A good share of the increase in the gender pay gap takes place when women are between the ages of 35 and 44. In 2022, women ages 25 to 34 earned about 92% as much as men of the same ages, but women ages 35 to 44 and 45 to 54 earned 83% as much. The ratio dropped to 79% among those ages 55 to 64.
The gender pay gap has been declining slowly over time. Over the last decade it has fallen by approximately a quarter among both full-time employees and all employees. In 2022, the gap among full-time employees increased to 8.3%, up from 7.7% in 2021.
The gender wage gap
Women, on average, were paid 20.3% less than men in 2019. By 2022, that gap widened to 22.2%. Similarly, the regression-adjusted wage gap, which has been stagnant for most of the last 20+ years, widened slightly from 22.6% to 22.9%.
Australia's national gender pay gap has dropped to 13.3%. Today's average weekly earnings data, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), shows that women earn, on average, 87 cents for every $1 earned by a man.
The February 2023 average weekly pay for men working full time was $1,907.10. Women earnt $1,653.60 per week on average. That's a difference of $253 every week and $13,183 every year. At the average rate of pay for women, this is the equivalent of eight weeks additional paid work (56 days).
Women's labor is undervalued. Most of the disparity in women and men's pay cannot be explained by measurable differences between them. Out of the causes of the wage gap that we can measure, the main contributor is that women are more likely than men to work in low-paying jobs that offer fewer benefits. Education.
The gender pay gap in each state
In November 2022: Western Australia had the widest gender pay gap at 22.1% Tasmania had the smallest gender pay gap at 6%
The gender pay gap is influenced by several factors, including: • discrimination and bias in hiring and pay decisions • women and men working in different industries and different jobs, with female-dominated industries and jobs attracting lower wages • women's disproportionate share of unpaid caring and domestic work • ...
In 2022, women earned an average of 82% of what men earned, according to a recent Pew Research Center analysis. That's only up 2% from 2002. It will take more than half a century to close the gender pay gap at the historical rate of progress, according to PwC's Women in Work Index 2023.
Worldwide gender pay gap statistics
Korea has the largest gender pay gap in the world at 31.5% and Belgium has one of the smallest gaps at 3.4%.
Over time, gender-sensitive macroeconomic and financial policies will result in higher growth, greater economic stability and resilience, and lower income inequality—a dividend not just for women, but for everyone.
The result
It has a compounding effect that results in a woman's reduced earning capacity over her lifetime. On average, women are less likely to progress as far as men in their career and accumulate less money for retirement. Women are more likely to spend their lives working, and caring for the home and loved ones.
Despite significant healthcare advances in recent years, the gender pain gap – the phenomenon in which women's pain is more poorly understood and mistreated compared with men's due to systemic gaps and biases – is well and truly alive in 2023.
The more rapid increase in women's earnings from 1980 to 2018 resulted in a narrowing of the gender wage gap. In 1980, the average hourly wage of women was 67% of the average hourly wage of men, $15 vs. $23. By 2018, women earned 85% as much as men, $22 vs.
The Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023 has passed the Parliament. That means from early 2024, the gender pay gaps of employers with 100 or more workers will be published – a key reform to drive transparency and action towards closing the gender pay gap.
UN Women
The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) is the UN agency dedicated to gender equality.
Average Salary in Australia by Gender
As of November 2022, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency put a woman's average weekly full-time earnings at $1,653, compared to $1,907 for men.
Sadly, pink tax is a real thing in Australia!
You just have to browse the supermarket shelves to notice that items marketed at women and mums tend to have a higher price tag than products aimed at men. This often not-so-little mark-up is regarded as 'pink tax'. Pink tax is considered gender-based pricing.
The National Minimum Wage
This is the minimum pay rate provided by the Fair Work Act 2009 and is reviewed each year. As of 1 July 2023 the National Minimum Wage is $23.23 per hour or $882.80 per week.
Australia has lifted its standards when it comes to gender equality in the past year, with the latest Gender Gap Report from the World Economic Forum showing Australia jumping 17 places from 43rd to 26th.
Australia is ranked 43rd for gender equality internationally. 3.9% are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.
It ranked gender pay gap reporting systems across 11 indicators in Australia, France, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Australia scored four out of 11, ranking equal last with the UK. Spain was the top-ranked nation, scoring eight-and-half out of 11.