It’s 2015, why are Australian women still earning nearly $300 less than men each and every week?
The Australian gender pay gap has reached a record high, according to new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics yesterday.
The gap stretched to 18.8 per cent in November 2014, the largest it’s been since records began in 1994 and an increase of 1.4% from the previous year.
The data shows that a man working full-time in Australia will earn $1,587.40 a week on average, whereas a woman working full time earns $1289.30 — that’s a weekly difference of $298.10.
“It is a long-term, persistent problem,” says Dr Carla Harris, Research Executive Manager at The Workplace Gender Equality Agency, who warns the implications for women can be severe.
“If they are not accessing the same earning potential, women are twice as likely to live in poverty when they are older than are men,” Dr Harris says. “We need to start doing whatever we can to halt it and reverse it.”
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Even so, the Abbott Government announced on Wednesday that it plans to water down changes to gender reporting requirements for organisations, which were passed under Julia Gillard and due to take effect in April.
“Many found the reporting regime overly complex and time consuming and are not confident if will help them to improve gender equality,” Senator Eric Abetz said of the decision.
Employers will no longer have to report on CEO salaries, the pay of casual managers, the components of total remunerations, the numbers of job applications and interviews and requests and approvals for extended parental leave.