Is it still a man’s world? — Written by Guest blogger Davina from WITI

Introduction: 

So i would like to introduce you to this lovely ladies Guest Blog post that she has kindly written for “Sticky girl in a sticky world”.  I am really proud to post this on my blog page. You will be blown away by the amount of liberating facts this article holds. I know i was. In my post entitled “How to be a more confident woman in the new year” i kind of touch on this subject, but no where near as much detail as Davina has done.  As a young woman it is such a great feeling to know that the way of our society is changing for the better, so that my generation and the generations after myself have a chance of achieving just as much as a male can!

I hope.. no i know you will enjoy this post 🙂

Till next time my friends –

Please visit her blog page http://witiwords.blogspot.com.au/ 

Here you will find so many helpful beauty and fashion tips from a liberated woman who knows how to do it best! 

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Is It Still A Man’s World?

When Margaret asked me to write a blog about how women are fairing in a male dominated society and my personal experiences with that, the first thing that came to mind is, is that still a relevant issue in the modern age? It’s not been a problem for me professionally, but looking deeper into it, my thoughts that it’s been slow going, but going nonetheless were right. Women and women’s issues on the whole have come pretty far in the last 50 years, but there are some areas in which we’re still behind.

According to the ACTU (that’s the Australian Council of Trade Unions for our overseas readers) in 2010, despite federal laws in place giving equal pay to women and men, there was still an 18% wage gap between the genders. Their study also found that archaic attitudes of some professions and jobs being “women’s work” and industries with a traditional majority of female workers were still attracting lower rates of pay because female contribution to the workforce was still being undervalued. The Equal Pay Alliance was set up to combat this ongoing problem and in February 2012 achieved a breakthrough with Fair Work Australia giving community and social sector workers pay raises of up to 45% which began in December 2012.

In Australia, women make up almost half of the national population, but women in leadership roles are still lagging behind with 66 out of 226 federal members of parliament (that’s 29%) being women. In executive and senior public service roles, women in Australia are still underrepresented, but the numbers are slowly increasing. Currently the number of ASX (the Australia Securities Exchange) 200 companies with more than one female director. These numbers are slowly improving though, with women in directorship roles within these companies increasing from 8.4% in 2010 to 12.3% in 2012. The number of ASX companies with more than one female director jumped from 13% in 2010 to 23% in 2012.

Along with the traditional struggles of juggling motherhood and home responsibilities, another hurdle to women succeeding and becoming leaders in the workplace is a lack of confidence in their abilities. A study on social trends carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that women are less likely to put themselves forward for a senior role within a company unless they feel that they are a good fit for the position and they suit all the criteria, whereas as men are not as bothered by this and are more likely to apply for more promotions regardless, hence why there’s more men at the top. Some women simply may not be prepared to make the necessary sacrifices to advance to leadership roles in their careers and are happy with their lot. Which is cool too:)

In America, entrepreneur and Market America vice president Loren Ridinger recently wrote about how the national average in the United States is that women are still being paid only 77 cents in the dollar to their mate counterparts. Loren goes on to say that its up to women everywhere to demand pay equity and that’s the first step towards feeling truly confident in our value as employees.

Loren makes an excellent point-it is up to women to take responsibility and make the changes they want themselves in order to get ahead professionally. It is ambitious pioneering women like Loren, Gail Kelly (the first woman to become CEO of one of Australia’s largest banks in 2002), former magazine editor (back in the day when female magazine editors where unheard of) and current Australian of the Year Ita Buttrose just to name a few whom we can continue to look to for leadership and inspiration towards better conditions for women personally and professionally. The progress we make has always been slow, but it has always been. Imagine where women’s issues will be in 20 years time with the inroads we continue to make:)