With a massive and persisting gender pay gap, here's why WA is the worst place in Australia to be a woman

Western Australia is the worst place in our wide, brown, sunburnt land to be a woman. Women still earn much less Data published by the state government this week shows that yet again, WA wins the wooden spoon for women's pay. And although things are improving slowly and gradually – we're in a better place now than in 2011 when the state's gap was 28 per cent – it still a shameful result that shows discrimination remains alive and kicking in WA nearly two centuries after colonisation. It shows that making significant inroads to improving the gender pay gap won't happen without a societal shift in attitudes to child rearing and child caring, a shift that could start with WA employers incentivising men to stay home when their children are born and instilling a workplace culture where men are encouraged to work flexibly to manage their shared childcare responsibilities. The current WA Parliament is more representative than ever before, with 47 per cent of MPs being women, largely because of Labor's dominance and its affirmative action programs.