By Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen
SYDNEY (Reuters) – A recent government report has revealed that despite a slight decrease, Australia still grapples with a significant gender pay gap, with women earning nearly 20% less than their male counterparts. The finance, mining, and construction sectors are particularly impacted by this disparity.
According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s survey, a staggering 72.2% of employers exhibit a pay gap that favors men, while only 21.3% fall within the target range of plus/minus 5%. The remaining employers have a gap that leans in favor of women.
The median pay gap for the period up to March 2024 stood at 18.6% in favor of men, a marginal improvement from the previous year’s 19%. Encouragingly, 56% of companies succeeded in reducing their gender pay gaps.
Mary Wooldridge, the agency’s Chief Executive, highlighted that when a company’s gender pay gap exceeds the target range, it indicates a disproportionate representation of one gender in higher-paying positions compared to the other.
Notable listed companies with significant pay gaps favoring men include leading investment bank Macquarie Group, with a gap of 41.8%, and gas producer Woodside, with a 25.6% gap. Woodside demonstrated progress from its 30.2% gap the previous year, while data for Macquarie was not previously compiled.
Despite both firms being led by female chief executives, the persistent wide gaps suggest underlying systemic issues. Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake defended their approach by emphasizing a commitment to not prematurely promoting female employees to senior roles.
At a recent summit, Wikramanayake stated, “We’re not going to force females into senior roles. I think that would be counterproductive.”
Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill echoed a similar sentiment, emphasizing the necessity of allowing time for women to progress through the company ranks organically.
The Australian subsidiary of Thomson Reuters reported a 25% median pay gap in favor of men, showing a modest improvement of 3.5 percentage points from the previous year. A spokesperson attributed this gap to gender imbalances at various levels within the organization.
In response to these findings, Australia introduced legislation in 2023 mandating gender pay gap reporting for companies with over 100 employees. This move aligns with other nations such as the United Kingdom, which have implemented similar mandatory reporting measures to address wage inequality.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
