Kath & Kim of corporate Australia: The first gender pay gap report is crude, crass and blunt

Australian icons Kath & Kim (Gina Riley and Jane Turner).

Australia has a stubborn gender pay gap.

A fact that can no longer be refuted, obfuscated or glossed over by hosting yet another “women’s empowerment” breakfast or serving up some cupcakes on International Women’s Day.

There is now a report that shows the evidence and it comes in the form of a crude Excel spreadsheet compiled by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, published for the first time on Tuesday.

It’s crass and it’s blunt. This inaugural report uses median, not average earnings (that will change from next year) and omits the public service for now. It is a brutal tool that enables female workers to see how much less than are being paid than their male colleagues. In some sectors the remuneration gaps are as high as 73 per cent.

About a quarter of Australian employers have gender pay gaps of more than 20 per cent.

The list also reveals that 30 per cent of Australian employers in the private sector have no gap; whereas 62 per cent favour men; 8 per cent favour women.

This legal version of corporate doxxing was a welcomed move by advocates and industry groups. It was legislated last year to pressure employers to reduce the difference in salary scales. It’s not a perfect cure for inequality.

The report, which will be rolled out annually, needs more transparency and more details.

This first crack removed data that showed things like the gender breakdown of all roles and staff movements at each organisation.

It’s not really fair to compare the median base salary of admin staff at a daycare centre to that of chief executives at the big four consulting firms, but that’s what this first review does. It’s opaque, but it’s the first step on the long road toward pay transparency.

Let’s leave the politics and ideologies that the right and left both use to amp up their arguments about pay parity.

The issues surrounding career interruptions faced by women is entirely separate to equal pay, but this report is a good launching pad place for those discussions.

If people are doing the same job, they’re working the same hours, and have the same responsibilities, then they should get the same pay.

It’s up to these 5000 organisations to figure out how to navigate the complexities of families and working parents. Some may offer more flexibility instead of a thicker pay package, but as this report states equal pay must be the rule, not the exception for all workers.

People need to be paid equally for doing the same job, regardless of everything including gender.

The publication of these stats mean the pay gap can now be redefined. It’s the beginning of the end for financial inequality which is an impediment for women and productivity.

By showcasing these numbers in such an indelicate yet “user friendly” way, hopefully this is the start of more policies about other gendered issues.

The WGEA report is like a Kath & Kim script that reads: “I’ve got one thing to say to you … no more cakes, it’s time for change.”