The WGEA Gender Equity Insights report series analyses gender pay gaps in Australia, including the relationships between gender balance around the board table and workforce pay equity.  This third report offers some encouragement that Australian businesses are taking the issue of gender pay equity seriously, with far more seeking to measure pay differences and review remuneration policies and processes in their organisations. It shows that gender pay gaps have narrowed over the last year, particularly for managers and for discretionary pay. Some industries are leading the way in driving down gender pay gaps in their organisations, but others continue to lag behind.

So what can companies do to shift the dial towards greater gender equity in the workplace? This third report provides some actions companies can take to narrow the gender pay gaps that persist in their organisations.

The analysis draws clear links between employer action on pay equity and lower pay gaps, demonstrating the need for organisational leadership accountability on closing pay gaps. Organisational gender pay gaps do not close themselves. They must be quantified, understood, acted upon, monitored and taken responsibility for at the most senior levels of our workplaces.

Australia’s retirement income system is not working for the poorest Australians, who are disproportionately women. Australia’s persistent gender gap in retirement savings and incomes means women, particularly single women, are at greater risk of poverty, housing stress and homelessness in retirement.

More generous superannuation tax breaks are predominately used by older, high-income men to reduce their tax bills and would likely worsen gender inequality in retirement savings. This new Grattan Institute report proposes two strategies to reduce the gender gap in retirement savings: better targeting of superannuation tax breaks which currently deliver the largest boost to the retirement incomes of high-income earners, most of whom are men; and a targeted boost to the Age Pension for retirees who do not own their own home delivered as higher Commonwealth Rent Assistance which would help to reduce the risk of women experiencing poverty in retirement.

Delivering through Diversity builds upon McKinsey and Co’s 2015 report Why Diversity Matters, which raised awareness of the business case for inclusion and diversity. The report influenced policy-setting and transformation efforts by corporations, the public sector and NGOs worldwide. Many successful companies regard inclusion and diversity as a source of competitive advantage and a key enabler of growth. Yet progress has been slow, with minimal Increases in gender representation on executive teams.

Delivering through Diversity tackles the business case and provides a perspective on how to take action to impact growth and business performance. It reaffirms the global relevance of the correlation between diversity in leadership and financial outperformance, based on over 1,000 companies across 12 countries. 

If women discover they are earning less than their male counterparts for the same jobs, their legal avenues for pursuing equal pay are limited, explains Alice Orchiston, Associate Lecturer in Law at University of Sydney. It’s difficult to prove and costly to litigate. Sex discrimination cases are very difficult to prove: the claimant needs to prove that she was paid less than a man in the same circumstances, but the employer can point to reasons unconnected with gender to explain a pay discrepancy. 

Professor Michelle Ryan from the University of Exeter questions whether we should focus on empowering women to lean in since this implies that inequality in workplaces is due to women’s personal preferences.  She suggests that, to address persistent gender inequality, we need to move away from trying to fix women and instead create workplaces where women feel they belong, which promote and reward women and are open to change.

Australia doesn’t have just one minimum wage – it has a different minimum wage for each award set by the Fair Work Commission. So why does the Commission set lower minimum wages for jobs more commonly held by women?

Dr Barbara Broadway and Professor Roger Wilkins of the University of Melbourne suggest minimum wages could do more to close the gender wage gap if the Commission’s decisions were neutral with respect to the gender composition of jobs. Drawing on HILDA Survey data from 2008 to 2014, their research found that award-reliant women earn approximately 10% less per hour than award-reliant men. Professor Barbara Pocock, founder Director of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia, advised BPW that historically the pay gap narrowed most significantly whenever the minimum wage was lifted.

BPW Australia conducts an annual Equal Pay Day campaign; in 2018 this will include advocating for gender neutrality in minimum wage decisions.

From the women's march in January that went global, to the surge of women leaders in Africa and Latin American countries ending child marriage, to the still current Me Too campaign that is forcing a rethink about acceptable behaviours, UN Women summarises an interesting year.  Let's look forward to more progress in 2018.

Rocío Lorenzo and her team surveyed 171 companies to find out whether diverse companies are really more innovative -- and the answer was a clear yes. In this TED talk, Lorenzo dives into the data and explains how companies can start producing fresher, more creative ideas by treating diversity as a competitive advantage.

In September 2017 the University of Canberra launched the 50/50 by 2030 Foundation.  It is a bold new gender equality initiative backed by world class research expertise that gathers evidence, documents best practice and runs leadership programs and events to strengthen the role of women in public administration and governance.  Why?  Because waiting for equality is not an option.

The Foundation’s report hub offers a searchable resource library of evidence to support research, advocacy and policy development. Subscribe to Broad Agenda to stay informed.

The BPW International website runs a blog with career and business advice for women.  Check it out at www.bpw-international.org/blog.  There are many pages of relevant and useful advice that is searchable so you can easily find the information you seek.