Startling gender pay gaps at Adelaide’s top private schools revealed – but some others are bucking the trend

The gender pay gaps at some of Adelaide’s top private schools have been revealed – and the results may surprise you.

Male staff at some private schools are being paid upwards of 20 per cent more than their female colleagues – but other schools have managed to close or reverse the gap.

Figures released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) on Tuesday included data from a number of private schools in South Australia.

The median pay gap for total remuneration at Blackfriars Priory School was 24.9 per cent in favour of men, and at Rostrevor College the gap was 22.4 per cent.

St John’s Grammar School had a pay gap of 20 per cent, Loreto College of 14.2 per cent, Prince Alfred College of 14 per cent and Seymour College of 13.6 per cent.

Some schools reported near-parity, such as Wilderness School with 0.5 per cent, while a small number of schools recorded pay gaps in favour of women.

Pulteney Grammar School reported a gap of 9.9 per cent, at Pembroke School the gap was 10.2 per cent and at Walford Anglican School for Girls it was 12.4 per cent – all in favour of women.

Walford principal Dr Deborah Netolicky said the school’s gender pay gap data reflected its culture, values and purpose.

“As an organisation, we pride ourselves on attracting outstanding talent, providing excellent working conditions, and creating a culture of inclusivity,” she said.

Principal Dr Deborah Netolicky at Walford School. Picture: Mark Brake

“We firmly believe in ensuring that our staff receive fair remuneration that reflects the skills and responsibilities they undertake within the school, irrespective of their gender.

“Being an all-girls school, we are deeply committed to ensuring that girls and young women can be what they can see.”

Dr Netolicky said normalising female leadership at student, staff and governance levels “continues to be important to our school and embedded throughout everything we do”.

“While not focusing specifically on gender, we are a school committed to the wellbeing of our staff,” she said.

“We have a staff wellbeing committee, that works with me as principal to consider work flexibility where possible, communications policies and practices, mentoring and coaching, professional learning and growth, staff recognition, and ways to build belonging.”

Here is what the WGEA has revealed about South Australia’s private schools:

The pay disparities reported by WGEA are calculated by comparing median total remuneration of female and male employees, which accounts for base salary, superannuation, overtime, bonuses, sales commissions and other non-financial benefits.

Nationally the median Australian woman earns $78,484, while the median man takes home $96,945 — a 19 per cent increase.

You can explore the full data table here – you can search for individual companies or use the headers to filter by largest gap, industry or state.

Originally published as Startling gender pay gaps at Adelaide’s top private schools revealed – but some others are bucking the trend