Gender


Minding the gap

Two reports have come out confirming that there is ongoing slow progress towards closing the gender pay gap.

The first is an update of data produced by the Workforce Gender Equality Agency, which pulls together rich sources of data classified by industry, region and other variables.

Some analysis of this data is provided in a Conversation contribution by Leonora Risse of the University of Canberra: Women are still being paid almost $30,000 a year less than men and the gap widens with age. (Conversely that means the gap is less among younger workers – does this mean the gap will close as present cohorts age, or will men have easier paths to promotion than women?)

Risse demonstrates that the gender pay gap is greatest in male-intensive industries paying high wages, such as mining and construction.

The other report is from the ACTU: Minding the gap: the 20 reforms that are closing the gender pay gap faster.

Both reports show that the gender pay gap is closing, and that it has been closing a little faster in the last couple of years. Among policy changes mentioned are increases in minimum wages and award wages, and higher pay for workers in early childhood education and aged care. These tend to close the gap in lower-paid occupations, but the gap in higher-paid occupations is less influenced by public policy interventions.

You can hear Mary Wooldridge of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency explaining the agency’s latest findings on Radio National: Gender pay gap released. (8 minutes)


The manosphere

Trump found some of his strongest support among young men. This upset the general observation in previous elections and polls that young people are naturally attracted to liberalism and left causes. Young men are going their own way, widening the political divide between young men and young women. This move has been particularly strong among young men with limited years of schooling.

Writing in Open Forum, Kate Scott of the University of Sydney explains why the “lost boys” love Trump. “They feel overlooked and shortchanged by left-wing politics and current economic outcomes”, she writes.

MAGA makes sense because it “resonates with young men who long for an idealised past in which men’s roles were more clearly defined and opportunities more plentiful”.

She notes that these young men experience high unemployment, or at best low-paid and insecure jobs. They turn to the “manosphere” – “a loose confederacy of social media platforms and influencers flooded with discussions about how ‘woke’ politics, feminism and the rise of progressive values are undermining traditional masculinity”.

Book

A similar account of Trump’s success in capturing the support of young men is given by journalist Jamie Tahsin on Late Night Live: How Barron Trump helped his father court the "bro vote" online. Barron provided the connection to these disaffected and resentful young men who felt ignored and emasculated. (18 minutes)

One strong finding in both accounts is that these young men see gender relations in zero-sum terms: if women are gaining that must mean men are losing.

A particularly worrying observation in Scott’s article is that these young men believe society has become too “soft”.

These accounts are from the US, but the ABC’s Jason Whittaker, reporting on author Jon Ronson’s Q&Aappearance –  Author Jon Ronson on Donald Trump, toxic podcasters and male disaffection – points out that Australian young men are strongly attracted to Donald Trump. While we don’t have the same incidence of deep disadvantage as in America, we do have a high rate of unemployment – 10 percent – among men aged 15 to 24, and it’s particularly high among young men without post-school qualifications.

Tahsin is co-author of Clown world: four years inside Andrew Tate’s manosphere.


Gendered violence

Over recent times there has been heightened awareness of intimate partner violence, but it is very difficult for researchers to determine the factors most likely to lead to violence. There are many closely-related features – alcohol use, unemployment, participation in violent sports, relationship breakdown – making it hard for researchers to determine which factors are drivers and which simply show correlation.

Adriana Vargas Saenz and Nick Haslam of the University of Melbourne have identified one factor, the objectification of women, and have posted a summary of their findings on The Conversation: Young men who see women as objects are more likely to be violent towards their partners.

They refrain from mentioning the role of the advertising industry in the objectification of women, however.


Gendered parliaments

It’s hardly ground-breaking research, but Blair Williams of Monash University and Katrine Beauregard of ANU, writing in The Conversation, assess our eight state and territory parliaments on gender representation: Which Australian states and territories perform best on gender representation in parliament?  They look not only at the proportion of seats held by women, but also at the weight given to gender in policy-making and how parliaments accommodate gender differences . The ACT gets top marks, while Queensland is at the bottom of the list.