Australia’s total remuneration gender pay gap has dropped by 0.6 percentage points, with the increased wages of low paid workers in aged care being the main driver of the reduced gap.
Today, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) published Australia’s Gender Equality Scorecard 2023-24, which spotlights how more than 7,400 private sector employers are tracking in terms of the gender pay gap.
According to WGEA’s scorecard, Australia’s total remuneration gender pay gap is 21.8 per cent, with the salaries of CEOs and heads of business included in the figure for the first time. This means for every dollar a man earns, his female counterpart earns 78 cents. In other words, women, on average, earn $28,425 less than men each year.
Last year’s gender pay gap was at 21.7 per cent. There was a 0.6 per cent reduction in the gender pay gap in the last 12 months, taking it to 21.1 per cent.
However, for the first time, WGEA analysed the gender pay gap of executives, and when considering the stark gender pay gap for CEOs and heads of business (HOBs) – the highest of all industries in Australia – this increases the gender pay gap by 0.7 per cent, resulting in a new gender pay gap of 21.8 per cent.
One of the positive things to come out of WGEA’s research is the impact of wage increases in industries that are traditionally lower paid. This includes a recent pay rise for the residential aged care workforce, where 80 per cent of employees are women, as well as the accommodation and food services industry, and retail.
Most of the data was collected in the eleven months prior to WGEA releasing the gender pay gaps of these employers for the first time, at the end of February this year. The scorecard thus reflects what actions employers were taking to reduce the gender pay gap in anticipation of the release of their gender pay gap.
Mary Wooldridge, the CEO of WGEA, told Women’s Agenda this year’s scorecards proves how effective wage increases are in making inroads to improving the gender pay gap.
“Often, we focus a lot on getting more women into higher paid roles,” Wooldridge said, “but because women are so strongly represented in that lowest quartile, increasing remuneration at that level is important as well.”
Next month, early childhood education and care workers will receive a 10 per cent pay increase. They’ll be given a further 5 per cent increase by December 2025 as part of a government policy announced in August this year.
Wooldridge said she hopes to see an even greater reduction in the gender pay gap as a result of this policy.
“As there’s work that goes on in terms of reassessing the value of those roles, in often very highly feminised industries, and that flows through to wage growths, we will see ongoing contributors to narrowing the gender pay gap,” Wooldridge said.
CEOs: ‘The true gender pay gap’
For the first time, WGEA included the remuneration of highly-paid executives in its reporting and analysis, including CEOs, Head of Business (HOBs) and casual managers.
Women’s representation in executive roles is low: according to WGEA, just one in four CEOs/HOBs are women.
Executive jobs have the highest gender pay gap of all, at 27.1 per cent. This means, on average, women executives are paid $158,632 less than their male counterparts.
Wooldridge from WGEA said including the pay gap of CEOs and HOBs “more accurately reflects the true gender pay gap”, and all future scorecards will include this gap.
“Nearly 80 per cent of those roles are held by men,” Wooldridge said, “and they’re the highest paying roles. So including them in our analysis helps to make sure the measurement is reflective of what’s happening in workplaces.”
One in four boards are all-male boards, according to WGEA’s data. In male-dominated industries, 41 per cent of boards have zero women.
“The evidence shows that having a diversity of genders on the board leads to better decision making, better profitability and better productivity.
“We haven’t seen movement on the numbers in the last 12 months. It’s really important to highlight that brining diversity of perspective and experience into boards is good for business, but also for the community as a whole.”
Closing the gender pay gap in 2025
More than half (56.4 per cent) of all employers have improved their average total remuneration gender pay gap in the last 12 months. Fifty per cent of employers have an average gap of 12.1 per cent and a median gender pay gap over 8.9 per cent, which decreased from 9.1 per cent last year.
Targets to reach gender equality in the workplace have been set in 45 per cent of employers. Of these, 68 per cent have set a target to increase women in management, 59 per cent have set a target to reduce the gender pay gap, and 35 per cent have set a target to have a gender-balanced governing body.
Wooldridge from WGEA said closing the gender pay gap will be different in each workplace, but it’s important for employers to know where they stand.
“If you don’t do the detailed analysis, you’re never going to be able to put the relevant actions in place,” Wooldridge said.
“It may be about getting more women into the pipeline for more non-traditional roles, it may be getting men into areas that have been more feminised, it may be seeking to retain women that are going into industries, but not staying because they’re not feeling welcome.”