Women's Labour Market Participation in Regional Australia
Women's Labour Market Participation
in Regional Australia
By Susan Halliday, Sex Discrimination
Commissioner to the 11th Annual Women on Farms Gathering, Yarra Valley,
Vic 1 April 2000
Introduction
- Women in Rural and Regional Areas
- Despite the multi-faceted
contributions of rural women, a recent university study finds that for
many the traditional sexual division of labour on farms continues, and
states "housework is women's work and men's work is farming ..." - The study found
that men perform most of the farm work in over 80% of families. About
60% of women undertake some farm work as well as household tasks. The
study concluded that while in most families women are solely responsible
for managing the household and raising the children, a significant number
of women also undertake farming activities and engage in paid work and
community activities off the farm. - A 1998 Department
of Primary Industries and Energy (DPIE) report supports these figures,
finding that men spend about twice as much time on livestock care
as women, and that women spend twice as many hours on business management
and bookkeeping compared to men. - The DPIE report
also noted women do most of the housework (almost 15 hours a week compared
to 6 hours for men), and most of the childcare (45 hours a week compared
to almost 11 hours for men). - In 1996, 13% of
all Australian women lived in rural areas. In addition 3 843 000 people,
or almost 9% of the population are involved in the agriculture, forestry
and fishing industries. Of this 9%, women make up 3.4%. Of all the people
involved in this sector, 32.2% are women. - It appears that
little has changed in terms of "who does what on the farm"
since Australia was colonised. Farming is one of the oldest professions,
yet there is limited interest, scatty and poor historical records of
the role and achievements of rural farming women, yet they have been
essential to its success. - The struggles
of farming women in previous eras may seem familiar to contemporary
farmers. Elizabeth Macarthur's commentary on her experience of farming
is illuminating. She stated
" ...our
Gardens produce nothing, all is burnt up, indeed, the Soil must be
allow'd to be most wretched and totally unfit for growing any European
production ..."
- Despite initial
set backs and managing the farm by herself for 13 years (which seems
to have escaped the content of school history texts), Elizabeth's farm
prospered. - It appears not
a lot has changed for single women wishing to be farmers. Today as in
the past they faced additional difficulties overcoming restrictive attitudes
and stereotypical assessment about their role and capabilities, as evidenced
by Eliza Walsh. By 1821 Eliza Walsh already had a small farm in NSW,
and requested a land grant from Governor Macquarie. He refused, saying
"I cannot
comply with your request, it being contrary to the Regulations to
give Grants of Land to Ladies."
- A male farmer
in a comparable situation would have been successful. Walsh persevered
however, writing and lobbying politicians, and finally securing land
5 years later. - The tenacity and
determination demonstrated by these historical figures continues today.
Change is being led by women, many of whom are denied equal access,
yet these women embrace new technologies, develop new enterprises and
continue to add value to existing farm activities.
Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission Bush Talks
Background
- Bush Talks came
about after there was an overwhelming response to a paper published
in May 1996 on human rights in rural Australia. The Human Rights and
Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) then decided to look comprehensively
at what was happening to human rights in rural, regional and remote
Australia.
- A wide range of
consultations were held - welfare and advocacy groups, Indigenous people,
women's organisations, business leaders, local government councillors,
government agencies, parents, families, police, teachers and other individuals.
The Objectives of Bush
Talks include:
- to inform country
Australians about their human rights and the role of HREOC; - to provide a forum
for country Australians to voice their human rights concerns; - to identify key
human rights issues for rural Australians on which HREOC can do further
work and - to develop practical
solutions to human rights problems raised.
- The access of
rural Australians to health, education and essential services have consistently
been raised throughout Bush Talks.
Bush Talks
- Issues facing rural Australians Health
- Rural Australians
more often suffer from serious disease, illness and injury, and die
earlier than urban Australians.
- In rural Australia,
there has been a decline in health services, accessing services that
exist can be time consuming and difficult, there is a shortage of health
professionals, and depressed economic circumstances are reportedly resulting
in increased family stress, poorer mental health and worsening health
status.
- Declining services
are exemplified by the lack of health professionals in rural areas.
Nationally, residents of the major urban areas have access to one GP
for every 830 people, but in country areas access averages out to one
GP for every 1 247 people. In addition only one in five specialists
reside in rural areas.
Case study
- HREOC heard how in Euroa, Victoria, as a consequence of there being no
publicly funded beds in hospitals, residents of this town had a choice of
either taking out full private health insurance or being prepared to travel
long distances for hospital treatment.
