TRANSCRIPT
Australia's gender pay gap is closing, but new figures show there's still a way to go.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency's chief executive officer Mary Wooldridge says the solutions are complex, but doable.
“Today's results will be challenging for some but they are a reflection of the experience of employees in the workplaces across Australia. Closing the gender pay gap matters to women and men who feel its impact through the loss of opportunities and the limitations on their earnings.”
The gender pay gap compares the average earnings of men and women.
The data comes from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, which includes CEO pay and covers about 7,800 employers and 5.3 million employees across the country.
It's found more than half of the listed employers improved their gender pay gap over the last year.
Despite that, 72 per cent had an average gender pay gap in favour of men.
Over 20 per cent didn't significantly favour either men or women.
Just six and a half per cent had a pay gap in favour of women.
Mary Wooldridge says she hopes the information acts a catalyst for employers to implement evidence-based practice to remove the barriers that affect people's ability to participate in the workforce.
"When we look at both the average and the median gender pay gaps, only 15% of employers are in the target range for both of those measures. But that's over 1,100 companies that are already meeting those benchmark performances, which is quite significant, and we do expect results to improve as we continue to publish information each year."
The highest-paying employers are most likely to have a pay difference in favour of men.
While there's variation within each industry, male-dominated fields - including mining, construction and finance - have the largest gender pay gaps.
The Australian Constructors Association's chief executive officer, Jon Davies, says fewer women are getting through to senior positions.
"In the construction industry, one of the biggest issues that we have is the available flexible work opportunities, especially for women that have taken time out to start families."
Macquarie Bank chief executive Shemara Wikramanayake says it's a similar story for the finance sector.
"We don't have enough women relative to men in those top jobs. This should have been fixed a long time ago. But unfortunately, we're still, after a heck of a lot of work attracting women as applicants only in the 30 per cents. It was the low 30s. We're getting into the high 30s. We've done so much work in schools, universities, taking our senior females saying, 'Why let boys have all the fun? This is a great job. You should think about it.' We're not still getting the change in terms of representation. It's slow."
Minister for Women Katy Gallagher says reform is needed.
"The next logical step from this transparency release or this data release is the bill that's currently before the Parliament, which formed part of recommendations from a review of the WGEA Act, which recommended setting of targets for large companies, setting up targets about areas they wanted to improve, so after they've done the analysis, they've provided the information, how do we get that change happening within organisations? And the ability for companies to set targets and then measure their performance against that target - this was all agreed and had been bipartisan, tripartisan, whole-of-parliament supported until the last month, when Peter Dutton has reversed his position on that and said it's too burdensome on companies to support that reform."
Opposition leader Peter Dutton suggests the job is done for now.
"When we were in government we closed the pay gap, the gender pay gap, and I'm proud of that. I want to see that continue. I don't accept any position being offered to an individual at different pay rates because of their gender. It's nonsense. It doesn't happen, it's against the law. When we are dealing with taxpayer money, we need to spend it efficiently. People are struggling to pay their bills at the moment."
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency says it hopes the data will help spur conversations and insights about the barriers men and women face in the workplace.
