Push for mums and dads to get paid parental leave

Rules that limit parental leave to the “primary carer” should be scrapped after helping to drive a 14 per cent gender pay gap.

Paid parental leave should be available equally to mums and dads, according to Australia’s new workplace gender equality chief.

Paid parental leave should be available equally to mums and dads, according to Australia’s new workplace gender equality chief, who is calling on employers and the government to offer more flexible entitlements.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency director Mary Wooldridge says existing parental leave options are a “big driver of inequality in the workplace”, and rules that limit parental leave to a “primary carer” should be scrapped.

Speaking before Equal Pay Day on Tuesday, after Australia’s gender pay gap increased to 14.2 per cent, Ms Wooldridge said parental leave was one of several issues to be confronted to “shift the dial”.

The gender pay gap is expected to take 26 years to close, and Ms Wooldridge said gender stereotypes and discrimination were still rife in Australian workplaces.

But in her first interview since taking on the key role, she said the pandemic was a major opportunity to enable flexible working arrangements and reduce inequality.

The agency measures the pay gap among companies with more than 100 staff, covering four million workers. Among those who work full time, the pay gap is now 20.1 per cent – meaning men earn $25,534 more than women – and 12.2 per cent in Victoria, having blown out by 2.6 per cent over the past year.

Ms Wooldridge, a former Victorian government minister, said she was focused on “highly masculinised” sectors, including construction, which had driven the increase in the pay gap.

She said one of the highest pay gaps was in mining, despite women being paid more than in any other sector, while workers in “highly feminised” sectors, including healthcare and social services, were predominantly low-paid.

Asked whether government and employer parental leave policies were appropriate, Ms Wooldridge said: “I think everyone can do more, and needs to do more.”

She said only half of employers offered paid parental leave, while just 6.5 per cent of men took leave as primary carers.

“There shouldn’t be a distinction between primary and secondary carers, and men and women should be equally able to make those choices,” Ms Wooldridge said.

She said flexibility with hours and working from home was “one of the biggest inhibitors” for women, and she was “very optimistic” employers would stick with changes forced during the pandemic.

Equal Pay Day will be held on August 31 to mark the extra 61 days from the end of the last financial year that women have to work to catch up to men, on average.

Originally published as Push for mums and dads to get paid parental leave