Women in Australia
2004
Women in Australia
2004
Over the latter part of the last century, changes in social attitudes concerning the roles and responsibilities of women and men have influenced the education participation and attainment levels of females.1
In 2003, women and girls continued their strong performance and participation in education and training. Since the mid 1970s, girls have been more likely than boys to continue through secondary school to the uppermost level of schooling, as indicated by year 12 apparent retention rates. This difference between males and females has continued. In 1990, for example, the apparent retention rate to year 12 for girls and boys was 70 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.2 By 2003, the rates were 81 per cent (girls) and 70 per cent (boys).3
The Apparent Retention Rate The 'year 7/8 to year 12 apparent retention rate' is the number of full-time students in year 12 divided by the number of full-time students into the first year of secondary school (year 7 in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania; year 8 in Queensland, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia) when the year 12 cohort began secondary school. Care should be taken in interpreting apparent retention rates as they do not account for students repeating a year or migrating into or out of the relevant school student population.4
While retention rates for secondary school students, particularly girls, are increasing, these numbers differ when examined geographically. That is, students in remote and regional areas are more likely than those in cities to face problems of access and limited choice as they aim to complete their education. Residents of regional and remote Australia have consistently had lower rates of attendance in the non-compulsory years 11 and 12 of school and at non-school education institutions than city residents.5
Evidence from Haberkorn et. al. indicated that in 1996, average school attendance rates of 16 year olds in non-capital city Australia were below those for capital city Australia (76 per cent and 83 per cent respectively). Attendance rates had remained stable over time, increasing only 0.6 per cent across Australia between 1991 and 1996. However, in non-capital city areas, there was a decline of 0.6 per cent in this period.6
According to Collins et al., in 1996 rural girls were only five per cent less likely to complete school than urban girls, but the chances of rural boys completing school were 11 per cent less than for urban boys. Girls and boys in remote areas were both noticeably more unlikely to complete school than their urban counterparts: 19 per cent and 16 per cent respectively'.7
Haberkorn et. al. found a negative relationship between the proportion of 16 year olds in school and the degree of remoteness. However, some care needs to be taken in interpreting this as people aged 16 who grew up in remote areas may have left home to continue their education.8
Changes in educational participation among older people have been influenced by shifts towards life long learning and the need to develop and update knowledge and skills required for changes in the labour market. This is shown by the increasing education participation rates of those aged 25-64 years.9
According to Education and Work, Australia, the proportion of people aged between 15 and 64 years, enrolled in a course leading to a qualification (96 per cent of enrollees or 2,338,100 persons) increased from 16 per cent in may 1993 to 18 per cent in May 2003. Of these people, 53 per cent were female.10
Women had a high representation in the study of non-school qualifications in 2003. Women comprised 59 per cent of Graduate Diploma/GraduateCertificate students, 56 per cent of Advanced diploma/Diploma and Bachelor Degree students and 51 per cent of Postgraduate degree students.11
The results of the 2003 Graduate Destination Survey (GDS) show that 80 per cent of bachelor degree graduates available for full-time employment were in full-time employment within four months of completing their qualifications.12
The GDS publication The Grad Files notes, "While the percentage fell slightly from last year, the actual number of graduates in full-time employment rose from 31,715 to 34,999".13
However The Grad Files continues, "These figures represent a continued levelling-off of employment prospects for new graduates, first seen in 2002, after a period of improvement and consolidation between 1999 and 2001".14
Females were somewhat more likely than males (13 per cent compared to 11 per cent) to have been in part-time or casual employment while seeking a full-time position.15
As the Gradlink publication, Gradstats has found:
This difference (regularly seen in Graduate Destination Survey figures) is likely to be a reflection of females' numerical dominance in fields of study such as teaching and nursing, in which there are strong opportunities for professional part-time employment.16
In 2003, the median graduate starting salary for bachelor degree graduates in their first full-time position was $37,000. (This was 82 per cent of the annual rate of average weekly earnings for this time ($45,100). The median starting salary for male graduates was $38,000 while female graduates started on $36,300.17
The overall salary for females was 96 per cent of males' earnings (compared with 95 per cent in 2002, 94 per cent in 2001, 92 per cent in 2000 and 1999). This figure is down from 97 per cent in 1998 and 95 per cent in 1997.18
As Gradstats continues:
For most fields of study there was a small or negligible, difference between salaries for males and females. However, males earned markedly more than females in the fields of dentistry (($8,100) difference), medicine ($5,000 difference), art and design ($3,900 difference) and paramedical studies and humanities (both $2,000 difference).
