Home |  site-map |  indonesia |  indonesian-single-source-articles |  asteroid-user-registration |

Roy Morgan OZ Panel Login  |  Mail Diary Panel Login |   careers |  contact-us |  state-of-the-nation-webcast |

 Search:  Entire Site Polls Press Releases  

Today, nearly all Australians (98%, up 39% since 1941) today agree that “women should receive equal pay for equal work”, a special Roy Morgan Research survey finds.

In September 1941, Roy Morgan’s first Australian Gallup Poll found only 59% of Australians agreed that “women should be paid the same as men for similar work”, 33% said women “should be paid less” and 8% were undecided.

Over the next decade, support for women’s equal pay rose steadily, reaching a peak in 1950 with 74% “in favour”, 23% “against” and 3% undecided. In 1956, support fell to 67% in favour and 31% against, before rising again in 1961 to 70% in favour, 26% against.

Today, there is virtually no difference between women and men’s support for equal pay, with 98% of women and 97% of men supporting the idea. A Gallup Poll conducted in 1950 found a greater difference between the attitudes of women and men, with 77% of women supporting equal pay compared to 70% of men.

Today support for women’s equal pay for equal work declines slightly with age, with all respondents aged 18 to 24 (100%) agreeing that women should be paid equally, compared to 98% of respondents aged 35 to 49 and 96% aged 65 and over. Gallup Polls in the 1940s found that age had little influence on the attitudes of Australians to this question.

This special Morgan Poll was conducted by telephone on the weekend of May 3/4 2008, with an Australia-wide cross-section of 656 Australians aged 14 and over.

Australians were asked, "If men and women were doing the same work, do you think the women should be paid the same as the men, or

For further information:

Gary Morgan:              Office + 61 3 9224 5213              Mobile + 61 411 129 094              Home + 61 3 9419 3242

Michele Levine:           Office + 61 3 9224 5215              Mobile + 61 411 129 093              Home + 61 3 9817 3066

Margin of Error

The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. The following table gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. The figures are approximate and for general guidance only, and assume a simple random sample. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.

Sample Size	Percentage Estimate
	40%-60%	25% or 75%	10% or 90%	5% or 95%
500	±4.5	±3.9	±2.7	±1.9

The Morgan Poll accurately predicted that the ALP would win the 2006 Queensland election with a reduced majority (sample 604 electors).

The Morgan Poll accurately predicted that the ALP would win the 2006 Victorian election with a reduced majority (sample 956 electors).  The Morgan Poll was also the most accurate on the primary vote of the major parties for the Victorian election.

Note: The recent discussion on Possum Pollytics regarding Morgan and Newspoll is well worth reading.

The following included comment says it all: “I find it interesting that for the only poll in the last five years for which there is any ‘real’ figure with which to compare, i.e. the polls immediately before the 2004 election, Morgan (45.5%) was closer to the actual Coalition Primary (46.7%) than Newspoll (45%) or Nielsen (49%), and Morgan (38.5%) was also closer to the ALP actual primary (37.6%) than Newspoll (39%), and only marginally further away than Nielsen (37%).  Since we have no idea of how far away the ongoing polls are from ‘reality’ (whatever that means), surely we should just go with what we know, that in the most recent testable case, Morgan was better at forecasting the actual primary vote than Newspoll.  On what possible basis should we decide that the Newspoll or Nielsen primary vote estimate is ‘better’ than Morgan’s.”

The Morgan Poll is conducted by the ONLY Australian and New Zealand member of the Gallup International. 

No other public opinion poll taken in Australia or New Zealand has this qualification.

© 2007 Roy Morgan Research. All Rights Reserved
privacy-statement