Too Little, Too Late
On the Undervaluing of Women’s Work
They always see it - eventually.
The Fair Work Commission’s review into historically underpaid, feminised professions comes with righteous headlines and proud declarations from unions like the ASU. But for some of us, those headlines hit differently. Because we lived the cost of being undervalued in real time, and the institutions now claiming leadership in pay equity were the very ones who failed to protect us.
They ignored us.
They diminished our roles.
And when we became inconvenient, they discarded us.
My position was not just a job, it was a deeply skilled, relationally demanding, impact-driven role that required navigating power, trauma, and trust. I wasn’t just underpaid, I was undermined. Not in private, but through institutional complicity that stretched across unions, workplace structures, and yes - even family.
✹ What They Call “Feminised Labour”
They speak now of feminised labour, as if it’s an abstract category.
But it’s not. It’s me. It’s the work I did. The work they buried.
They name graduate lawyers, social workers, care workers, but what about those of us who fell through the cracks before it became politically useful to name us?
For years, my contributions were framed as disposable. I wasn’t the only one. Many of us were told to be grateful, to stay silent, to shrink. The more we gave, the more invisible we became.
Until our erasure became strategic.
✹ They Knew. Eventually.
It’s no coincidence that the same institutions now touting pay equity only began “doing their due diligence” once the fallout was irreversible. After the gaslighting. After the silencing. After reputations were destroyed and livelihoods crushed.
I believe that once they looked closely - too late - they realised exactly how badly they’d treated me. And perhaps, in some internal memo or quiet committee meeting, someone even said it:
We got this wrong.
But there was no apology. No reparation. Just a neatly worded post on social media, pretending the past never happened.
✹ The Reckoning We’re Owed
You don’t get to celebrate justice while sweeping injustice under the rug.
You don’t get to post about equity while protecting those who maintain inequity behind closed doors.
And you don’t get to celebrate women’s work while punishing the women who dared demand better.
Some of us were ahead of the curve, and we paid the price for it.
We were the canaries in the coal mine.
And now, as they polish their reputations and position themselves as champions of pay equity, I’ll be here to remind them, and you, of the women they left behind.
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