New figures released 20 February by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that, on average, full-time working women’s earnings are 17.1% less per week than full-time working men’s earnings (a difference that equates to $262.50 per week). This gap in male and female earnings has decreased slightly since the last set of ABS figures were released in August 2013, when the gap was 17.5%. Women’s earnings have increased at a slightly higher rate than men’s over the past 12 months: 3.5% compared to 3%. Some may consider this to be “progress” –that is a matter of opinion.  BPW Australia’s opinion is that we shall have made progress when there is NO pay gap. At the fifth national conference in 1952, BPW Australia launched a “Rate for the job” campaign in support of ratification of the International Labour Organization’s Equal Remuneration Convention (1951). It is inconceivable that, 62 years later, the campaign slogan “Pay the job, not the sex” is still absolutely valid.

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