In those fields in which the difference was in the females' favour, the size of the difference was negligible [for example pharmacy at $27,000 for women and $26,000 for men].19
Gradstats outlines that:
Difference in starting salaries between males and females can be partly explained in terms of the differing employment profiles of male and female students. Males tend to have enrolled in the more highly paying fields of study while females tended to come from the middle and lower paying fields.
An examination of the top five ranked fields in terms of starting salaries; dentistry, optometry, medicine, engineering and education shows that they account for 45.3 per cent of male respondents but only 30.0 per cent of females.20
In 2001, females made up 49 per cent of vocational education and training students.
Post compulsory education and training, excluding degree and higher-level programs delivered by higher educational institutions, which provides people with occupational or work-related knowledge and skills. Vocational education and training also includes programs which provide the basis for subsequent vocational programs.21
Of chosen discipline groups, the greatest number of women were found in social, educational and employment skills (43 per cent), administration, business, economics and law (41 per cent) and mathematics and computing (35 per cent). The largest numbers of male students were found in social, education and employment skills (37 per cent), health sciences (34 per cent) and administration, business, economics and law and engineering, processing (both at 31 per cent).
* Study or training related to a person's career or occupation, or undertaken to improve job or career.
Source: National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2002, unpublished data, Annual Apprentice and Trainee Statistics 2002, Adelaide.
According to the annual publication, Annual Apprentice and Trainee Statistics 2002, (latest data available):
In 2002, there were 135,200 female and 239,600 male apprentices and trainees in training In the five years between 1996 and 2002 the increase in the number of females in training was particularly strong as their number quadrupled. During this period, the number of males increased by 83 per cent. This corresponds to an annual growth rate of 26 per cent for females and 11 per cent for males.
Proportionately, the number of female apprentices and trainees in training increased from 20 per cent at 31 December 1996 to 36 per cent at 31 December 2002, while the number of male apprentices and trainees in-training decreased from 80 per cent to 64 per cent.22
When analysing apprentice and trainee numbers, caution must be exercised. Until 1998 the term apprenticeships referred to the traditional trade apprenticeship fields, with traineeships being a separate category of entry-level training. The strongest and most rapid growth in apprentice numbers (over 40 per cent) occurred between 1998 and 2001, partly due to the integration of apprenticeships and traineeships into the single "New Apprenticeship" system in 1998.23
"It's a job you don't do for the money, it's very satisfying working outside and being creative...The work is great, I love it. My friends used to laugh but now they all want me to come and do work for them".24 Elizabeth Thornton, HIA apprentice of the year, 2003
*Derived from NCVER Apprentice and Trainee statistics and ABS labour force data (December 2002). Training rates are calculated on the basis of employed persons.
Source: NCVER, Annual Apprentice and Trainee statistics 2002, unpublished data.
1 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002, Measuring Australia's Progress, (Cat. No. 1370.0), Canberra.
2 Ibid.
3 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2003, Schools 2003, (Cat. No. 4221.0), Canberra.
4 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002, Schools, Australia 2001, (Cat. No. 4221.0), Canberra.
5 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2003, Australian Social Trends 2003, (Cat. No. 4102.0), Canberra.
6 Haberkorn, G., Hugo, G., Fisher, M., and Aylward, R. 1999, Country Matters: Social Atlas of Rural and Regional Australia, Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra.
7 Collins, C., Kenway, J. and McLeod, J. 2000, Factors Influencing the Educational Performances of Males and Females in School and their Initial Destinations After Leaving School, Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs, Canberra. Brya, R. 2000, Policy Research Paper No. 8: Social Indicators for Regional Australia, Department of Family and Community Services, Canberra.
