Men are still being paid significantly more than women in Australia

The pay gap has barely changed in the past year, but there has been progress in other areas.

Andrew Day with kids Hamish and Phoebe, and dog Boris. Picture: Jason Edwards

Women still earn $25,000 less than men on average, with a leading gender advocate accusing companies of being on “autopilot”.

The annual snapshot from the Workplace Gender Equity Agency shows there has been little change in the pay gap, which dropped by just 0.7 per cent to 20.1 per cent over the past year.

But there has been some progress on flexible work policies and paid parental leave.

The agency’s director Libby Lyons said the results, covering more than 11,000 private companies, were disappointing.

Ms Lyons said “gender equity fatigue” appeared to have set in, stalling progress on key gender indicators.

“Companies have policies in place but they do not have plans on how to implement the strategies or targets to keep people accountable,” she said.

“Australian employers are on autopilot when it comes to improving gender equality. The issue is clearly not receiving the necessary attention to drive further change.”

The report contains gender data from Australian non-public sector companies with more than 100 employees.

It shows just 54 per cent of companies that completed a pay gap analysis did anything in response to their findings – a drop of six per cent.

Ms Lyons said there were some more positive developments, with 50 per cent of employers now offering paid primary carer’s leave to their workers and three quarters of employers now having flexible work policies.

Women’s promotions and appointments to managerial roles also continue to improve, with women now comprising almost four in 10 managers.

Despite this, Ms Lyons said she was “very worried about what the data will say next year” as the next report will contain information about the impact of covid, which had a disproportionate impact on women’s employment.

The data shows women continue to make up 75 per cent of part-time workers and 56 per cent of casuals.

Carnegie father-of-two Andrew Day, who works in the health and safety division of Medibank, is looking forward to a second stint of paid parental leave following the birth of baby Hamish in April.

Mr Day also took three months off in late 2018 to care for his daughter Phoebe, now 2, when his wife Elise went back to work.

“It gave me a huge confidence boost as a parent,” he said. “It was a very special time which we will look back on very fondly. I am sure my daughter and I wouldn’t have such a strong bond without it.”