Pay gap narrowing but leadership roles hinder progress – Australian Associated Press

Australia’s gender pay gap has narrowed further, helped by wage increases in the aged care sector, where four in five workers are women.

Naming and shaming individual companies is also effective in pushing employers to uncover and act on the reasons for pay gaps.

The gender pay gap in average total compensation decreased by 0.6 points compared to 2023, reaching 21.8 percent.

Women earn 78 cents for every dollar earned by men.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency looks at the gap between the average pay rates of men and women across the workforce.

This is not about measuring whether workers are paid equally for the same role, which is a legal requirement.

The 2023-24 scorecard found a 13 per cent increase in the proportion of employers starting gender pay gap analysis.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency chief executive Mary Wooldridge said the public publication of pay gaps between individual employers, which began earlier this year, had led to the action.

“That was really positive,” he told AAP.

“We haven’t yet seen this translate into major changes in comp or pay, but that’s exactly the work that needs to be done.”

Paid parental leave and other policies aimed at increasing equality between care responsibilities are some of the ways employers can eliminate pay gaps.

The proportion of employers offering paid parenting and the proportion of men taking primary care leave were higher than the previous year.

New insights into the level of leadership were less encouraging.

Thanks to the legislative change, the organization was able to include gender pay gaps between senior managers, business heads and interim managers for the first time.

The pay gap between business heads and senior managers was higher than for lower-level management roles; The average female CEO paid an average of $158,632 less in total compensation than men.

Women’s representation on boards has remained stubbornly low and has worsened in male-dominated industries.

“The fact that there are still no women on one of the four governing bodies is surprising in this day and age, because we know that the evidence base tells us that having diverse perspectives around the board leads to better decisions. “We’re getting better profitability and better productivity,” Ms. Wooldridge said.