Stubborn gender pay gap presents a challenge for both sides

Women are living even longer than men but still not earning or retiring with as much money.

Women are living even longer than men but still not earning or retiring with as much money, ­according to the Australian ­Bureau of Statistics’ latest comparison of the two sexes’ economic, health and social outcomes.

“The gender pay gap has remained stable over the last decade, with women earning 89 per cent of the earnings of men, taking into account the differences in working hours,” the ABS said yesterday.

The findings come amid a slanging match between the government and opposition over their treatment of women.

Labor has made a series of policy announcements recently aimed at boosting women’s earnings and retirement balances, including making extra taxpayer-funded superannuation payments for mothers.

About 45 per cent of women had obtained a bachelor’s degree by age 30, compared with 32 per cent of men, yet last year their ­median graduate starting salaries for full-time jobs were $59,000 compared with $60,100 for men.

“Big challenges remain for gender equality,” the bureau said, noting the proportion of chief executives who were female had “increased by less than one percentage point” to 16.5 per cent over the three years to 2017.

“However, there are more ­notable increases in the rate of women in other leadership positions, particularly those roles that help influence decisions within ­organisations,” it added. “The proportion of female key management personnel, general man­agers and other executives increased by three percentage points, with females now occupying around 30 per cent of these roles,” the ABS said.

 

Super balances for women in retirement averaged $196,000, which was 37 per cent lower than for similarly aged men.

Life expectancy for women rose to 84.6 years compared with an unchanged 80.4 years for men, aping trends in the US where life expectancy for men has been falling relatively.

The ABS’s Gender Indicators for September 2018 also found men were more than three times more likely to commit suicide than women, 2.9 times more likely to be robbed, 21 per cent more likely to be violently assaulted, and more than 10 times more likely to be imprisoned. They were also more overweight and more likely to smoke and drink excessively.

As part of a suite of measures to close the gender gap, Labor has also promised to compel firms with more than 1000 employees to reveal the average pay of their male and female staff.

Women were twice as likely as men to have been sexually harassed, and 40 per cent more likely to suffer psychological distress, especially young women, who were twice as likely to endure it.

Men and women were equally happy, the ABS inferred.

“On the whole, Australians are a pretty happy bunch. In 2014, just over four in every five of us rated their overall life satisfaction as seven or more out of 10,” the ABS said. “Women were three times more likely than men to have qualifications in health, and nearly four times more likely to have qualifications in education.

“Architecture and building accounted for approximately 1 per cent of female graduates each year between 2007 and 2017.”