‘Doing two jobs for less money’: Abbie Chatfield reveals pay gap with male colleagues

Abbie Chatfield has lifted the lid on an instance in her career when she discovered she was paid significantly less than her male colleagues.

Abbie Chatfield has revealed she too has experienced gender pay disparity in the workforce.

Prior to becoming a TV and radio personality after her stint on The Bachelor in 2019, Chatfieed worked in the corporate world as an analyst in commercial real estate.

It was during this time she said she felt the effects of inequality as her male colleagues earned significantly more than her.

The 28-year-old revisited this period in her life this week on her It’s A lot podcast, when she invited Meggie Palmer, the founder and CEO of tech firm PepTalkHer, on as a guest.

“I was an analyst with a degree in property economics and when I graduated I was like, ‘I’m gonna ask for a pay rise,’’’ she told Palmer.

“So I went around to all the boys and asked them what they were on … And all of them were earning at least $20,000 more than me.”

Abbie Chatfield recalls the pay gap she once had with her male colleagues.

Chatfield recalled performing identical duties as her male analyst co-workers on top of managing administrative duties for the company, and still they were on higher salaries.

“The thing that I noticed when I was in corporate was that a lot of women, they have to take ‘foot in the door jobs,’ and then they end up doing their role slash admin or slash receptionist. So they’re actually doing two jobs for less money,” she said.

“So I was doing all the stuff that the analysts would do, and then I was also doing miscellaneous admin.”

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Before becoming a TV and radio personality, Chatfield worked in the corporate world.

She said she highlighted this during a performance review but was told they weren’t able to grant her request due to insufficient funds.

However, when she then pointed out that her male colleagues in the same role were earning higher salaries, they immediately upped her salary by $20,000.

“It was f***ed,” she said. “And then I left and I went on The Bachelor and the rest is history.”

She placed runner-up in her season of the reality dating show, when astrophysicist Matt Agnew gave his final rose to chemical engineer Chelsie McLeod.

But Chatfield went on to bigger and better things. She has since hosted TV shows such as Nine’s Love Island Afterparty, BINGE’s FBoy Island Australia and is currently a judge on Ten’s The Masked Singer Australia.

She also went on to host her own radio program on the Hit Network, Hot Nights with Abbie Chatfield, but stepped away last month to focus on her podcast.

Originally published as ‘Doing two jobs for less money’: Abbie Chatfield reveals pay gap with male colleagues