Gender pay gap: no point waiting, it’s time to act

When tAustralian women have to work two extra months a year to achieve the same pay as a man, there is a problem.

The national gender pay gap was 17.5 per cent in 2013 and it had not shifted in the preceding 20 years, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.

When the average Australian woman has to work two extra months a year to achieve the same salary as the average man, there is a problem. It sounds a bit dismal, and let’s not mention our comparative superannuation payouts on retirement, which are nothing to get excited about, and our longer average lifespan.

Women represent 50.5 per cent of the Australian workforce. Their choice of occupation has some bearing on the pay difference, with the mining sector at the top for wages, and food and accommodation at the other end.

Women face a pay gap in nearly every occupation and the gap increases the higher up the corporate ladder.

We know the pay gap has little to do with intelligence and competence. It has a lot to do with our lack of confidence.

Equal pay has been on the government agenda for years but progress has been minor. Action on an individual level is just as necessary. There is no point waiting for society to change.

Increasing women’s participation in negotiations on pay and conditions will be an important part of the solution. They need to have confidence in their abilities and the value they bring to the workforce, in addition to setting and fulfilling increasingly loftier career ambitions. To get there, they need help.

Men in general are likelier to back themselves, and take the risk of finding another job if pay or bonus negotiations do not go their way. This is supported by research that shows men initiate negotiations four times as often as women.

Women are more doubtful and security conscious, are generally grateful to be offered a new job or promotion and are more inclined to accept what is offered. They are also less inclined to prepare plan B or C. This can result in increased fear and avoidance of entering into any sort of negotiation.

Some detractors claim negotiations on pay and conditions are no solution. How can educating and empowering women to negotiate more be a negative?

That women are less inclined to initiate the discussion — be it about wages, salary, bonus, hours worked, leave arrangements, promotion or high-duty pay — and are less effective when they do, is not the news we want to hear.

But it can be fixed.

Women need to learn salary remuneration and benefits negotiation skills. Women are smart, and are essential to the growth and success of our organisations and economy. They just need the encouragement and tools to start negotiating.

It would be helpful if employers recognised the problem and supported the process.

We can blame men, but we also play a role in explaining why equal pay for women remains so elusive.

If we encourage each other and make the choice to invest in and value our contribution to the workforce, we will see major change. It is the tipping point.

The key is to act. To ask to be paid what you are worth.

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” — Dr Seuss.

Kelly Magowan is a career consultant at the Melbourne Business School.