Corporate Diversity Pathways were thrilled to wake up this morning to discover the latest annual snapshot from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), which shows that the gender pay gap fell by 1.1 per cent last year.
This is the biggest single-year drop in the gender pay gap has reduced it to 21.3 per cent, but, on average, men still take home $25,717 more than women per year.
Some of the key findings from the 2017-2018 Gender Equity Scorecard include:
Construction pay gap increases: At 29.4%, Construction saw a 2.0pp increase in the gender pay gap. Financial and Insurance Services still has the highest pay gap (30.3%) although it has declined steadily over the five-year dataset.
Health pay gap increases again: Gender pay gap in favour of men increases for the second year running in Australia's most female-dominated industry (up 1.4pp from 14.7% in 2015-16 to 16.1% in 2017-18).
Women’s promotions continue to rise: Women now comprise 39.1% of all managers, with 43.3% of manager appointments in 2017-18 going to women.
Gender balance remains static at the top: Female CEOs increased slightly by 0.6pp to 17.1% and female representation on boards crept up by 0.9pp to 25.8%.
In regards to organisations’ move towards creating gender equal workforces, the scorecard showed:
Employers supporting flexible work: More employers have a policy or strategy for flexible working (up 2.4pp to 70.7%), but only 5.2% have set targets for employee engagement.
Pay equity analysis on the rise: There was a 4 percentage point increase in organisations analysing pay data (up to 41.6%). However, over 40% of those employers took no action to close the gap
Employer focus on gender equality increases: Almost 75% of employers have an overall gender equality strategy or policy (up 2.8pp). However, only 31.4% have implemented KPIs for managers relating to gender equality outcomes.
While there have been lots of improvements in some areas, there is still a long way to go in others. As proud Pay Equity Supporters of the WGEA, it is our mission to build gender equal workforces in Australia. Go from strategy and reporting to action, and achieve the WGEA’s Employer of Choice for Gender Equality Citation in 2019. To understand more about workplace gender equality and the services we offer, email us at info@corporatediversitypathways.com or schedule your free 30 minute consultation here.
Find the full WGEA 2017-18 scorecard here.