BY DAKOTA TAIT
A new report's found, women across the Hunter are being paid on average $60,000 a year less than men.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency is putting the 40 percent gap down to the high concentration of men in high-paying industries such as mining and manufacturing, compared to the prevalence of women in lower-paying industries such as healthcare and social assistance.
Hunter Workers Women's Committee Chair Leanne Holmes says policy change is essential to levelling the playing field.
"We need to increase the wages and conditions of those lower-paying industries where women tend to work," she said. "And really increase, in both spaces, the capacity for women to earn better money."
"That includes making sure there's flexibility in rostering, and the support network you need at work when women have generally got caring responsibilities outside of work."
It's hoped the Federal Government's new workplace relations legislation will enable measures to encourage women's aspirations and participation across a wider range of sectors.
Ms Holmes is also calling for action on discrimination and sexual violence against women in male-dominated industries.
She says Australia needs to take a holistic approach to the issue.
"[Women] are on the lower incomes in the first place, they've got caring responsibilities, the cost of living is through the roof at the moment," she said.
"You only have to watch the news and see that there's mums with kids desperately trying to find housing, trying to afford food. This compounds it."
"The money is there. We just need to get women in industries."
