Community Leadership Program and Valuing ‘Women’s Work’

I was very excited to have recently been accepted into a Community Leadership Program in my local area. We had our first session this week and I really enjoyed hearing what other people had to say and learning about ‘leadership’. The material covered was great and really interesting. The group was fairly diverse in terms of ages and backgrounds (not cultural background though). Out of the 17 participants, 15 were women and 2 were men. I was quite surprised by this as traditionally leadership has been seen as a man’s role. I was talking with the facilitator after the first session about this observation and I asked about his other workshops. He said that predominantly the participants in this program are women. I think that probably the ‘community’ element of the course description influenced the gender attendance rates. Traditionally, community/caring work has been seen as an extension of ‘women’s work’ ie. caring, welfare etc. I think that if the course was a Business Leadership Program the attendance ratio might be very different.
I am really enjoying my course, but am having mixed feelings. It really disappoints me that work in the community and caring sectors is still seen as ‘women’s work’ as demonstrated by the lack of men attending the course. However, I am really happy to see that this work and unique type of leadership is starting to be valued (by society) and recognised as something worthwhile and inspirational. The course was fully paid for by the local council to encourage community leadership and, I guess, value the contributions made in a field which is predominantly seen as women’s work.

A recent (potentially landmark) case for pay equity for the community/social services sector was won in Queensland. This was made up of a three pronged/three stage approach. Part of this campaign compared the education requirements, on the job training and further study of social workers and engineers. It was found that these jobs were quite similar in the requirements for education/training. The main difference in these sectors (apart from the pays) was the gender ratio. As I’m sure you’re aware engineering is generally male dominated and social work is generally female dominated. The pay difference between these two sectors is quite large, despite needing similar levels of education etc.
I can’t find the arguments for the pay rise, but it was based firmly in feminist theory stating basically that the reason for the pay differential was the historic undervaluing of women’s work, and seeing community work as an extension of being a woman rather than as skilled work. Based on this and other arguments put forward, the case was won and social workers in QLD received a pay rise (the details are still being worked out for some services).
From the July 2009 of the QSU Member Magazine – check out all of the 2009 newsletters, they all have some information about the case in them. (http://www.asuqld.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=435&Itemid=23):
“Commissioner Glenys Fisher recognised that this undervaluation was gender based. This is because care work is seen to be an extension of women’s role in the home and not valued properly. Community services workers are overwhelmingly female and not industrially aggressive – being focused instead on providing assistance to disadvantaged individuals, families and communities. The case relied on the evidence of community workers, union officials, workforce experts and academics and is only the third Pay Equity case to be decided in Queensland. Importantly, it is the only case that has looked at a whole industry rather than a single occupation.
These wage increases average around 18% and up to 37% over a three year period.”
From this winning case, a national test case started a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed that the hard work which paid off in Queensland will bring results for the rest of the nation. I think it would be fantastic to see something similar for other sectors dominated by women (ie. education, nursing etc.). If you’re interested you can read more about the national test case here:

http://www.asuqld.asn.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1377&Itemid=51