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CEDA Women in Leadership Series
Video

CEDA Women in Leadership Series

Libby Lyons

CEDA, 2016

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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable
  • Eye Opening
  • Visionary

Recommendation

The developed world has made strides in promoting gender equality, yet pay disparities persist. Libby Lyons of the Committee for Economic Development of Australia argues that closing the pay gap isn’t simply a matter of demanding equal pay for equal work but of addressing gender imbalances in the workforce. Though based on Australian data, her recommendations for closing the pay gap are applicable throughout the developed world.

Take-Aways

  • In Australia, full-time working men earned 23% more than full-time working women on average in 2016. 
  • Reasons for the gender pay gap include bias, industry segregation and the tendency for women, rather than men, to take time out of the workforce to care for dependents. 
  • Occupational gender segregation can precipitate labor shortages such as in nursing, where women make up 90% of the workforce.

About the Speaker

Libby Lyons is the director of the Australian government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency.