Gender pay gap $93,000 in top management positions, report finds

IF YOU want to know why the number of female bosses is lower than men, look no further than their pay packets.

IF YOU want to know why the number of female bosses is lower than men, look no further than their pay packets.

Although the representation of women in senior leadership positions is increasing, a new report has revealed the difference between men and women’s pay gets worse with seniority. The average pay gap between male and female top-tier managers is $93,000.

Where male key management personnel’s overall salaries were found to average $351,678, women in those jobs took home $258,431. It was also found that the majority of the $93k difference came in the form of discretionary pay including bonuses, which blokes were more likely to receive.

The 26.5 per cent gap was revealed in the Gender Equity Insights 2017 report, which looked at how gender pay gaps vary across industries and occupations.

Data in the report showed that the pay gap at the top level had actually decreased from last year when it was 28.8 per cent.

Fulltime gender pay gap among occupations — total remuneration, 2015 and 2016. The Gender Equity Insights 2017: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap by Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre in collaboration with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Surprisingly, it found that managers in female-dominated industries were hit hardest by gender pay gaps.

“Once the management environment becomes heavily dominated by women — beyond 80 per cent — the gender pay gap among managers increases from 8 to 17 per cent,” the report read.

Australia’s most male-dominated industry — mining — delivered the highest average pay to women. Fulltime female mining workers took home an average of $139,053 in total remuneration in 2016.

As well as being paid less than men in top jobs, women were also under-represented in the highest salary band for graduates. The highest paid 10 per cent of female graduates earned $81,000 while the highest paid 10 per cent of males starting out were paid $88,000.

There was one area where women won out. For part-time employees, non-managerial women out-earn men on average by 7.8 per cent, or around $4,000 a year.

The Gender Equity Insights 2017: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap. Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, in collaboration with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

Workplace Gender Equality Agency Director Ms Libby Lyons said it was time to challenge the way we think about work, noting that women were better off in workplaces where there was equal representation of males and females.

“This report shows that regardless of the industry they choose to work in, women are worse off

than men when working fulltime,” she said.

“The analysis is clear: gender-balanced workplaces and gender-balanced leadership teams lower the gender pay gap.

“We must address the stereotypes dictating the work women and men ‘should’ do, if Australia is to meet the social and economic challenges in the decades ahead.”