The following essay is about female participation rates within the Australian workforce over time. I wrote this as a supplementry assignment in Australian Economic History 202. If I remember right I think I got an A for this assignment.

“Employee participation is a diverse concept with the meaning of the term differing widely between uses” There are basically three different rationales of employee participation, and they are: the ethical, social/political and economic. This essay will focus on the economic rationale which “views employee participation as being a means to promote the economic/productive efficiency of the undertaking.” (Kenner, p 2) According to an economics textbook the participation rate is the percentage of working population in the labour force. (McTaggert et al, G-13) It is calculated by the following equation:

In the case of female participation rate and male participation rate, the “total labour force” is replaced by the “total amount of females in the labour force” or “total amount of males in the labour force.

Since the Second World War the participation rates of older males have been declining, while the participation rates of females have been increasing; especially married females. (Maddock, p 264) The older males’ participation rate has been declining as they have been retiring earlier, while younger males’ participation rate has been falling because an increasing amount of them have been staying in school for longer, and not entering the workforce at such young ages. (The Role of Women in the Economy, 1981)

The female participation rate has been declining for a number of reasons, all which tie back to the fact that society now accepts that females work, and often encourages it. This has lead to more married woman with children have been entering the workforce, most usually as part time workers. (ABOL, Vol. 19 (Dec 1993) p 278) Increased standards of education for females and levels of immigration have also had a positive effect on the participation rate of females in the Australian workforce. Women’s conditions, wages and legislation in the workplace have also been changing (for the better) which has also encouraged more women to either enter or re-enter the workforce. Only once in Australia’s history have women actually replaced men in the workforce, and that was when they had to in the Second World War. (Dyster, p 183) Now more women are entering the workforce and changing employer’s flexibility so that they are able to be a part of the workforce as well as raise a family.

As noted above, the biggest factor for the change in the participation rate in the workforce of elderly males has been the earlier age of retirement. Table 1 in the appendix reflects this clearly as it shows that the mean and median ages of males within the workforce have actually been falling. This may be occurring because of superannuation and therefore higher rates of savings, but it may also be because they are being replaced by younger and fresher minds and therefore being forced into earlier retirement. (Maddock, p 64) The participation rate of younger males in the workforce has also been declining, in 1964, 71 % of males aged 15-19 were working, but by 1972 this number had fallen to 57%. (The Role of Women in the Economy, p 4) This has been occurring because there has been an increase in the number of males that are furthering their studies, completing year 12 and going onto tertiary education. It can be seen in Table 2 that the amount of male students is quite high, especially those completing masters and doctorates.

Female participation rates in the workforce have increased dramatically in the past 50 years. Between 1949 and 1959 the growth in females in the workforce (roughly 30%) had actually outpaced that of the population. (Dyster, p 213) This can be seen in Graph 1, where the amount of females in the workforce (nearly every age) has been increasing, and it predicted to keep doing so. One big reason for this has been the high amounts of immigration that Australia was experiencing through the early parts of this period. As can be seen in Table 3 and 4 net migration was fairly high through till the late 1980’s. After this time this time (into the 1990’s) it began to slowdown as public opinion became negative about the high amounts of migration that were occurring, and pressured to government to slow it down. (ABOF, Vol. 22 (Sept 1996), p 183) Generally immigration has had a positive affect on female participation rate because “migrants initially expand and sustain manufacturing employment, and married women facilitate the expansion of the service sector.” (Maddock, p 264)

The effect of high amounts of migration on the Australian economy was quite dramatic. In the early years immigration not only increased the population, it also increased the workforce, total aggregate demand, total production and total social overhead capital. (Dyster, p 213) This meant there was an increase of hospitals and schools, which have been predominately seen as female occupations. (Refer to Table 5, 6 and 7) In the 70’s and 80’s immigration increased output, output per head, output per worker, aggregate demand and investment. (Dyster, p 301) This is due to the change in immigration laws in Australia at this time, where to immigrate to Australia a successful applicant must have certain skills, education and finance.

As can be seen in Table 5, 6 and 7 women have throughout the last 50 years been employed primarily in business and community services. For example: professions, hospitals and schools. “Retailers, the core of the commerce sector, hired women to stand behind the counters as consumer spending strengthened. (Dyster, p 213) Although, over time more women are entering fields of employment that are considered “men’s work” (for example engineering, refer to Table 7), women are still basically in the same fields of work now that they were 50 years ago. The Vernon report noted that this would probably be the case for some time in 1960. It identified a widening of job opportunities for women, but in stereotyped sectors. (Dyster, p 243)

Segmentation of male and female dominated jobs within the workforce has lead to high wage differentials throughout this time. This has been slowly changing, as women have been becoming more involved in trade unions and fought for equal wages. Trade unions have successfully aided in the introduction of legislation, which has been aimed at removing discrimination against women, especially concerning issues of inequality. (Australian Women’s Year Book, p 69) For example in 1949 wages in occupations assumed to be female (nurses and secretaries) were raised to three-quarters of the male wage rate. Also, in 1958 legislation was passed that schoolteachers no matter what sex they are get equal wages. (Dyster, p 242) This increasing level of female workers’ real wages has encouraged more women to enter, re-enter or remain in the workforce to a greater extent. (The Role of Women in the Economy, p 6)

