Women make up half of the nation’s workforce but earn only 77 per cent of men’s average full-time income, according to the latest gender equality scorecard, which will be launched by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) at the National Press Club today.
The new data shows the average full-time female employee took home $26,853 less than the average male employee in 2015-16, with the salary difference rising to $93,884 at the top level of management.
Women are also under-represented in leadership roles: holding just 16.3 per cent of CEO and 37.4 per cent of all manager roles.
However, the scorecard shows improvement in key gender equality indicators with lower pay gaps, greater movement of women into management roles and increased action from employers to address gender equality.
Among the key figures included in the scorecard today (with percentage point movement since 2013-14):
- Gender pay gap (full-time total remuneration): 23.1% (down 1.6 pp)
- Largest industry gender pay gap: Financial and Insurance Services: 33.5% (down 2.6 pp)
- Key Management Personnel who are women: 28.5% (up 2.4 pp)
- Employers with policies to support gender equality: 70.7% (up 4.5 pp)
- Employers who have conducted a gender pay gap analysis: 27.0% (up 3.0 pp)
- Appointments of women to manager roles: 42.6% (new data point)
The third year of data collected by WGEA covers over 12,000 employers and four million employees.
WGEA Director Libby Lyons said the data highlighted persistent inequality, as well as progress.
“The data confirms gender pay gaps in favour of men in every industry and the under-representation of women in management and leadership roles,” Ms Lyons said.
“At the same time, it shows employers are stepping up to the challenge in greater numbers with proactive gender equality policies. For the first time, more than 70 per cent of employers reported they have policies in place to support gender equality.
“There’s no question we are seeing movement in the right direction, but it’s still too slow. The Agency will continue to work with employers to help them drive better workplace gender equality across their organisations.”
This year’s report highlights the sharp divide between male and female-dominated industries, showing that 60 per cent of Australians work in an industry dominated by a single gender and graduates are overwhelmingly entering fields dominated by their own gender. Managerial appointments and promotions made over the year were also tracked for the first time.
“42.6 per cent of those appointed to managerial roles last year were women. So even though only 37.4 per cent of managers are currently women, we can expect that figure to trend up as more women rise through the ranks. Your boss today is still much more likely to be a man, but the data shows we are moving toward gender equality among managers.”
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