THE gender wage gap has increased to the highest level in almost 15 years, with women earning on average 17 per cent less than men, according to the latest figures from the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA).
Due to this disparity, the EOWA estimated that it would now take a woman an additional 63 days to earn the same as a man earned over a year.
Marie Steele, acting director at the EOWA, said this was an unacceptable trend.
“Even after you allow for differences in qualifications, length of service and full-time or part-time hours, there is an unexplained gap in earnings,” Ms Steele says .
The wage gap was the highest in Western Australia, where women earned $378 per week less than their male counterparts.
Yvonne Henderson, the Equal Opportunity Commissioner for Western Australia, says many people misattribute this gap to the mining industry.
“The gap is able to be demonstrated across many sectors,” she says. “For example, in the health sector, the gap is a whopping 41 per cent.”
One widespread belief is that women earn less than men due to taking time off work to have and raise children, and then returning on a part-time basis. This is not the case however, as Gradstats figures show that female graduates make $2000 less than male graduates when they first start work.
Figures from the 2008 Graduate Pathways Survey shows that this gap increases to $7800 five years after graduating.
What should be done about this issue?
Gender pay audits are a highly valuable, but under-utilized tool. They are a clear and accurate way of gauging the pay disparity within an organisation, but also in specific job roles, departments and business units. Despite this, less than half of the organisations reporting to the EOWA conduct gender pay equity analyses.
In contrast to this, 96 per cent of the business community believe that action must be taken to help close the wage gap. While organisations clearly acknowledge the significance of the issue, many have done little in the way of taking action.
Ms Henderson says the government should introduce mandatory pay audits as a first step.
“The onus should be on employers to ensure pay equity is enshrined in their workplaces.”
“The government needs to require employers to perform audits on the pay of their male and female employees and to report on what action they are taking to reduce the gap,” Ms Henderson added.
What can your organisation do?
If your organisation is not already doing so, conducting a gender pay audit is an important initial step. Your organisation will not be able to move forward effectively if you are unaware about the current gender disparity in your workplace and the areas that are most affected.
You will then be able to take more constructive steps such as analysing the results and using this to implement workplace policies and management training programs that achieve your desired outcomes.
Dizem Ramadan - Dizem Ramadan is a freelance journalist who has had work published on a variety of topics and in numerous publications including ...
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