Single mother of two Sharon Eurlings says proposed cuts to Sunday penalty rates are an "insult", which treat her Sunday as less important than other people's.
She has worked Sunday shifts for more than 20 years to pay the bills and care for her children. Her ex-husband looks after their children aged eight and nine on Sundays which allows her to earn an extra $100 to $200 per week.
The Fair Work Commission's decision to reduce penalty rates for hospitality workersfeels "insulting" and will be a big blow to her modest pay packet.
The decision will cut Sunday and holiday penalty rates by 25 to 50 per cent for full-time and part-time employees in hospitality, fast food, retail and pharmacy.
Ms Eurlings, who lives in Croydon Park and works at the Sydney casino, said she will need to do overtime to make up for her lost income.
"I have to work on the weekends because I need the money and because my ex-husband looks after the kids on the weekend," she said.
"I am disappointed and angry because this decision is saying my Sunday is not as important as everyone else's Sunday. I feel insulted.
"The ones who made this decision do not even work on Sundays."
Marian Baird, professor of gender and employment relations at the University of Sydney business school said the Fair Work Commission decision to reduce Sunday penalty rates will have a "disproportionate and negative impact on women".
"For many women, working on weekends is their only option because conventional career work on weekdays is too inflexible for them and there is no childcare," she said.
Dr Baird said women represent more than 54 per cent of employees in retail and hospitality, the sectors which will be most affected by the reductions in Sunday penalty rates.
"More women will be affected by these cuts than men," she said.
Dr Baird said while the Fair Work Commission's decision looks at the composition of part-time workers it does not properly acknowledge the representation of males and females. It also describes a category of jobs as "non-career".
"This misses the point that for many women there is no other option as their so-called career jobs are impossible to manage if they have children, elder care or other family responsibilities. So they have been forced to take other work that is more flexible, but lower skilled and paid," Dr Baird said.
"Are we now also saying that because a job is non-career it is worth less than if it was a career position for a person, even if the work is the same? Do workers in retail really have the option of opting for the part-time career position or the casual non-career position – even when the work is exactly the same?"
While women may not go to church as much as they did in the past, they sacrifice family time and social activities by working on Sundays.
Lyn Craig director of the University of NSW Social policy Research Centre has conducted research that suggests employees who work weekends, especially Sundays, never make up for the social time they lose.
Dr Craig said penalty rates are being reduced at the same time welfare and family payments are also being cut.
"This will impact on single parents and young people who depend on those things at a time of the lowest wages growth we've had for a long time," she said.
Marie Coleman, chair of the social policy committee of the women's lobby group the National Foundation for Australian Women said the Fair Work Commission's decision was a "fair smash at younger women and female-headed families". "It is a very rough deal," she said.
It means a retail worker on $600 per week could expect to lose $80 per week or $4160 a year.
"If the government's proposed cuts to income support are taken into account, she could lose up to $6000 a year," she said.
"Women are disproportionately represented, more likely to receive minimum award wages and more likely to rely on penalty rates to meet household payments.
"When you've got that allied with the Omnibus savings bill that is before the Senate at the moment, it's disastrous."
