Occupational segregation and gender pay equity strategies in Australia: comparison, revaluation or raising minimum wages?

Australia's gender pay gap is linked to the growth of feminised service occupations. Comparative statistics help contextualise the degree of occupational segregation, and longitudinal data show the wage penalty in emerging female-dominated occupations. The gender pay gap derives from Australia's institutional history whereby a living ‘award’ wage, originating in ‘male breadwinner’ concepts, underpinned occupational hierarchies based on masculinised skill concepts and collectivelybargained over-award rates. Comparable occupational structures are missing in emerging feminised service occupations, characterised by job insecurity, weak bargaining power in small workplaces, low minimum award wages and non-recognition of care-work skills. Pay equity strategies face a dilemma: find comparable jobs in masculinised occupations with which to claim equality, or adopt a reversal strategy, affirming the different intrinsic worth of feminised caring occupations. Australian developments in 2022–23 suggest the efficacy of a third approach: removing historical barriers to claiming the value of previously undocumented care-work skills, whilst improving job security and raising minimum wages overall.