Yes, the gender pay gap has been steadily decreasing in many places, including Australia, reaching record lows in recent years, driven by factors like increased pay transparency, government initiatives, and union efforts, though significant gaps still persist, especially as women age, reports the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. While 56% of Australian employers reduced their gap between 2022-23 and 2023-24, progress isn't guaranteed, with the gap widening significantly in older age brackets.
Since then, our data library shows slight improvement toward closing the gender wage gap, from 20.0% in 2022 to 18.9% in 2023 and 18.0% in 2024, the lowest it has ever been.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data released today reveals Australia's gender pay gap is at the lowest ever level since records began, at 11.5 per cent. This means Australian women working full-time now earning, on average, more than $250 a week more since the Albanese Government was elected in May 2022.
The ABS data gender pay gap
As of May 2025, the full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings across all industries and occupations was $2106.40 for men and $1864.10 for women. For every dollar on average men earned, women earned 88 cents. That's $242.30 less than men each week.
The analysis reveals that the gender low pay gap is also widening. The gap between the proportion of low paid jobs held by women and men rose from a 4.7 percentage point difference in 2022 to a 6.1 percentage point difference in 2024. The gender low pay gap fell from a high of 10 percentage points in 2018.
The gender pay gap is widest for Black and Hispanic women
Women of color are hit the hardest by the gender pay gap. On average, Black women working full time, year-round earned 67 percent as much as white, non-Hispanic men in 2023.
The global gender gap score in 2025 for all 148 economies included in this edition of the index stands at 68.8% closed. Looking at the constant set of 145 economies included in both this year's and last year's editions, the global gender gap closed by +0.3 percentage points in 2025, from 68.4% in 2024 to 68.8% in 2025.
40:40:20 simply refers to the ratio of: 40% men, 40% women, 20% of any gender. It's a business practice that many organisations around the world have or are committing to, striving for gender equity not only at the top level, but across all levels of its business.
Coles Group owns Coles supermarkets among other Australian businesses — and has the lowest average total remuneration gender pay gap of all the companies on this list. Women employed by Coles Group are receive 6 per cent less than men in total annual compensation.
The World Economic Forum's 2025 Global Gender Gap Report has seen Australia rise 11 places in the global rankings to 13th out of 148 countries for gender equality, the highest ever ranking since the Index began in 2006.
In 2019–20, the female dominated occupations with the highest proportion of women remain unchanged over the last decade:
Luxembourg notably has a negative gender pay gap of -0.7%, indicating that women, on average, earn slightly more than men.
According to the ABS (May 2024), full-time workers in Australia earn an average of $100,016 per year before tax, which works out to be roughly $1,923 per week. Male workers get paid the most at $104,744 per year, while females make an average of $92,706 per year – or a difference of $12,038.
Women earn 84 cents for every dollar men make — or even less : NPR. It's Equal Pay Day. Women earn 84 cents for every dollar men make — or even less Women working full-time, year-round jobs earn 84 cents for every dollar men make, and part-timers make even less.
Bias and discrimination in recruitment and pay decisions. Women, on average, handle a disproportionate share of unpaid care and domestic work. Lack of workplace flexibility to accommodate care and other responsibilities, especially in senior roles, meaning women often miss out on higher positions (and salaries)
Taking big data directly from official UK sources, the table below compares the gender pay gap by job.
A $75k salary in Australia is decent, above the median income for many age groups and allowing for comfortable living in regional areas, but it can be tight in expensive cities like Sydney or Melbourne, especially for families, with many feeling $100k is needed for stability, though it's a strong starting point for younger professionals. After tax, $75k becomes roughly $58.6k ($4,888/month), meaning lifestyle, location, and financial goals (like saving for a house) heavily influence whether it's considered "good".
One-third of that work-experience pay gap is because women accumulate less time on the job than men. Women average 8.6 years at work for every ten years clocked by men because, on aggregate, they work fewer hours, take longer breaks between jobs, and occupy more part-time roles than men.
Coles pays 17-year-olds based on junior rates in their Enterprise Agreement (EA) or award, with recent figures from mid-2024 showing rates around $19.99/hour base for Level 1 Team Members, potentially rising with penalties (after 6 pm, weekends) to over $23.99/hour or more, but rates increase with age and experience (e.g., Level 2, 3), so always check your specific agreement for exact figures.
No, Australia is not 90% white; while a large majority identify with European ancestry (around 76-80% in recent years), a significant and growing portion identifies as Asian, African, Middle Eastern, or Indigenous, making it a highly multicultural nation with diverse ethnic backgrounds, not overwhelmingly white. Recent census data shows European ancestry (English, Irish, etc.) makes up a large chunk, but Asian ancestries are also substantial, with over 17% Asian population and around 3.8% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, per the 2021 census data from Wikipedia.
China has a male-skewed sex ratio, with approximately 104-105 males for every 100 females overall (around 51.2% male, 48.8% female in 2020), though this varies by age and region, with younger age groups showing higher imbalances (more males per 100 females) due to historical factors like sex-selective abortion and underreporting of female births, creating millions more men than women, particularly in rural areas.
The number of men and women in the world is roughly equal, though men hold a slight lead with 102 men for 100 women (in 2020). More precisely, out of 1,000 people, 504 are men (50.4%) and 496 are women (49.6%).
Achieving full gender equality, one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), could take close to 300 years if the current rate of progress continues, according to a report published on Wednesday 7th september 2022 by UN Women and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).
The correct answer is Iceland. Iceland has consistently ranked first in the World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index since 2009. The country achieved a score of 90.8% in the 2022 report, reflecting its exceptional efforts in closing the gender gap.
There could be many reasons for the existence of the gender pay gap. Some could be related to the level of education, work experience, or working part-time. There are more women than men in some economic sectors where average wages are lower.