We hope you have a big celebration planned today, we just hope it’s not too expensive.
Because after working an additional 39 days, Australian women can now claim to have earned the same amount as Australian men did in the 2015/16 Financial Year.
While that might offer some relief, just remember you’re now already 39 days behind on catching up in the next financial year, a year in which you’ll be working another 39 or so days again anyway. So you can see how it all adds up to a lifetime of inequality — ultimately seeing women retire with half the superannuation of men, and expanding the gender gap on those who retire into poverty.
This year, September the 8th is Equal Pay Day, a calendar date that shifts every 12 months according to the pay gap that exists between men and women working full time, calculated by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, according to Average Weekly Earnings data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. WGEA calculates the pay gap to be at 16.2% for full-time employees, a difference of $261.10 a week. It also reports the gender pay gap in ASX200 organisations to be at a massive 28.7%,
There are many reasons why the pay gap exists. It’s complex and it’s stubborn, and it’s managed to hover around the same point for more than two decades now. As WGEA outlines, major reasons for its existence include the fact men and women are concentrated in different kinds of jobs, with ‘feminised’ work typically paying less (women account for 80.4% of the health care and social assistance industry); the underrepresentation of women in senior positions; the unequal distribution of unpaid caring responsibilities; and discrimination and bias.
But no reason for why the pay gap exists should be an excuse for the fact it does exist.
Today, a couple of new studies reveal further problem areas.
The Top Incomes and the Gender Divide study, a collaboration between the University of Melbourne, London School of Economics and the Milan-based Boccono University, finds women are significantly lagging when it comes to the wealthiest earners in the country. Of the top 10% of earners in Australia, less than one in five are female. Of the top 1%, less that 14 to 22% are female.
And think women don’t ask for pay rises? Think again. Women just don’t get pay rises as often as men.
That’s the finding according to another new study by the University of Warick and University of Wisconsin. It found that women were 25% less likely than men to get a pay rise when they asked for one, and that both genders ask just as often.
Meanwhile earlier this year, Westpac’s International Women’s Day report outlined other findings on the problem including that:
· Women hit peak pay at age 31, eight years before men at 39
· Women start full-time careers on almost 12% less than men
· Women see an average 12% drop in pay after taking maternity leave
· The gender pay gap is worth $123.4 billion a year
· The average Australian mother has her first baby at 28 and takes an average 13.4 months maternity leave break. Based on average earnings for a 28-year-old, that will cost her $367,231 over her lifetime, including the $63,693 in lost income due to the time off work
So what do we do about the pay gap?
Admit we have a problem — and note that the reasons why the problem occurs shouldn’t justify the fact women are earning less than men.
When CEOs of major companies talk about the issue, they often share just how surprised they were to find a pay gap existed in their organisation after undergoing an audit. After years of believing the Gap is something that exists somewhere else, they find it’s actually on their doorstep. So look for the problem and admit it exists — and identify the quick wins for removing it.
From there, it gets a little more complicated. We need to consider why women should earn less just because they take time out of the workforce to have children. We need a major rethink on how we value work, and why we so quickly devalue work that’s in health, childcare and social services.
