Feminism is inherently founded on the idea of tackling inequality and entrenched power structures. Today, one of the most important feminist talking points is the inequality of wages between men and women – the so-called gender pay gap or wage gap.
But does the pay gap actually exist? And even if it does exist, are the various figures being thrown around during debates actually realistic? In this article, we take an in-depth look at the gender pay gap in Australia and settle the score once and for all.
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What Is The Gender Pay Gap?
The gender pay gap refers to the difference in average salary between men and women, a difference that is present in virtually every industry and every country. Feminists believe that the wage gap is caused by institutional sexual discrimination, as well as oppression that limits women’s opportunities.
Various factors that are unique to women can increase this difference, such as maternity leave, differences in education levels, and job experience. This is why the pay gap can be measured in ‘unadjusted’ or ‘adjusted’ forms, where ‘unadjusted’ refers to the pure difference between men and women in salary, and ‘adjusted’ corrects the salary differences with these unique factors in mind.
Is The Wage Gap Real?
All over the world, the pay gap can be uncovered in the data.
In the USA, women make 85% of what men make. This is substantial progress from the 1980s when women only made 64-67% of what men did. Other highly developed countries, especially in Europe, often don’t fare much better. Austria, the UK, and Switzerland all have similar wage gaps.
On the other end of the spectrum, South Korea has an astonishing 37% wage gap that highlights a massive disparity in the valuation of men over women in the workplace.
All in all, the gender pay gap statistics prove that there is a clear and significant issue in women being paid less than men. Some say that the wage gap is debunked due to certain key differences, such as the fact that many women ‘choose’ not to work in certain jobs such as construction and mining, and that men simply negotiate for their wages better.
But how much of this ‘choice’ is due to the fact that women are often discouraged from participating in traditionally male-dominated industries in the first place? Meanwhile, many women are reluctant to negotiate for higher salaries because aggressive and ambitious behaviour, when coming from women, often results in a negative outlook.
The foundation of the wage gap is facts – there is no myth there.
Does The Wage Gap Exist In Australia?
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency has a comprehensive report on the gender pay gap in Australia. We see that women make 14.1% less than men do, based on weekly earnings. This puts our country in the middle of the scale for many developed nations.
Does The Wage Gap Differ From Industry To Industry?
According to the WGEA’s report, the gender wage gap in Australia is highly variable across every industry. For instance, in the wholesale sector, the pay gap is 13.4%, close to the countrywide average. But in retail, the pay gap is a mere 5.2%, while the financial and insurance services industry demonstrates a staggering 26.9% wage gap.
The industry with the largest pay gap may be the arts. In 2014-2015, the average Australian male professional artist earned $AUD 22,100, compared to his female counterpart who only earned $AUD 15,400, a 30.3% wage gap. To illustrate this kind of gap; in order to make the kind of money that a male artist took home by December 31 of one year, a female artist would have to work well into April of the next year.
Conclusion
These wage gap facts all point to an institutional problem with the way we value women in the workplace, and Australia itself still has a long way to go. Our moderate pay gap persists even if our female workforce may actually be more educated than our male workforce.
Thankfully, the government and other organisations have started initiatives that help reduce the wage gap. Some of the top governing bodies in Australian sports have pledged to end the wage gap, while agencies like the WGEA do their part in exposing discrimination.
While the struggles of feminism have helped close the gap, the fight is far from over.
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