The pay gap hasn’t moved for 3 years: it is 14% again this year. It hasn’t risen despite the impact of COVID-19, but it hasn’t fallen either. This means women must work 59 additional days from the end of the previous financial year to earn the same pay as men. The WGEA reports the full-time average weekly earnings difference between women and men is $253.60.  There are many factors that influence the gender pay gap, but bias explains why it persists. Check the stats for your state and industry against the WGEA facts.

in her 2020 report Measure for Measure, Emma Dawson, Executive Director of think tank Per Capita, reveals that women, particularly those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, suffer from accumulated disadvantage. She argues there is a strong case for a national, bi-partisan commitment to measure, evaluate and take action to close the gender equality gap in Australia. She states in BroadAgenda that “the gender pay gap is worse than you think” because the real impact of the gender pay gap is felt, not among the wealthiest members of our professional class, but by women who have toiled in low-income jobs, often in the care economy, who see their retirement savings and assets eroded to the extent that they are forced to live in penury after a lifetime spent in the service of others.