The Government's new workplace relations system promises to give women, and men, the opportunity to make their work arrangements more family-friendly.

The first Women, Management and Employment Relations Conference took place almost twenty years ago, in 1989. Since then, many conditions for women in the workplace related to management and employment for women have changed.

But too many have not.

Women's equal access, participation and experience in the labour force; pay equity and the ability to be financially independent and secure in retirement are key parts of the equation to once again position Australia as a leader on women's rights.

The Government has begun the process of accession to the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) - the international treaty on women's human rights.

As you know, full time working women are paid about 15 per cent less than full time men. Data sources and income measures all vary but on almost every measure, women earn less than men.

The impact of this long term pay inequality is that we now have a generation of women who are retiring with, on average, less than half the savings of men.

This is a major economic problem for those individual women, but it is also a serious issue for the nation. From the moment a woman enters the workforce she is likely to earn less than her male colleagues, regardless of her career, industry or level.