Women, work and industrial relations in Australia in 2014

Abstract

This paper provides a review of Australian policy and regulatory developments in 2014 that influence the working conditions of over 5.4 million women. After an assessment of progress against key gender equality indicators, we focus on two key components of the current gender equality ‘architecture’: employment regulation and policy and the work and care infrastructure that supports working women and gender equality more broadly. We review key developments in regulation providing minimum labour standards and anti-discrimination protections for women workers. We then turn to recent developments in the work and care infrastructure, including childcare, paid parental leave and equal pay. Despite having better regulatory and institutional arrangements than exist in some other developed economies, we conclude that without an explicit national gender equality policy framework, progress towards decent work for Australian working women is likely to be incremental at best.