Australia’s Gender Pay Gap [Interactive Infographic]

The Australian gender pay gap of 14% expresses how much less women earn than men, on average, across all sectors and roles.

It does not compare compensation for like-for-like roles, because while there is still a gap there, it leaves out big part of the picture when it comes to women’s position in the economy.

Women’s overall position in the workplace is a key indicator of their economic participation and opportunity, a key index of equality in the World Economic Forum’s assessments.

Women worldwide are 41.9% behind men on the economic index, second only to political empowerment – where they come a staggering 77% behind!

Even comparing like-for-like, women with the same qualifications in the same job are paid less and treated differently than their male counterparts. Women can still expect to make 2% less, on average, than a man doing the exact same job, and many other aspects affect their experience at work.

In Australia, sex discrimination accounts for 38% of the gap gap. It’s the single biggest factor affecting pay equality, followed by industry segregation. Gender stereotypes, unconscious and conscious biases affect the hiring and promotion decisions in companies.

How does this stack up against the rest of the world? What are the causes of the gap? And what about women from different backgrounds?

In this infographic, we’ll break down the key statistics and evidence around pay equality from a variety of sources.

Equal pay

• Full time, across all industries and occupations: Australian women earn 14.0% ($9,000 per year) less than their male counterparts, on average (inc bonuses and non-salary compensation) according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
• When only comparing salaries, women’s average weekly earnings are $241/wk less than men’s earnings
• Women have to work an extra 62 days per year to earn the same amount as men.
• Average superannuation balances for women at retirement (aged 60-64) are 42.0% lower than those for men
• Of Australia’s top 200 companies, there are more CEOs named Andrew than there are women CEOs.

By Area

• Western Australia has the widest gender pay gap at 21.8%.
• South Australia and Victoria have the smallest gender pay gaps at 9.2% and 9.6% respectively.
• The largest pay gap in the world is 26.2 per cent, between Pakistani and Bangladeshi women. 

Causes

• Women disproportionate share of unpaid caring and domestic work
  • This is due both to social and historical causes
  • But also because their male partners often earn more to begin with – incentivising couples to give the woman primary caring responsibilities
  • Men penalising men for taking on the same responsibilities
  • This is unfair since it limits the available choices for everyone, and reinforces gender stereotypes. It’s become a chicken and egg problem.
  • Women spend nearly double the time men spend (1h 45m) in their spare time in unpaid caring labour.
• Having a family negatively affect women’s opportunities in the workplace
  • Raising kids results in a 17% lifetime loss in wages for women, while it does not affect men
  • Women are much more likely to work part-time on return to work
  • Women who take time off work have fewer opportunities for career progression, due partially to lack of workplace flexibility
  • So, women and men make the same choice to have children, while women have to deal with the loss of income and opportunity
• Occupational segregation
  • The gay gap is smallest in the public sector
  • Women are overrepresented in the health care sector, but even then they are underrepresented in senior roles