Case study
- HREOC was also told:
"Some rural
hospitals, which do not have extended care facilities, view themselves
as acute institutions only, providing 'acute' care to medical and surgical
and maternity cases and do not tolerate well the care of the disabled
and frail aged who often need to be in their care for extended periods
of time while they await the availability of full time care in an appropriate
nursing home." HREOC was also told that, "these people waiting
for nursing homes are 'bedblockers' and we have to get them out".
In addition, a person waiting for a nursing home place wants to remain
near family and friends - and is waiting for someone else to die so
that a place is freed up.
Case Study
- HREOC was also told about a similar situation in Corryong in Victoria,
a town of 1 500 and a town on which another 1 500 in the region depend.
A former nurse at the hospital wrote
"Heaven
help anyone who has a heart attack, major accident or haemorrhage from
now on, because with the downgrade of the hospital services our one
and only ambulance with its one and only driver will have to get that
person to hospital in Albury or Wodonga 125 kms away [it takes 90 minutes
at least]. How can he drive and care for a seriously ill patient?"
Education
- Early childhood
and primary school services in rural communities were reported as deficient
during Bush Talks. Schools were seen to be neither adequately
equipped to perform effectively, nor positioned to attract high calibre
teachers.
- While rural schools
generally have lower student-teacher ratios than urban schools, rural
schools faced other difficulties in providing education, including lack
of specialised staffing, limited choice of classes and curriculum options,
fewer computer facilities and limited resources for library, sports
and other activities.
- Other rural communities
had no schools at all. Children being forced to attend school in neighbouring
communities was seen to waste time and energy, as well as discourage
educational aspirations.
- This situation
worsened at secondary school level. Many rural schools do not offer
classes beyond Year 10, again forcing students to travel extensive distances
to schools in other towns or to go to boarding school.
Case study
- one parent told HREOC:
"Distance
education is available to Year 12 but subject choices are very limited
and there is no interaction between students. Children need social contact
and social education beyond the formal education curricula. They also
need sport, music and social activity. Because of the difficulties children
in remote areas have only 52% retention to Year 12, with boys less than
50%. It is heartbreaking for parents not to have enough money to ensure
the proper education of their children."
Other issues
- Currently it is
estimated that there are 600 plus communities in the bush without access
to a financial institution, according to Dr Wendy Craik from the National
Farmers' Federation. When a bank closes, it costs the community an estimated
$350 per person per month as people transfer their shopping to their
banking town. From 1993 to 1998, 481 non-metropolitan bank branches
shut, with the loss of about 10 000 jobs.
- The closure of
service centres such as banks and post offices, limited access to telecommunications,
poor services for people with disabilities and aged care issues, poor
access to public transport, and limited services for children and young
people were also raised as particular concerns facing rural communities.
Projects arising from Bush Talks
- HREOC has and
will continue to undertake several projects, focusing on areas of health,
education, essential services, children and young people and disability
services as a result of Bush Talks.
- HREOC has recently
released Emerging Themes, the first in a series of reports arising
from the National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education. The inquiry
examined issues of the availability, accessibility and quality of the
provision of education for children in rural and remote Australia.
- Other future projects
include further inquiries, publications, seminars and networking. HREOC
is particularly interested in detailing positive initiatives that already
exist in rural areas. Each project will be undertaken in partnership
with country people, whether through rural service organisations, representative
bodies or with rural leaders.
Women's Labour
Market Participation in Regional Australia
- Although there
has been much research on women and their work since the 1970s, studies
generally have focused on a picture at a national level. The lack of
analysis of women in regional labour markets is overwhelming, yet the
different employment and training opportunities between capital and
non-capital cities, towns and rural areas is considerable.
- A new report entitled
Women's Labour Market Participation in Regional Australia was
commissioned by HREOC and was written by Dr Glenda Strachan and Dr John
Burgess from the Employment Studies Centre of the University of Newcastle.
This report is the first in a planned three part research project.
- Women's Labour
Market Participation in Regional Australia contains information
and data on women and employment in different rural and remote regions,
including a case study of women's labour market participation in the
Hunter region. Recommendations for future research are also included.
- As evidenced by
Bush Talks, this report reveals significant concern over changes
in rural communities due to widespread withdrawal of services. There
is little doubt that the removal of government and banking services
from Australian towns has a major impact on employment opportunities
- particularly in relation to women's employment which remains concentrated
in the service sector. - Women's Labour
Market Participation in Regional Australia quotes a recent Victorian
report which noted that
"service
closures and cutbacks have caused widespread job losses. Public service
retrenchments in health, education, local government, community services
and transport have been extensive."
