‘Change is frustratingly slow’ on gender pay, says WGEA

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has revealed significant progress in Australia’s gender pay gap in its newest report tabled in Parliament, while also noting that there remains a long way to go.

Editor’s note: This story first appeared on HR Leader sister brand Accounting Times.

On Tuesday (26 August), the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) tabled its biennial Progress Report in Parliament in a move to renew employer action to address inequality in Australian workplaces.

The report, tabled by Minister for Women Katy Gallagher, reflected a 21.8 per cent drop in the gender pay gap and more women in leadership across all industries.

Mary Wooldridge, WGEA CEO, said entrenched gender segregation remained, yet the positive results showed what progress could be achieved from long-term, deliberate action.

“A decade of employer reporting to WGEA has created a world-leading dataset. It shows us where employers and industries are making improvements that have contributed to the meaningful reduction in Australia’s gender pay gap and a more gender equal experience at work,” she said.

“In that time, there’s been significant progress on key metrics, including large increases in the proportion of women managers, senior executives and directors.”

According to WGEA, the report looked at employer progress against six key measures of workplace gender equality, known as gender equality indicators, across the past two years.

It also highlighted long-term changes in Australian private sector workplaces since results were first collected in 2014, which led Wooldridge to comment that “the outlook is positive, but change is frustratingly slow”.

From the report, key findings included an additional 1.6 million employees were covered by WGEA gender equality reporting, there was a 7.5 per cent decrease in total remuneration gender pay gap, 26 per cent of boards still lacked women, and 42 per cent of women were managers, up from 36 per cent.

It was also found that the proportion of the workforce in gender-dominated industries was down 8 per cent to 51 per cent, the proportion of primary carer’s leave taken by men was up 5 per cent in the past two years, and there had been more comprehensive strategies for gender equality put in place.

Wooldridge said there had been recent legislative reforms aimed at accelerating gender inequality improvements in Australian workplaces, as well as broader widespread consultation with employees.

“Employers have substantially developed and enhanced their policies and enhanced their policies to support equal remuneration, paid parental leave, flexible working arrangements and support to employees experiencing family and domestic violence,” she said.

“Gender segregation of industries and occupations is a key driver of the gender pay gap. The results show a stubborn lack of progress across all industries. Addressing it is the next critical frontier to improving gender equality and closing the gender pay gap.”

Wooldridge added that employer reporting to WGEA had been a “transformational mechanism” to capture the data and utilise it in order to mobilise employers to identify problem areas and address them.

Off the back of the report tabling, Wooldridge said she was hopeful that in another two years, when WGEA submitted its next report that indicators of gender equality slow to shift would have shown improvement.

“WGEA will continue to support employers to take thoughtful, considered, evidence-informed action to create workplaces that are equal, fair and safe for their employees,” Wooldridge said.