all occupations, industries and levels of seniority. ’ Workplace Gender Equality Agency

My ‘unicorn’ man • Parenting as partners • Family friendly work conditions • Tolerates the pay-gap in our household • Makes the school lunches

My dad made my lunch too – SMH 1984

‘Studies in Australia and abroad consistently find some degree of the pay gap among doctors cannot be explained by specialisation, hours worked, seniority, training achievements or place of employment. ’ Level Medicine

Estimated superannuation at retirement (AUD) $657 978 $513 220

How about New Zealand? • The Association of Salaried Medical Specialists has commissioned a study into the medical gender pay gap • Results are due for release at the end of November • General workforce statistics indicate that NZ has a similar gender pay gap to Australia Stats NZ

Good news! We can do something about it Collectively: Pay equity actions make a difference Develop a pay equity policy Review remuneration arrangements Report gender pay gaps to the leadership Introduce and evaluate corrective actions Individually: Understand ask for our entitlements

More we can do • Encourage women into leadership roles • Quotas (targets) • Sponsorship • Mentorship • Coaching • Reporting • Support men into active parenting • Broaden parental leave entitlements • Set expectations • Role-modelling • Flexible work conditions benefit everyone

I reiterate – this is not all about me It’s not all about women either It’s about humanising medicine It’s about creating workplaces that are better for everyone And better for our patients too

Discussion and Questions Is this real? Is it important? Do we need to change? • • • What should AWE do? What should ACEM do? What should FACEMs do? What should hospitals do? What should health departments do? Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this talk – in person, on the phone, via Twitter and Facebook Thanks to the men in the room – you are important allies Together, we can make a difference

References: Kimmorley S, ‘A look at Australia’s 50 highest paid jobs highlights a disgraceful gender pay gap’, Business Insider, December 2016 Fitzgerald G, ‘The Gender Pay Gap’, Level Medicine, 2017 levelmedicine. org. au ‘The Gender Pay Gap’, Workplace Gender Equality Agency ‘Gender Equity Insights 2018’, Workplace Gender Equality Agency www. wgea. gov. au