Friday, 25 August was Equal Pay Day, marking 56 days from the end of the financial year that the average Australian woman must work to earn the same as the average Australian man. Yes – that’s almost 8 weeks of extra work to close the gender pay gap.
Gender pay gaps are not a comparison of people in similar roles. Instead, they show the difference between the average pay of women and the average pay of men across organisations, industries, and the workforce as a whole.
Some of the factors that impact the gender pay gap:
- men and women working in different industries with different wages
- women taking greater time out of the workforce for caring responsibilities, impacting career progression and opportunities
- a lack of flexibility in senior roles to accommodate unpaid caring and domestic work
- higher rates of part-time work for women
- bias in hiring, development, and promotional decisions.
The Department of Transport and Main Roads (TMR) is taking action to address these gender pay gap factors by offering career development opportunities, flexible and supportive workplaces, encouraging women to join the department in traditionally male-dominated roles, and increasing the representation of women in leadership roles.
The good news is that the gender pay gap is improving. Australian Bureau of Statistics data released this month shows the gender pay gap is the best it’s ever been at 13%. While this is a welcome improvement, we still have work ahead of us!