A new research report from the University of Canberra (UC) has found that inequality between men and women in the workplace continues to be alive and well.
UC’s report, From Girls to Men: Social Attitudes to Gender Equality in Australia reveals that 88 per cent of Australians believe women are not treated equally to men.
The finding is one of many captured in the national study undertaken by UC’s 50/50 by 2030 Foundation. It is based on a survey of more than 2,000 people.
Uncovering respondents’ attitudes to issues of sexism and gender inequality, the report also found that women (63 per cent) and men (53 per cent) agreed that sexism was most prevalent in politics.
Meanwhile, nearly half of all male respondents felt that men had been forgotten in the struggle for gender equality.
The report found that rural people had a more positive view of gender equality than city dwellers.
“While 70 per cent of metropolitan respondents identified as being progressive compared to 65 per cent of rural respondents, when combined with moderate and traditional perspectives, the moderate voice in rural Australia (66 per cent) overpowered the traditional voice in metropolitan areas (44 per cent),” the report found.
It also found that after politics, men and women agreed sexism was most common in the workplace and in Australia’s media industry.
Most men believed political correctness benefitted women in the workplace.
According to the report, Millennial males held increasingly traditional views — some 62 per cent who played online video games for an above average length of time aligned positively with traditional views on gender equality.
Director of UC’s Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, and the report’s co-author, Mark Evans, said the report exposed Australians’ reluctance to embrace gender equality.
“Our findings reveal that although Australia has some of the best anti-discrimination legislative frameworks in the world, a climate of bias and backlash towards women remains,” Professor Evans said.
“Across the country, women and girls are failing to flourish as they should, particularly given the country’s decade-long world number one ranking in female education.”
The University’s 64-page report can be accessed at this PS News link.
