Sunshine Coast Council’s gender pay gap revealed in new data

New data released by the Services Union has revealed a large pay gap between female dominated roles and male dominated roles at the Sunshine Coast Council. See the figures.

The Sunshine Coast Council city hall. Picture: Sam Turner

New data released by the Services Union has revealed a large pay gap between the jobs typically dominated by men and those dominated by women employed at the Sunshine Coast Council.

The wage gap begins at four per cent between entry-level female and male dominated jobs with the council, with the gap then widening as employees move up the separate pay scales.

According to the union’s data, for level three employees with the council, those in roles dominated by women were paid 13 per cent less than those dominated by men.

The union said the gap between level three employees meant those in male dominated jobs were being paid $84,816 per year compared to those in female dominated jobs earning $76,043, despite having the same wage relativities.

The relativities used for local government employees today are in accordance with the Queensland Local Government Officers Award 1992, which uses benchmarks such as university degrees to compare female dominated jobs with male dominated jobs.

Women in female dominated jobs are being paid less than men in male dominated jobs.

Services Union spokesman, Tom Rivers, said the pay gap between what was traditionally female work and traditionally male work within Queensland councils must now be provided according to new laws.

“There have been recent changes to the Queensland Industrial Relations Act that have put the gender pay gap to the front of the agenda. Councils now must provide detailed information on the gender wage gap and if there is an issue how they propose to address this issue,” Mr Rivers said.

“Our union wants to ensure that employees working at councils with the same relative skills are all appropriately paid, looking beyond temporary shifts in the economy i.e. current high need for trades jobs.

“It is important that areas that are traditionally female dominated are remunerated equally to areas that are male dominated where the training requirements, skill level and responsibilities are relative.”

A Sunshine Coast Council spokeswoman said the council was continuing to update their policies to close the gap.

“A recent review of council’s gender pay gaps indicates a 10.4 per cent gender pay gap across the permanent workforce which is 1.6 per cent lower than the National average (ABS), 11.6 per cent lower than the current Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) employer census data, 3.1 per cent less than the Commonwealth Public Sector gender scorecard,” she said.

“Council is committed to advancing Australia’s commitment to gender equality in workplaces and is continuing to update policy and business practices to close the gap.”