Even though there are obvious disadvantages to being a lesbian in Australia compared to being a heterosexual woman, there are still a few clear marks in the ‘pro’ column.
If your period is late, you are definitely not accidentally pregnant; that is unless you are the new Mary, mother of Jesus. And it’s hard to say if that is a pro or a con.
Along with that, there are fewer expectations that you’ll be assigned particular gender roles in your relationships, which is a freeing feeling. You could conceivably share clothes, and your house might have an extra supply of sanitary products.
And of course, you don’t have to date men. You can debate wether that is a pro or a con amongst yourselves, but I think we all know the answer. This was pretty much the end of the list, until University of Melbourne economist Andrea La Nauze undertook a recent study into how sexual orientation affects wages.
The study - a first of its kind in Australia - is titled , and has findings consistent with similar studies done abroad. The results indicate that gay men get paid up to 18% less than their male heterosexual counterparts. However, gay women are paid up to 13% morethan their female heterosexual counterparts. Finally, something to gloat about to my straight female friends at their weddings!
Ms La Nauze that the only apparent cause for the penalty suffered by gay men is prejudice and straightforward discrimination, while the wage premium enjoyed by gay women may be due to employers believing they will be less likely to have children, or to be a main child-carer.
So, why am I complaining? Why would I want to change anything? Women in same-sex relationships are actually benefiting from this system! That’s me! If I ever get a proper job, I will be laughing all the way to the lesbian bank to deposit my Dollarsbians™.
But I am a woman first. The fact that lesbians might be benefiting from the explicit punishment the system doles out to heterosexual women for having children is not something we should abide. The fact that gay men may not earn as much as heterosexual men simply because they are gay is not something we should abide.
Gay men, with an 18% pay deficit, are now just on the same level as heterosexual women in the workplace. The national gender pay gap is at a 20-year high, sitting at 18.6%. Lesbians, even with a large wage premium over heterosexual women, are still far from wage parity with heterosexual men. And this is to say nothing of the employment and economical treatment of workers. And it is getting worse. In the recent that ranks female economic empowerment, Australia dropped six places to 15th – the biggest drop out of any of the 27 OECD countries measured.
Discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is prohibited in Australia, but these findings suggest more research is required to discover why such clearly defined differences exist for people in same-sex relationships, and what actions need to be undertaken to implement change.
But I suspect that these changes can only succeed following a dismantling of the broader structure that prioritises straight white men and disadvantages everyone else for not being that combination of qualities. Equality can only happen by starting to change the system that solely punishes the women in heterosexual couples that choose to have a baby, and continues to punish her economically for life.
It will happen when broader society embraces the idea that employment and household constructs based on heteronormative ideals is one that will never be equitable or fair to women or queer people. If I’m willing to sacrifice this advantage by calling it out and seeking change, surely it’s about time straight white men, with all the advantages in the world, do the same.
