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Women Rally for Equal Pay

Sad to say that almost forty years after the introduction of the Equal Pay Act, Australian women are still taking to the streets to fight for what should rightfully be theirs.

Women's pay is going backwards in this country. In 2005, marie claire ran a story on the sorry state of equal pay which said how shameful it was that women earned, on average, 84 per cent of the Australian male wage. Five years on, it has further retreated to 82 per cent. It is particularly bad in so-called 'soft' industries filled with women doing work traditionally seen as 'women's work'.

These are the social and community sector workers who look after some of the most vulnerable people in our society: the homeless, the mentally ill, the elderly, the disabled and who work with victims of sexual assault and domestic violence at women's shelters, neighbourhood centres, etc.

A landmark equal pay case by unions is underway this year to try to bridge the pay gap for women working in this sector and the ACTU is running a cool campaign to get the government to take notice. Their No More Lip Service To Equal Pay campaign campaign asks us all to upload a digital 'kiss' to Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard urging the government to support the outcomes of the test case.

So get filming and send your own video kiss to Canberra at the 'kissing booth'.



More on Friday's national Equal Pay day of action in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane and Darwin.

Photos from the events


Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

For more information visit ABC online

Photo: AAP Image