“I found out I was earning $15K less than two male colleagues in the same role.”

When it comes to gender equity we hear a lot about the glass ceiling and the glass cliff – but don’t often talk about the big ol’ brick wall standing in the way of women in the workplace. It’s the one stopping us from seeing what our male colleagues, on average, are getting paid and asking for the same. But for the first time, that wall is about to come down. 

Federal legislation passed last year means private sector companies with more than 100 employees will have their pay rates published for all to see.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) will release the data on its website on 27 February, along with any explanatory statements from individual companies outlining what actions they’re taking to address the issue. 

The current gender pay gap – which is the difference between average earnings of women and men – sits at 21.7 percent. In real terms, that means for every dollar earned by men, women are only making around 78 cents. 

“I found out through a few discussions with co-workers that in some cases I was receiving up to $30,000 less than males on the same level as me.”

This is often put down to the fact that traditionally female-dominated professions – such as nursing, teaching, and care work – are generally lower paid than historically male-dominated ones, like construction or IT. The under-valuing of caring roles is a huge problem itself, as is the lack of women in higher paid industries. 

But, the FW community knows the gender pay gap exists even when women and men are doing similar roles or in the same industry.

“I was definitely getting underpaid compared to male colleagues in similar roles in my previous company”, Felicity  told us in a post discussing the gap in FW’s members-only Facebook group.

“Because we were on individual contracts and virtually no one had the exact same job title, it was really easy for them to underpay if you didn’t kick up. There was also no visibility on pay structure.

“I found out through a few discussions with co-workers that in some cases I was receiving up to $30,000 less than males on the same level as me. Most of the females were similar,” Felicity said.

Imogen* described being paid less than her male colleagues despite having more responsibilities.

“I was head of the English department [at an independent school] and found out the male head of the Humanities department was earning more than me. He had a few more years experience than me but my role had greater responsibility (department size and number of VCE classes). But I was young and scared to rock the boat so I did nothing about it.” 

Fear of a backlash is the reason many women don’t pursue equal pay even when they know there is a discrepancy, as Jane* found out.

“I found out I was earning $15,000 less than two male colleagues in the same role, and $30,000 less than another, despite having 22 direct reports around the country, and each of them only having about eight in their home state. 

“My female boss advised me to put a salary review request in writing but refused to assist me with it when I asked, telling me to ‘figure it out’. Surprise surprise my request was terrible, I never got the pay rise and then I got made redundant not long after (none of the others did).”

The pay gap isn’t simply about pay rates. It’s the combination of multiple factors that effectively leave women financially worse off than men.

Stories like this are especially difficult for Ruby Leahy Gatfield to hear. She’s FW’s Head of Research and Insights, an expert on gender pay inequity and former senior adviser at WGEA.

“What’s frustrating is that we have had legislation in place for more than 50 years making it unlawful to pay women and men differently in like-for-like roles. And still, we continue to hear of these instances of unequal pay from women across all industries,” she said. 

Ruby said part of the problem is that the pay gap isn’t simply about pay rates. It’s the combination of multiple factors that effectively leave women financially worse off than men. (You can read Ruby’s excellent explainer on these at this link.)

It incorporates workforce composition, unpaid labour, and discrimination (seriously, do read Ruby’s explainer). We see these issues coming up in conversations within the FW community pages. One member, Judith, called out the subconscious gender bias she has seen during recruitment processes.

“There have been times interviewing people for leadership roles in Not For Profits (NFPs) and the other board members will say if it is a man, we may have to up the salary to secure him for the role. There is such an inherent bias that men are worth more to a workplace.”

It’s hard to believe this kind of thinking is still alive and well within Australian workplaces but, as long as the gender pay gap exists, the evidence is hard to deny. Ruby said she’s hopeful the publication of pay data on February 27 will lead to lasting change by prompting broader discussions.

“Leaders need to tackle gender equality from a much broader lens to narrow the gap – from encouraging more men to take up parental leave to reflecting on how we value and remunerate different lines of work.” 

“I think it’s going to help everyone – workers and employers alike – to better understand that pay gaps are about more than equal pay” Ruby said. 

*Names have been changed for privacy.

Further reading: 

Understanding WGEA’s pay gap data