THE Workplace Gender Equality Agency released the inaugural findings from gender data provided by Australian employers. It paints the most comprehensive picture of gender equality in workplaces Australia has ever seen.
The results show that while women comprise 39.8 per cent of ‘other managers’, their representation falls to 26.1 per cent of key management personnel (KMP) and just 17.3 per cent of CEOs.
One-third of employers have no female KMPs, and 31.3 per cent of employers have no ‘other executives or general managers’ who are women. At the top three layers of the management hierarchy, women comprise just 26.2 per cent.
WGEA Director Helen Conway said the data confirms Australian organisations are failing to maximise the potential of the country’s highly educated female talent pool.
“There is now extensive evidence that shows women face clearly defined structural and cultural barriers in the workplace that make it harder for them to rise up the management ranks. This is a lost opportunity given it’s accepted diverse teams underpin an organisation’s ability to innovate, meet the needs of customers and effectively manage risk,” she said.
Yet some of the male dominated industries like mining and electricity, gas and waste services, are doing a better job and allowing women to move through the management levels.
“Organisations that are failing to engage, retain, develop and promote women during those critical childbearing and career acceleration years are incurring real bottom line costs in terms of staff turnover. Yet, the vast majority of employers do not have the required strategies in place to create a level playing field and ensure women and men are equally represented, rewarded and valued in their workplaces,” Ms Conway said.
The data shows about half of employers have policies on the known enablers of gender equality but few are developing strategies in these areas. Nearly half of employers have policies on flexible working but only 13.6 per cent have a strategy for it, whereas 45.2 per cent have a policy for supporting employees with family and caring responsibilities but only 13.2 per cent have a strategy to implement it.
Remuneration data highlights the financial cost to Australian women of not having access to the same opportunities at work. Across the reporting population, full-time working women earn a base salary that is 19.9 per cent less than full-time working men while their total remuneration including discretionary pay such as bonus payments, allowances and overtime is 24.7 per cent less than men.
“This data shows that women don’t have the same opportunities as men to boost their earnings with discretionary pay. Unfortunately, employers are not doing enough to address this issue. The data shows less than one in four employers has done a gender remuneration gap analysis to check for potential pay equity issues,” Ms Conway said.
“Gender bias is likely to creep into pay decisions when employers have a loose approach to remuneration. This leads to unequal pay outcomes for women doing the same or comparable work as men.”
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