New report reveals gender pay gap changes, employer initiatives
Australia's average gender pay gap in terms of total remuneration is at 21.8%, according to the latest data from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
"For every $1 on average a man makes, women earn 78c. Over the course of a year, that difference adds up to $28,425," WGEA said in its report.
The total remuneration pay gap covers base salary, overtime, bonuses, as well as additional payments for private sector employees.
It also covers the annualised full-time equivalent salaries of casual and part-time workers to offer a "more complete picture" of the gender pay gap in the country.
WGEA's findings are slightly higher than the 11.9% national gender pay gap that is based on the data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).
According to WGEA, the gaps are different because ABS data only covers the base salary for full-time workers, excluding overtime, bonuses, and additional payments. It also doesn't cover the salaries of part-time and casual employees.
The findings come from WGEA's second publication of employer gender pay gaps, where it released the results for 7,800 individual employers and 1,700 corporate groups.
The report revealed that 79% of employers still have a gender pay gap that is outside the +/-5% target range.
Despite this, those who met the target increased to 21% in 2023-24, according to the report.
"Where an employer's gender pay gap is beyond the target range of +/-5%, 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," said WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge in a statement.
Overall, 56% of employers reduced their pay gaps last year, while more employers are also carrying out gender pay gap analysis on their pay and composition.
"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," Wooldridge said.
WGEA's publication of employer gender pay gaps fulfills the mandates of the legislation passed last year that orders large organisations to publish their pay gap numbers publicly.
But women don't think the law is working effectively, according to new research from HiBob, which polled a thousand men and a thousand women in Australia.
It found that only 51% of women believe their organisation is actively working to address the gender pay gap, and a smaller 37% believe their employer will never prioritise closing the gap.
"Part of the problem is that many organisations — especially those that run payroll and remuneration reviews in spreadsheets — aren't keeping their finger on the pulse regularly enough on what their gender pay gap is and how it changes over time," said Sabrina Scherm, HiBob's customer advocacy manager, in a statement.
"It's therefore not something that's front of mind for big businesses until they have to report their data to the WGEA, and arguably not front of mind for small businesses at all."
According to Scherm, extending the law to include small businesses and making the gender gap a nationwide and business-wide issue will help "make a big difference."
Meanwhile, the Business Council of Australia (BCA) said their members remain committed to greater economic access for women.
The BCA focused on the improvement of the median pay gap to 8.9%, which is the difference between the median of what men are paid, as well as the median of what women are paid within an organisation.
Bran Black, BCA chief executive, said it was a "great sign" that the median gender pay gap is improving.
"While there has been improvement, the report outlines more work is needed, particularly in male-dominated sectors, senior management roles, and occupations with higher average remunerations," Black said.
"My members unambiguously tell me that achieving gender equity and supporting women in corporate roles is critical to retaining a broad view of perspectives, knowledge and talent that they need to be competitive."
