New research by the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) has found that the participation of women in the Australian workforce has been the single most measurable shift in the national economy in the past 40 years.
The Institute’s findings form part of its Families Then and Now series, mapping key changes in Australian households from 1980 to 2019.
Director of AIFS, Anne Hollonds said one of the most significant employment shifts since the 1980s had been the growing number of mothers in the workforce, with figures more than doubling since 1984.
“Better access to part-time jobs and childcare, and also changes in social attitudes about working mothers, has seen more mums enter and stay in the workforce,” Ms Hollonds said.
“Female participation in the workforce used to have an ‘M-shaped’ distribution, meaning labour force participation was quite high when women were in their teens and early 20s, then dropped off between 24 and 35 when they were having children.”
She said it then jumped back up again after 35 when the kids were older.
“Now, that M-shape has flattened significantly. We don’t have that same dip in the number of women in the workforce around childbearing age,” Ms Hollonds said.
However, while there were more women working now than 40 years ago, they were still being paid significantly less than their male counterparts.
“In 1981, the gender pay gap was 23 per cent, compared to 17 per cent at the end of 2019. There’s been some progress towards equal pay for women, but not much,” Ms Hollonds said.
“While the number of families with both parents working has increased since the 1980s, the allocation of time spent in paid and unpaid work still remains heavily influenced by gender —with fathers usually in full-time employment, and mothers often working part-time, or not at all.”
She noted that while the percentage of stay-at-home dads increased between 1981 and 2001 (1.9 per cent to 4.5 per cent), the increase has since stagnated, with the percentage of stay-at-home dads just 4.6 per cent in 2016.
“This suggests that while the number of mothers in the workforce has grown substantially in the last 40 years, household dynamics haven’t changed nearly as much. Mums are still much more likely to be the primary caregivers for children,” Ms Hollonds said.
