Equal Pay Day and why it matters

A pay gap analysis reveals the areas where women most often earn less than men at our University. Work is underway to balance the books. 

Last Friday was the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s Equal Pay Day. 

The date, 31 August, was chosen for a very good reason. It is 62 days after the end of the financial year – the number of extra days women must work to earn the same as men. 

Despite the gender pay gap being at its lowest in 20 years, it is still 14.6%. For a full-time employee, that is a difference of almost $245 per week.  

That the gender pay gap persists in 2018 is testament to the scale of the problem and its complexity.   

It is important that leaders continue to make a concerted effort to try to understand firstly why the gap exists, and secondly how those barriers might be addressed.   

WGEA notes that the only way an organisation can know if there are instances in which women are paid less than men, and if so, to what extent, is to conduct a gender pay gap analysis. 

This has been a thoroughly worthwhile process for UNSW.  

That analysis has found that the most significant contributors to observed pay gaps appear to be:  

• discretionary pay elements: the base salary for academic management and senior professional staff whose pay is not set out in our Enterprise Agreements, and bonuses and allowances at all levels  
• gender differences in the population: more males than females in the most senior (and highly-paid) roles. 

I am proud to be part of an organisation that is actively working to address these issues and promote and encourage greater equity, inclusion and diversity more broadly. 

When our 2025 Strategy started in 2015 we had no female Deans – last year we appointed our third. 

We now have five diversity champions – for gender, culture, disability, LGBTIQ, and flexible work and leave. 

We have appointed Australia’s first Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Inclusion and Diversity, and we now also have a Pro Vice-Chancellor, Indigenous.  

There is also a new Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy; unconscious bias training has been rolled out to more than 300 senior leadership staff; and our promotions policy now includes principle of performance relative to opportunity.    

There remain significant challenges when it comes to gender equality in our workplace. 

Of course, overcoming these challenges – especially those to do with culture and deep-seated unconscious bias – will take time.  

Nevertheless, more leaders expressing support for tackling pay inequities cannot help but improve awareness of the issue, in turn eroding the biases which allow the gap to persist.   

This is an extended version of an article the Vice-Chancellor posted on LinkedIn earlier in the week.