'Sense of betrayal' - pay equity hearings begin

A sense of betrayal and an under-valuing of women's work. That was the resounding message at the first day of the People's Select Committee hearings, formed in response to the Equal Pay Amendment Act. The changes, announced in May by Workplace Relations Minister Brooke van Velden, halted 33 claims from female-dominated workforces which sought to prove they were underpaid in comparison to similar male-dominated industries. It also raised the threshold for future claims to be successful. Ellen O'Dwyer reports.