Don’t blame gender pay gap on more women doing lower-paid jobs

Just one in five dollars of Australia’s 15 per cent gender pay gap is because more women do lower-paid jobs, a new study finds.

New research shows just one in five dollars of Australia’s 15 per cent gender pay gap is because more women do lower-paid jobs.

Just one in five dollars of Australia’s 15 per cent gender pay gap is because more women do lower-paid jobs, with the rest due to women being paid less than men within the same occupation, a new study finds.

A report by private economic research group e61 Institute, headed by former Productivity Commission chair Michael Brennan, also notes job tenure, full-time or part-time status and educational level don’t factor into the lower pay of women working in the same professions as men.

Instead it is marriage and becoming a parent that have the greatest influence on gender pay differences.

“This research busts the outdated myth that the gender pay gap exists because more women are nurses, carers and administrators, and more men are lawyers, bankers, and pilots,” report co-author and e61 Institute research manager Silvia Griselda said.

e61 Institute research manager Silvia Griselda.

“(It shows) most of the gender pay gap is because women are paid less than men within the same occupation.”

The research paper, Beyond Skills and Occupations: Unpacking Australia’s Gender Wage Gap, was undertaken after the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s February report said the full-time gender pay gap across large companies was 21.7 per cent.

The e61 Institute study used population-wide hourly pay data for its figure of 15 per cent. It found “women’s and men’s decisions to work in different occupations explain about one-fifth of the gender wage gap for people aged 25-65 and one-third … for people who went to university after 2004”.

“Gender differences in pay within occupations comprise the bulk of the hourly pay gap and do not narrow when we control for ATAR scores, job tenure, full-time status and a wide range of other relevant personal characteristics,” the report concludes.

Dr Griselda said women not working full-time or having shorter tenure with their employer is “quite insignificant” in terms of the gender pay gap. “When we compare men and women with similar age, employment and marital status, number of children and academic ability, working in the same occupation, women have an hourly wage that is 15 per cent less than men’s,” she said.

“The factor that does seem to drive the gap wider is personal – being married and having dependent children imposes a penalty on how much women earn compared to men. This penalty exists for women but not for men.”

The report noted that after the WGEA study in February some companies committed to initiate strategies to increase female representation in higher-paying positions.

“Simply focusing on encouraging women into higher-paying occupations … will not be enough to end the pay gap,” co-author and e61 Institute research economist Elyse Dwyer said.

“The bulk of the gains will more likely come from improved workplace flexibility that allows more women to take on higher-paying positions.”

“The most effective way for companies to narrow the gender pay gap is to foster an inclusive environment where all employees, regardless of gender, are encouraged to take on domestic and parental responsibilities.”