Want to know what the Coalition will do about equal pay? According to the story in today’s Daily Telegraph, we can assume nothing will be done to raise the pay rates of the women who provide undervalued child care and community services.

‘MEN who opt to be the primary carer of their newborn babies will have their parental leave paid at the mother’s pay rate – not their own – under the Coalition’s paid parental leave scheme. Opposition childcare spokeswoman Sharman Stone says it would be too expensive to give men replacement wages for six months, while they took time off work to care for the baby, given the imbalance in pay rates between males and females. “In our policy, if dad is the primary carer he will be paid at mum’s wage rate,” Ms Stone told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.”

This will be embedded in the legislation for the Abbott Parental Leave Scheme so we can assume that the Coalition has no plans for closing the gaps in pay that come from sex discrimination, not hours worked. The current Government is at least backing a case under the Fair Work which looks at comparable worth, rather than the same work. This would counter the lower basic child care payments vis a vis car parking attendants, for instance.

The next paragraph shows the difference in average full time pay ‘ABS statistics for February 2010 show men earn an average of $1330.60 per week, while women earn $1091.30 per week.’ And later Sharman Stone makes it clear that this is not because Dad can’t breastfeed, but because of costs.

‘The Coalition’s decision to pay fathers replacement wage rates at the mother’s wage rate is being driven by the need to rein in the cost of the $2.7 billion scheme. Ms Stone said men were paid on average 18 per cent more than women and to give them replacement wages would be a “further cost impost” on the expensive scheme.

At a time when gender is an issue, it is interesting that the Coalition assumes that women will continue to be paid less than men, without questioning whether it is fair or whether it needs to be changed. And some of the fewer high earning women will find it attractive as the comment below shows.

• Jackie of sydney Posted at 7:59 AM Today

I earn more then my husband so will he get paid at my rate? a pay rise for six months, that’s not too bad. It’s good to be able to get something back for all the taxes I have paid over the years in the workforce, it will be the only thing our family will ever receive from the government so might as well make the most of it.