In news that’s bound to stir up your next social gathering, new data reveals nearly three-quarters of Australian employers still have a gender pay gap that favours men, with women earning over $28,000 less on average than their male counterparts.
Released on Tuesday, the figures from Australia’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) marked the second year of this company-level salary data after new legislation came into effect back in 2023.
It looked at some 7,800 individual employers and 1,700 corporate groups with more than 100 staff — meaning there’s a good chance you might even be able to look up your workplace.
How are Australian employers faring with the gender pay gap?
Because this will no doubt come up, let’s clarify before you read on — the pay gap here is calculated based on average total remuneration, which includes base salary, bonuses, overtime, and superannuation. It’s the difference between the average or median remuneration of men and the average or median remuneration of women, expressed as a percentage of men’s remuneration.
It doesn’t refer to paying men and women differently for the same job (which has been unlawful since 1969), rather it’s the difference in the average pay of men and women by an employer.
Looking at the numbers, the WGEA explained just one in five (21 per cent) of employers have an average gender pay gap in the target range of -5 per cent or +5 per cent.
Nearly three in four (72 per cent) of all employers have a gender pay gap in favour of men.
Half of employers have an average total remuneration gender pay gap larger than 12.1 per cent.
“Each employer has a unique set of circumstances that impacts the size of their gender pay gap,” explained WGEA chief executive Mary Wooldridge.
“Where an employer’s gender pay gap is beyond the target range of +/-5 per cent, it indicates one gender is more likely to be over-represented in higher paying roles compared to the other. This can be a sign of structural or cultural differences for one gender within an occupation, organisation, or broader industry.
“For employers that haven’t made progress, it’s time to ask why – dig into the data to find out what’s causing any gender differences and use evidence-based solutions to address them.”
So who were the worst offenders?
You’re probably wondering which companies ranked best (and worst) in terms of their pay gap, so we’ve crunched some of the numbers for you.
As reported by the Guardian, some of the largest average pay gaps have been seen in companies with almost entirely female workforces but male employees concentrated in higher paid positions, such as Sydney Ultrasound for Women (78.6 per cent), Rdns HomeCare (75.1 per cent) and Adelaide Cardiology (74.6 per cent).
Other prominent companies with significant pay gaps in favour of men include plus size fashion brand City Chic (67 per cent), Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Club (64.1 per cent), clothing brand Forever New (58.5 per cent), investment bank Morgan Stanley (57.7 per cent), and Radio 2GB Sydney (51.1 per cent).
Swimwear brand Seafolly and jewellery retailers Pandora and Lovisa didn’t fare much better, notching 62.2 per cent, 52 per cent, and 51.9 per cent respectively.
The airlines also recorded some big numbers. Rex had a gap of 53.9 per cent, followed by Virgin Australia (45 per cent) and Qantas (41 per cent).
We did some digging of our own too, finding Nine Entertainment — which wholly owns Pedestrian Group — had an average pay gap of 14.9 per cent.
More broadly, it looks like every industry had a pay gap in favor of men, with some of the highest gaps observed in male-dominated industries like construction (25.3 per cent) and financial and insurance services (22.2 per cent).
It’s worth noting, though, the data found these gaps have come down in the last year, declining 6.5 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively.
Slow improvement
Look, while the figures aren’t exactly awe-inspiring, the WGEA noted 56 per cent of employers reduced their gender pay gap in the last year.
There was also a pretty big rise in employers conducting a gender pay gap analysis on their pay and composition to find out what’s driving their gaps. Consultation with employees also rose significantly.
“It’s promising to see the big increase in the number of employers working to understand what is driving their gender pay gap, beyond unequal pay,” WGEA’s Wooldridge said.
“Over the past year, employers have told us that publication of employer gender pay gaps is a catalyst to assess gender-based differences in all areas of their workplace.”
For men, a more equal experience could mean more access to paid parental leave, more support for a flexible return to work from that leave, and paying superannuation on that leave, she observed.
For women, it could mean redesigning manager roles for a job-share or part-time basis, thereby supporting employees with caring or other responsibilities outside of work, or by actively broadening the pipeline of talent across occupations and job roles.
“What is common to each is purposeful action that breaks down traditional notions of what it means to be a worker and carer in the contemporary workplace,” Woolridge said.
In case you want to check out the figures for yourself, you can view WGEA’s Data Explorer here.
Lead image: iStock Images
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