New Survey Finds Australia's Gender Pay Gap Slightly Narrowing

• The New Workplace Gender Equality Agency survey shows Australia’s gender pay gap having slightly narrowed.
• The survey also gives emphasis to industries like finance, mining and construction that holds major differences in giving pay checks to women of nearly a fifth less than men.

According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency survey, the gender pay gap of Australia has slightly narrowed. However, females are still getting pay checks of nearly a fifth less than men, with the biggest differences in finance, mining and construction industries.

The newly published survey also mentioned that a total of 72.2 percent of employers held a gap that favours men while 21.3 percent held a gap within the +/-5 percent target range. The rest held a gap that favoured females.

In addition, the median pay gap to March 2024 for the year was 18.6 percent inclined towards men in comparison to the 19 percent in the previous year. Otherwise, some 56 percent of the organisations have narrowed their pay gaps, indicating towards a gender-neutral environment in the workplace. 

In a statement, the Chief Executive of the Agency Mary Wooldridge said, “Where an employer's gender pay gap is beyond the target range of +/-5percent, it indicates one gender is more likely to be over-represented in higher paying roles compared to the other.”

Macquarie Group (MQG.AX) and gas producer Woodside (WDS.AX) are amongst the country’s large listed companies having big pay gaps that favours men.

When asked about the gap in the company, Macquarie CEO Shemara Wikramanayake stated, “It's going to take as long as it's going to take. We're not going to force females into senior roles. I think that would be counterproductive.”

Moreover, Meg O'Neill, the CEO of Woodside added to the statement, saying, “The size of the workforce is so large... it's going to take time for those women to get into the workforce, to work their way up to positions of greater seniority.”