8 Haberkorn, G., Hugo, G., Fisher, M., and Aylward, R. 1999, Country Matters: Social Atlas of Rural and Regional Australia, Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra.
9 Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2002, above n 1.
10 Australian Bureau of Statistics, above n 3.
11 Ibid.
12 Graduate Careers Council of Australia 2003, The Grad Files 2003, http://www.gradlink.edu.au, viewed 7 May 2004.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Ibid.
21 Australian Bureau of Statistics 2002, Education and Training Indicators, Australia, (Cat. No. 4230.0), Canberra.
22 National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2002, Annual Apprentice and Trainee Statistics 2002, Adelaide.
23 National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2002, Vocational Education and Training in Australia: 1991 to 2000, Adelaide.
24 O'Brian, S. 2003, Hard Worker is Finally in Frame, Herald Sun, 8 September 2003, page 4.
| Women | Men | Female | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| proportion | |||||
| 000 | % | 000 | % | % | |
| Number of Students(b) | 859.5 | 897.3 | 48.9 | ||
| Discipline Group | |||||
| Humanities | 179.1 | 20.9 | 152.4 | 17.1 | 53.9 |
| Social studies | 46.0 | 5.4 | 17.3 | 1.9 | 72.6 |
| Education | 45.8 | 5.4 | 42.2 | 4.7 | 51.9 |
| Sciences | 66.3 | 7.7 | 88.8 | 9.9 | 42.7 |
| Mathematics, computing | 300.4 | 35.1 | 268.3 | 30.0 | 52.6 |
| Visual/performing arts | 46.7 | 5.5 | 30.2 | 3.4 | 60.5 |
| Engineering/processing | 43.0 | 5.0 | 274.4 | 30.7 | 13.5 |
| Health sciences | 293.1 | 34.2 | 311.2 | 34.8 | 48.4 |
| Administration, business, economics, law | 353.5 | 41.3 | 280.1 | 31.3 | 55.6 |
| Built environment | 15.2 | 1.8 | 99.3 | 11.1 | 13.2 |
| Agriculture, renewable resources | 30.4 | 3.6 | 82.0 | 9.2 | 27.0 |
| Hospitality, tourism and personal services | 158.9 | 18.6 | 127.9 | 14.3 | 55.3 |
| Social, educational and employment skills | 369.7 | 43.2 | 327.3 | 36.6 | 52.9 |
| Total(c)(d) | 856.0 | 893.5 | 48.7 | ||
| Labour force status(e) | |||||
| Employed | 405.4 | 47.4 | 455.1 | 50.9 | 47.0 |
| Unemployed | 124.2 | 14.5 | 118.2 | 13.2 | 51.2 |
| Not in the labour force | 119.2 | 13.9 | 90.5 | 10.1 | 56.8 |
| Not known | 207.2 | 24.2 | 229.7 | 25.7 | 47.0 |
| Total(c) | 856.0 | 100.0 | 893.5 | 100.0 | 48.7 |
(a) Study or training related to a person's career or occupation, or undertaken to improve job or career opportunities mostly provided in TAFE Institutions. Includes publicly funded courses only.
(b) Includes students whose sex was not stated by distributing this group pro rata.
(c) Excludes students whose sex was not stated.
(d) Students may be involved in more than one discipline group, and therefore components may add to more than total.
(e) At time of enrolment.
Source: National Centre for Vocational Education Research
| Women | Men | Female | |
|---|---|---|---|
| proportion | |||
| '000 | '000 | % | |
| Number of apprentices and trainees(b) | 135.2 | 239.6 | 36.1 |
| Commencements | 113.8 | 144.3 | 44.1 |
| Recommencements | 4.0 | 8.0 | 33.2 |
| Cancellations and withdrawals | 38.7 | 55.8 | 41.0 |
| Completions | 46.6 | 63.9 | 42.2 |
(a) Subject to revision, estimated series of figures for calender year, based on Dec 2002.
(b) Based on the number of clients in training in the system at 31 December 2002.
Source: National Centre for Vocational Education Research
| Women in Australia 2004 | Chapter 6. Education and Training |