Pay equity: can we get it?
The National Foundation of Australia (NFAW) calls for immediate action from the Rudd government to address pay equity after today’s release of yet another set of evidence showing that pay outcomes for Australian men and women are far from equal.
No matter how well educated you are, or what occupation you are in, if you are a woman in Australia it is likely you are paid less than men in equivalent positions. Women are more likely than men to depend on awards for the setting of pay and conditions, and NFAW contends that the determination of minimum wages is critical to women’s substantive pay position. Employers will continue to exploit wage differences until they are prevented by legislation.
In her report Gender Income Distribution of Top Earners in ASX200 Companies, Anna McPhee, Director of the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA), says that “EOWA’s research also exposes large salary gaps between Australian men and women.”
Her data confirms other research such as the Average Weekly Earnings and Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership data, produced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Graduate salaries, by GradStats, which tell the same story.
McPhee’s data shows that the same sad story holds true at all levels of employment. On average, women are paid 16% less than men. Women at the top end of organisations have significantly less chance of becoming a top earner, and then if they do, they receive on average two-thirds of the pay received by men.
NFAW called for a review of pay equity in Australia’s industrial relations legislation in its budget submission (http://nfaw.org/social/budget/index.html) and is working with the National Press Club to promote a debate on the issue of pay equity for Australian women. “It is hardly surprising that employment participation rates or Australian women are lower than many other OECD countries.” said Marie Coleman, NFAW spokeswoman. “If the government fails to act on this evidence, we can only go further backwards”
“Australia needs a integrated response to this report from both Federal and State governments, with a clear plan of action to address the systemic inequities in the current legislation”.
Media inquiries
Marie Coleman, NFAW on 0414 483 067