Australia’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) in partnership with Bankwest Curtin Economic Center (BCEC) recently released a report on gender pay gap across organizations in Australia. This study aimed to identify the causes of the gender pay gap and outline data-driven strategies for employers to narrow the gender pay gap. The study used five years’ worth of WGEA pay reporting data covering 4 million Australian workers across multiple occupations and industry sectors.
Key findings of this study1:
- If the current growth patterns continue, we can expect to see equal representation of women and men in full-time management roles in the following years:
- The highest paid men are earning at least $162,000 more than the highest paid women.
- Employer-funded paid parental leave ('PPL') schemes covering 13-plus weeks halves the share of female managers who stop working during PPL relative to those who access only the Australian Government PPL scheme.
- Flexible work arrangements coupled with reporting to Boards increases the share of part-time female managers by 13.6 percentage points.
- The share of female full-time managers increases by an average of 8.6 percentage points for companies with a female CEO. And moving from all-male to gender-equal company boards increases the share of full-time female managers by 7.3 percentage points and the share of part-time female managers by 13.7 percentage points.
- Gender pay gaps at different levels of management seniority combine to reduce the share of full-time female managers by an average of 9.9 percentage points, and the share of part-time female managers by 7.9 percentage points.
- Employer-provided onsite childcare increases the retention of female managers during PPL by almost one-fifth (18.9 per cent).
- Women are noticeably under-represented among top-tier managers in the Health Care sector (51.9 per cent) relative to their overall presence in the workforce (71 per cent).
- Women are most under-represented in top-tier management positions. However, this category has seen the fastest growth rate, increasing by 4.4 percentage points in the last five years.
- The glass ceiling remains a barrier for women at CEO level, with very little movement in the last five years (+1.1 percentage point).
To view this fascinating report in its entirety, click here.
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1 Sourced from WGEA website: https://www.wgea.gov.au
By Vinaya Sakpal, Associate Consultant at DCI Consulting Group
