Around 9,500 women completed the CPSU's What Women Want survey which asked comprehensive questions about the experiences of women in the workplace.
Now in its fourth year, What Women What is conducted in conjunction with University of Queensland’s Institute for Social Science Research.
While most women said they were satisfied with what they achieved at
work, the survey results indicate that many women do not have enough in
their superannuation to comfortably self-fund their retirement. On top
of this financial uncertainty, the results reveal that women are under
more pressure than ever due to caring responsibilities and out-of-hours
office contact.
The CPSU will use the results of the survey to shape union policy and
to campaign for greater equity in the workplace.
Issues revealed
in this years survey include:
Super squeeze
25.8% of women surveyed did not know how much super they had.
22.8%
indicated they had between $10,000 and $50,000 in super, well below the
recommended amount needed to live comfortably in retirement
64.6% of women had never seen a financial planner about superannuation or their retirement.
CPSU Deputy Secretary Nadine Flood said the results on
superannuation were of great concern. "The simple fact is that the overwhelming majority of respondents
approaching retirement age do not have enough money in their
superannuation account to comfortably fund their retirement. The results also show that many women are unclear about
superannuation, both in terms of what scheme they are in and how much
money they have accumulated towards their retirement." she said.
Pressure on the sandwich generation
The survey results provide
clear evidence that many women caring for children are also caring for
others such as parents, adult children and partners. Despite these
caring responsibilities, nearly a quarter (23.5%) of women reported
that taking time away from work for personal matters was frowned upon.
The majority (83.6 %) of full time women reported working additional
hours and one in 10 of these said they received no additional
compensation for this. Compared with the 2008 survey results, the
survey shows that more women are being contacted more frequently out of
hours.
Flexible work arrangements
Flexible working arrangements have
never before been more important to women. Being able to negotiate part
time work was very important or important to 78.8 per cent of women
with dependents. The survey results show that while flexible work
provisions are important to women, they were rarely able to access them
regularly. Nearly 23.5% of women reported that taking time away from
work for personal matters was frowned upon.
Bullying and Harassment
A third of women (31.6%) experienced
bullying at work in the last 12 months. The most common forms of
bullying behaviour were being put down, especially in front of others;
being subject to excessive criticism at work; and, being deliberately
excluded from normal work conversation, work related social events
and/or networks in the workplace. Bullying behaviour was most often
reported as being instigated by direct supervisors. Only two in five
(40.7%) women who had experienced bullying or harassment in their
current workplace had reported the incident. Of those who reported an
incident of bullying or harassment, just 12.5 per cent were satisfied
with the response of management to their concerns.
