There are things slower than Australia’s progress on closing the gender pay gap.
Our CO2 emissions per capita, for example, have been declining at 2% a year, on average, over the last decade. The age-standardised imprisonment rate of Indigenous Australians has actually increased over the same period.
Slow progress on these indicators is nothing to be proud of. Equal Pay Day in 2023 was 25 August. Equal Pay Day in 2013 was 3 September. In a decade, we’ve made up just eight days. Even world poverty is improving faster than Australia’s progress on the gender pay gap.
To be clear: the gender pay gap is not the same as equal pay. Australian women have been entitled to “equal pay for equal work of equal value” since 1972. The gender pay gap (as measured by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency) is a measure of the difference in average remuneration between men and women. It adjusts for differences in hours worked and includes all forms of employment-related pay.
So why is there a gender pay gap?
There are reams of research that unpick some of the reasons.
Most of the gender pay gap is driven by the structure of our labour force. Women are more likely to work in lower-paid industries. The majority of senior positions are held by men. Women are more likely to take parental leave, which affects their progression and earnings.
Structure isn’t the only cause. Sex discrimination in the workforce is real and persistent.
Campaigners are now suggesting that another driver may be a lack of information.
Information on the gender pay gap exists. WGEA collects the gender pay gap of every organisation in Australia with more than 100 employees. Yet this data was never disclosed on a company level.
Until now. In line with recommendations from the International Labour Organization, new legislation requires WGEA to publish the median gender pay gap for each organisation. It’s a complete 180 from the old policy, which prohibited WGEA from disclosing this information.
So, on 27 February 2024, the WGEA website will allow you to find out the difference between how much the median man and the median woman get paid, for any large private employer.
The hope is that this will do two things: first, it will galvanise employers to act; second, it will arm employees with better information to support their negotiations and their decisions.
Will it? Unclear.
Well, some things are certain.
There will be self-congratulatory back-patting from those who do comparatively well. Probably a morning tea with pink cupcakes.
More importantly, there will be a flurry of reporting. Expect naming and shaming of organisations that perform poorly.
Organisations that are publicly shamed will respond. Some of this will be lip service. Companies will bandy their diversity credentials, their strategies and objectives.
With any luck, a few organisations will take real action.
First, they will take a hard look at recruiting processes. Hiring more women at senior levels – and paying them accordingly – means it is feasible to have a 0% gender pay gap for new hires. Organisations with a lot of turnover will find that this strategy leads to quick progress.
Jobseekers can use this to their advantage. Switching jobs is an opportunity for negotiating a big jump in salary. If you’re a woman, you can use an organisation’s gender pay gap to help you to choose an employer and negotiate a salary.
Better still to have frank conversations about pay with colleagues. Individual-level pay transparency for high earners leads to reductions in the gender pay gap and sometimes higher pay across the board.
The second thing that employers who truly want to address their gap will do is look at their existing workforce. They will examine promotions, conduct genuine pay audits and act on the outcomes. Adjustments will be made slowly, but hopefully steadily.
Employees can – and should – act to reinforce the impetus and create momentum. Knowledge about the gender pay gap is a great bargaining chip. Women’s bargaining outcomes improve when they have information about pay bands. So know the number for your workplace – and bring it up – when the next performance review comes around.
Together, concerted effort by employers and employees on both new hires and existing staff could create real change. Our gender pay gap will improve that little bit faster.
Of course, money isn’t everything. A respectful workplace and secure work might be more important than pay. But with the cost of living going up, turning up the heat on the gender pay gap could help women to improve their remuneration. Every little bit counts.
