The Workplace Gender Equality Agency's (WGEA) latest gender equality scorecard shows men still out-earn women, there has been a big jump in employer action on domestic and family violence and while there are more women in management there has been no increase in the number of female CEOs.
In food product manufacturing within the manufacturing sector, the gender split is 67.5 per cent men, and 32.5 per cent women. The full-time gender pay gap is 9.8 per cent and just under a third (32.8 per cent) of employers offer paid primary carer's leave.
Women account for 7.1 per cent of CEOs, 22.4 per cent of key management personnel (KMPs) and 15.2 per cent of directors.
In the beverage sector, 34.8 per cent of the workforce is female and the full-time gender pay gap is 8.1 per cent. It has 6.5 per cent female CEOs, 29.8 per cent female KMPs, 25.3 per cent female directors and 39.1 per cent of employers offered paid primary carer's leave.
The sixth year of WGEA data shows the strongest progress towards workplace gender equality are in those areas where employers have a direct influence on the outcome.(
“This year’s findings also showed a small increase in the representation of women in management but the number of female CEOs has not changed, remaining at 17.1% for the second year in a row. Access to paid parental leave improved but more than 50% of employers offer no paid parental leave,” the report said.
WGEA director Libby Lyons says the results cover more than four million employees. “This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1969 equal pay decision which first saw Australian women win the right to be paid the same as men for doing the same work, or work of equal or comparable value.
“Yet 50 years on, women and men still have very different experiences of work. Our data shows that pay gaps favouring men persist in all industries, occupations and manager categories.
“After six years, the Agency’s data shows that when employers take action, it makes a difference. Women’s promotions and appointments to managerial roles are rising every year. Over seven in ten employers now have policies or strategies to support gender equality or promote flexible working. Action on addressing pay equity continues to grow.
“I always welcome a reduction in the gender pay gap, but a drop of only 0.5 percentage points is slow progress by anyone’s measure,” Lyons said.