As noted above more women have been becoming more involved in trade unions within Australia in the hope that they will have the opportunity to fight for equal wages. Historically less women have involved with unions for many different reasons, but the main reason is that more women are employed on a part-time basis then men. Unions are not interested in employing part time workers who have less commitment to the labor market because, the chances of retaining their membership for a long period of time is not very high. (Galenson, p 26) Roughly 75% of full time workers are men, while 75% of part time workers are female (The role of Women in the Economy, p 6) Also, between 1982 and 1994 the number of casual jobs in Australia actually doubled. (ABOL, Vol. 22 (Dec 1996), p 288)

More women work part time then full time so that they are able to bring extra income into the household while at the same time having the time to run the household itself. (ABOL, Vol. 19 (Dec 1993), p 278) Part time work also gives these women the opportunity to stay in the work force and therefore exercise the skills, which would otherwise be depreciating if they were just housewives. This makes it a lot easier for them to find full time work when their children are not as dependent on them. (ABOL, Vol. 19 (Dec 1993), p 288) One big factor in the increase of available part time and casual jobs is that more shops have been extending retail hours in many states. (The Role of Women in the Economy, p 6) Another is that there has been an increase in demand for labour, especially in the service sector, which tends to employ a large amount of part time and casual workers. (Pope, p 72)

The one unfortunate draw back to this increase in part time and casual jobs for is that most part time work is in low paying positions within the service sector which are generally less skilled. This is making it harder for women to cross the bridge and break the trends of male/female job segmentation and wage differentials. Still, more females are being given the opportunity to enter/re-enter the workforce as employers have been forced to become more conscious of female’s values as employees, and therefore offer more flexible part time or casual work. (The Role of Women in the Economy, p 9) This has had a huge affect on the increase of female participation rates within the Australian workforce.

As noted earlier the participation rate of younger males has been decreasing due to more of them staying longer in schooling. More females have also started to stay in school for longer lengths of time, often going onto tertiary education. This can be noted in Appendix 2, 8, 9 and 10 where it can be seen that females are outnumbering men in many fields of higher education. Actually this has been the case since 1987. (Australian Women’s Year Book, p 53) The affect of these higher levels of education is not only to be more educated, but also make them more aware of inequalities that lay within the workforce. It has also helped open the door for females to jobs, which have been predominately male, therefore help increase the female participation in the Australian workforce.

The largest change within the female participation rate has been by married women with children, who are either entering or re-entering the workforce. For example in 1954 only 12.6 % of married women were working. In 1974 this number jumped to 40.7% (The Role of Women in the Economy, p 5). And, by 1990 this amount had reached 53.7%. (ABOF, Vol. 19 (Sept 1993), p 200) In Table 1 it can also be seen that the mean and median age for females has been increasing as more of these married women enter the workforce. It has actually been noted that the participation rate of women bears a close relation to their age and the number of children under six years old. (The Role of Women in the Economy, p 1) This shows that one thing that could have a dramatic affect on married women working may be the availability of support services namely childcare and labour saving devices around the home. (The Role of Women in the Economy, p 9)

There have been many things that attract these women back to the workforce, but one of the biggest is probably the fact that through the increase in part time work they can now effectively juggle home life with work. Another is the fact that new legislation has been providing support to mothers of young children so that they may combine motherhood and work, or even assist them to return to the workforce after an absence for childbearing and childrearing. Society’s views have also influenced the return of married women to the workforce, through not only it being now more socially acceptable, but by influencing the legislation itself. (Pope, p 72)

The clearest answer to this question is simply no they have not. The workforce is actually still disproportionately male and is predicted to be so for some time. (Grills, p 51) This can be seen through Graph 1, which clearly shows there are more males in the workforce then males. This fact is also supported by other evidence, the clearest of which can be seen in Appendix 6. Women are not making a very large infiltration into predominately male jobs, but where they are doing so men are making up for this by infiltrating more into predominately female jobs, for example primary teachers. More evidence of this is seen through the fact that the service industry has grown in Australia, and therefore offered many flexible part time jobs, which many women are willing to do (especially those that are married with children) In some cases men are actually becoming the “housewives” as they look after the family while their wife is the main breadwinner of the family. This is proof that women are not replacing men, just that society has become more accepting to changes in roles of the males and females.

Only once in Australia’s history have women actually replaced men in the workforce, and this was under the very different circumstances of the Second World War. During this time men were obviously leaving Australia, their usual work and family to go to war overseas. Women then filled the vacancies that were left by men, especially in paddocks, factories and offices. In July 1939 women made up 27.5% of the workforce, and by June 1943 this number peaked at 33.8% (roughly 780 000 females). (Dyster, p 175) This number was not again surpassed until the 1955 when the number of females in the workforce naturally progressed to this amount. (Dyster, p 183) Of course when the men returned home female labour had to be shed, because there was not the demand there once had been for certain war goods and services, and then men often returned to their jobs which had been replaced temporarily by females.

All over the world the participation rates of female participation rates have been increasing. In comparison Australia is about middle of the line at roughly 53%, as country’s such as Russia this number has been about 83%. (Grills, p 45) The participation rate of older men has been falling at the same time in Australia, and many other structural changes have been occurring such as the amount of full time and part time jobs. The reasons for these changes in participation rate vary greatly, but probably the biggest impact has been the change in social attitude towards working woman. People have begun to realize that if they want higher living standards, and to actually be able to pay off their mortgages that a dual income is nearly a necessity. Females have not replaced men in the workforce, nor will they in the future. They have just taken the opportunity to enter the workforce, usually in the many part time jobs that have been created through the expansion of the service sector and longer retail hours.