Improvements to wages and full-time job opportunities for women have seen Australia’s gender pay gap drop to the lowest on record according to Australian Bureau of Statistics wage data.
ACTU Assistant Secretary Liam O’Brien said the record-low gender pay gap was great news for Australian working women.
The gender pay gap between male and female workers is now 11.5 per cent, closing at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent under the current federal government.
IEU-QNT Assistant Secretary/Treasurer Rebecca Sisson said the record low is an important milestone towards achieving an equitable workforce for women.
“75 per cent of our members are women, so we are pleased to see the government address some of the barriers affecting women in the workplace,” she said.
Under the current government, a record 3.9 million women are employed full-time in Australia and 308,000 full-time jobs for women have been created.
“These changes are the result of growth in full-time jobs for women, increases in award wages and union advocacy to secure pay increases for aged care workers,” Rebecca said.
Current barriers
The current measure of the gender pay gap says women in full-time work on average earn $1,782 per week compared to men earning $2,014.
Rebecca said the gender pay gap disproportionately affects highly feminised industries like education.
“While there have been some improvements, the work of women in primarily care roles continues to be undervalued by employers,” Rebecca said.
“Additionally, women also face discrimination in recruitment and the setting of pay.
“They are also often expected to take on unpaid caring work and as a result take on part-time and insecure work.
“This has resulted in an average decline of 55 per cent in women’s earnings during the initial five years of parenthood,” she said.
Hope for the future
“The federal government’s recent strengthening of flexible working rights and increase parental leave will hopefully address these shameful trends,“ Rebecca said.
The gender pay gap is expected to drop again next year following the federal government’s recent commitments to:
- protect workers misclassified as casual; and
- pay superannuation on parental leave.
“These changes are a step in the right direction but there is still room for improvements in recognising the unseen and often unpaid work that a lot of women do,” Rebecca said.
