The perpetuation of gender pay gaps and how ‘transparency drives change’

Following the latest data that revealed some reversal of the gender pay gap across numerous – but not all – sectors, one expert has reflected on the intangible forces that continue to fuel inequality.

For Victorian public sector gender equality commissioner Dr Niki Vincent, one of the most challenging aspects of the fight for gender equality is the patience required for long-term, systemic change.

As covered recently, the State of Gender Equality in Victoria’s Public Sector 2026 report revealed positive signs in a move towards sector-wide gender equality, but stereotypes and unintentional perpetuation mean there are still strong forces to contend with.

According to the report, women now hold 57.3 per cent of senior leadership roles, representing a 4.2 per cent increase; at the same time, however, the leadership pay gap grew from 11.2 per cent to 12.5 per cent over the same period.

And while seven out of 11 surveyed sectors saw an improved pay gap, the sector-wide pay gap hasn’t narrowed since 2021 due to a larger concentration of men in the highest-paying organisations.

When asked what holds women back from the C-suite, Vincent explained that the issue is two-fold, beginning with the allocation of pay bands. While employees protected by enterprise bargaining arrangements (EBAs) are seeing less pay gaps than those not protected, men can see a higher initial pay band allocation due to negotiating skills that are more often employed than by women.

“Men will tend to argue that they need to start at a higher level because of the experience they got … and women tend not to even negotiate at all,” Vincent said.

“That’s not because they’re not good at negotiation; we know from studies that women are equally as competent at negotiating. However, there are stereotypes about women who negotiate that they are pushy and aggressive and they tend to be a lot less successful”.

In connection, because senior executives are not protected by EBAs “that keep the pay gap narrow to that band … you’re on your own”.

As such, one of the remedies is the correction of stereotypes against women engaged in negotiation which, immaterial as it is, will certainly take its time.

In the same way, Vincent explained that women at the interviewing stage of recruitment often face the impossible issue of salary based on their previous remuneration, often fuelling the cycle of inadequate pay.

“The other problem at senior leadership is that often women coming into a role are asked what they’ve been paid before and if their pay was affected by gender stereotypes, which generally it has been throughout their working life, they’re automatically going to be starting at a lower salary.”

“You’re just keeping that pay gap going throughout women’s careers”.

In light of this, Vincent urged employers to start taking responsibility when landing on a salary range going forward, by independently pricing the job, communicating what the job is worth, and what the organisation will pay.

Similarly, she noted that many organisations and firms publish sector-average salary data that can be used to price jobs appropriately.

Vincent also explained that organisations should be designing flexibility for the whole workforce, taking into account the often bulk of caring and home responsibilities that women take.

“There are penalties for working flexibly. If you’re out of the office, you can’t be seen, and you’re not around. So you’ve really got to check that promotion and performance data doesn’t have a flexibility penalty, so the people who are working flexibly aren’t penalised for doing so.”

“A lot of employers now do have a policy that’s supposedly gender neutral, but it isn’t, because it’s socially acceptable within the workplace for women to do that, but men are frowned on if they do that.”

Vincent surmised that removing primary caregiver language, adjusting policies to reflect reality, and addressing entrenched norms head-on will start to move the needle towards gender equality in the workplace.

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