- The report identifies
that many job losses have been concentrated in single communities
such as the Latrobe Valley where the restructuring of the electricity
industry saw 16 000 people out of work. The research also revealed
that communities feared local unemployment would increase when the
policy of compulsory competitive tendering in local government took
full effect. - The report stated
that the loss of jobs in regional Victoria was keenly felt:
"Employment
in the public service, banks or utilities used to offer workers and
young people a career path. They provided on-the-job training, and
had inbuilt programs to develop workers' technical and interpersonal
skills. The loss of the types of jobs that offered Victorians a solid
working future is a great one."
- Lack of work and
future employment prospects were cited as the main reasons why people
left country Victoria. For example, in the town of Dunmunkle, a rural
farming community in the Wimmera north of Horsham, young people were
seen to have one of two choices: go to Melbourne or a large regional
centre, or be unemployed. Precedent showed that once they left, few
returned. Dunmunkle is suffering a severe population decline and this
community is at a loss as to what it can do to turn the situation around.
Report Findings
- To date the national
policy focus towards women in the Australian labour market has been
based on the premise that policies such as equal employment opportunity
and equal pay will apply fairly to all women regardless of location.
This assumption is simplistic and unwarranted - policies need to address
the significant differences that exist across the labour market and
in particular the relatively limited employment opportunities available
to women in certain non-metropolitan areas.
- Job opportunities
in rural areas are often constrained by the specific nature of the region.
Overall, occupational segregation limits women's employment choices,
which are concentrated in service industries. There is no doubt that
women's choices of employment remains constrained to those of men.
- While there has
been a great deal of analysis of the separate labour markets for women
and men, little recognition has been given to gender differences within
the labour markets of disparate geographical locations.
- The widest range
of opportunities for education, training and employment exists in large
cities and the statistics used in Women's Labour Market Participation
in Regional Australia indicate the profound difference in employment
opportunities between city and non-metropolitan areas.
- In general as
the size of the location diminishes, so too do the labour market options.
- National average
labour force data conceals large differences between regions. There
are some notable differences between women by location, for example:
- the part-time
employment ratio: from 50% in Tas to 4.8% in ACT;
- the unemployment
rate: from 10.7% in Tas to 4.8% in NT & ACT;
- the proportion
of the unemployed seeking part-time employment: from 39.6% in WA to
25.6% in NT;
- the labour force
participation rate: from 65.1% in the ACT to 47.9% in Tas, and
- average full-time
weekly earnings: from $699 in ACT to $560 in WA.
The report found that
women in regional locations generally have:
- lower employment
to population ratios; - lower labour force
participation rates; - higher part-time
employment ratios; - higher unemployment
rates; - a higher proportion
of the unemployed looking for part-time work; - lower average
personal income; - similar patterns
of gender occupation and industrial segregation, and most importantly, - that the influence
of the local region is critical in determining women's labour market
opportunities.
Case Study -
Hunter Valley Dr Strachan and Dr Burgess analysed the employment
profile of women in the Hunter region of NSW. They used census data and
information from selected organisation reports submitted to the Equal Opportunity
for Women in the Workplace Agency. A broadly representative sample of 25
organisations was analysed. For the Hunter Valley it was found that:
- there is clear
occupational segregation. The majority of clerks and sales & service
workers and para-professionals and professionals are women; - women predominate
in the lower levels of organisations; - the percentage
of women managers is not equivalent to the percentage of women employees
in 21 organisations; - part-time and
casual employment was more likely to be utilised by employers in female-dominated
industries; - women were the
overwhelming majority of all permanent part-time employees, and - women were the
majority of casual employees except in the manufacturing and transport
sectors.
Conclusion
- The Women's
Labour Market Participation in Regional Australia report confirms
profound differences in employment opportunities between city and non-metropolitan
areas and as expected as the size of the location diminishes, so too
do the labour market options. - The geographical
area of the operational labour market for women is smaller than that
available to men. Australia is characterised by regions centred on towns
which form separate labour markets because the distances between towns
are too far for daily travel. There is some evidence that women are
constrained in terms of job opportunities or may not be prepared to
travel as far as men for work due to family and child care responsibilities.
Social attitudes and access to appropriate transport appear to contribute
to this outcome. - National average
labour force data conceals the large differences between regions. Analysis
of ABS data shows that female employment to population ratios are at
least 10% below those for males. However, the labour force participation
rate for women outside of capital cities is up to 10% below that for
capital cities and is applicable across all age groups. - Within non-metropolitan
regions there can be significant differences in the distribution of
employment opportunities available for women. The Hunter region analysis
found considerable variation in employment opportunities within this
large region which is effectively made up of a number of separate labour
markets. - Overall it is
clear that the influence of the local region is critical in determining
women's labour market opportunities and participation.
Last
updated 1 December 2001