Gender imbalance remains at occupational and industry level
One of the key drivers of Australia’s gender pay gap has shown minimal progress in recent years, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), which said tackling this issue is essential for advancing gender equality.
WGEA's Progress Report 2022-24 revealed that gender composition in the private sector is roughly equal, with women making up 51.1% of the workforce and men making up 48.7%.
However, the report noted that gender segregation is still occurring at an occupational and industry level.
"Nearly half the workforce is employed in an industry dominated by one gender," the report read.
Key driver of gender pay gap
Australia's gender pay gap is currently at an average of 21.8%.
A key driver of this gap is the occupational gender segregation, where women are often working in lower-paid jobs, according to the WGEA report.
It noted that while early progress shows that more women are joining male-dominated industries, challenges remain in increasing the number of men in women-dominated fields.
"Addressing it is the next critical frontier to improving gender equality and closing the gender pay gap," said WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge in a statement.
Future requirements for large employers to select and achieve or improve against gender equality targets should assist with this change, the report said.
Closing the gender pay gap
The WEGA report found 27% of private sector industries remain women-dominated, barely moving from the 23% in 2013-14.
Men-dominated industries, on the other hand, are seeing slight progress by declining to 24%, down from 35% in 2013-14.
"While men-dominated industries have slowly shifted towards gender balanced over the past decade, women-dominated industries show entrenched segregation," the report read.
Gender imbalance also remained consistent in other specific areas of workforce composition, it added.
"Gender segregation by employment status, for example, has remained generally unchanged since 2013-14, with women more likely to be employed on a part-time or casual basis and less likely to be employed full-time, compared to men," the report read.
A long way to go
Overall, WGEA's latest report revealed that Australia's gender equality journey still has a long way to go despite major progress in some areas.
It found that a record 68% of employers are now conducting a gender pay gap analysis, with the number of employers taking action as a result of it reaching 75%.
More employers have also begun consulting staff on their experience of gender equality in the workplace, with more employers implementing policies and strategies for flexible working.
According to the report, more employers are also offering paid parental leave, while more men are taking primary carer's leave.
"The outlook is positive, but change is frustratingly slow," Wooldridge said.
It found that while boards with no women are down by 11 percentage points, 26% of private sector boardrooms still don't have women representation.
In terms of sexual harassment, the report found that most CEOs review policies related to it, and more than 90% communicate their expectations to the workforce.
Boards and governing bodies, however, are less likely to do either.
"After 10 years of WGEA driving change, we are seeing real progress, with more employers focusing on gender equality, more flexible workplaces, and more women in the workforce," said Minister for Women Katy Gallagher in a statement.
"But the data is clear: too many workplaces still lack women in leadership, industry gender segregation remains a stubborn challenge, and more must be done to prevent workplace harassment."
Gallagher said the report underscores that change in workplaces takes commitment, transparency, and action.
"Employers need to redouble their efforts and keep working towards gender equality, because it isn't a 'nice to have', it's essential for a fair, strong and competitive economy," she said.
