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Women are still earning almost a quarter less than men and are significantly under represented in decision making roles despite progress being made to close the gender pay gap, a new report shows.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency released their report, Australia’s Scorecard for Gender Equality 2020-21 which shows that the gender pay gap is the lowest its been since they started collecting data in 2013-14.

But Australian men are twice as likely as women to be earning $120,000 a year or more.

The gender pay gap, which includes full-time, part-time and casual employees, sits at just 22.8% and has been on a consistent downward trend since data collection began in 2013-14.

But only one firth of firms pay men and women the same and 73% of businesses pay men more.

And jobs with the highest salaries – finance and insurance tend to have the widest pay gaps.

Less than 20% of CEO positions are held by women and only 41% of all management roles are held by women, even thought they occupy 51 per cent of the workforce.

Men still make up the majority of board members with only 33% of all board positions being held by women and 18% being chaired by women.

Just under 20% (18.7%) of all boards have balanced representation, which is up from 11.3% in 2014-15.

Only 12% of organisations reported that they have set targets to increase female representation on their boards, with them setting a target of 35%. 

Over three-quarters of businesses have policies and practices in place to reduce the gender pay gap. Only half however are consulting with employees on gender equality issues. 

More than half of Australian employers pay parental leave in addition to the government scheme, however, 40% of employers do not offer any paid parental leave. Employers in male-dominated industries are less likely to offer paid parental leave with 50% not offering it at all compared to only 25% in female-dominated industries. 

The majority of businesses that offer paid parental leave pay it regardless of the gender of the carer taking the leave. 9% of employers only offer primary parental leave to women. 

Since 2013-14, the number of organisations offering paid parental leave has increased by 12%.

The majority of employers that offer paid parental leave also pay superannuation for parents while on paid leave, with 81% of employers making superannuation contributions. 74% only make contributions during the employer-funded portion of parental leave and 7% pay superannuation on both the employer-funded and government-funded parental leave portions.

 

Where do women miss out?

  • For every $10 that men earn, women earn only $7.72.
  • Women make up 51% of the workforce but less are CEOS.
  • Men are twice as likely to be in the top earnings bracket.
  • Women are 50% more likely to be in the bottom pay bracket.
  • 73% of organisations have gender pay gaps in favour of men.
  • High-earning industries have the highest pay gap.
  • Only 18% of board chairs are women.
  • Only 33% of board members are women.
  • 22.3% of boards have no female representation at all

 

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