The state of play on Equal Pay Day

People & Culture: Today is Equal Pay Day, marking the 50 days into the new financial year that Australian women must work to earn the same, on average, as men did last year.

For the past 50 days the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) campaign, themed ‘It Doesn’t Add Up’, has motivated Australians to understand the pivotal difference between equal pay and the gender pay gap.

Equal pay is paying all people the same for equal or equivalent work. In Australia, this has been the law since 1969. A gender pay gap occurs when more women are working in lower paid roles and more men are working in higher paid roles.

“Australia’s gender pay gap is a limit on women’s lifetime earnings and it just doesn’t add up or align with the Australian values of equality and a ‘fair go’ for all,” WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge said.

“An employer that claims they’ve addressed their gender pay gap because they pay women and men the same for doing the same work are doing the bare minimum. Eliminating unequal pay is just one piece of the puzzle.”

To help accelerate change, Federal legislation now requires WGEA to publish individual gender pay gaps for all employers with 100 or more employees every year. The first publication of data for more than 5,000 private sector employers was in February this year.

WGEA’s results show that 2 in 3 employers (62%) have a gender pay gap more than 5% and in favour of men. All employers should be aiming for a gender pay gap within +/-5%. A range of different factors can drive gender pay gaps, including barriers of bias, discrimination and entrenched gender stereotypes which can devalue women and their work.

Deep diving into the data, the WGEA Employer of Choice for Gender Equality (EOCGE) citation holders like AstraZeneca, demonstrate a commendable median total remuneration gender pay gap of -2.9% in favour of women.

Although not current EOCGE citation holders, Merck Healthcare, Sanofi, Viatris, Eli Lilly, Amgen and Roche Diagnostics are also noteworthy for their gender pay gap performance. Merck Healthcare is tracking at -12.1%, Sanofi at -13.5%, Viatris at -6.6%, Eli Lilly at -1.5%, Amgen at 2.2% and Roche Diagnostics at -2.4%, all falling within the target range (-5% and +5%) or leaning favourably towards women.

Turning to private hospitals, both Ramsay Healthcare and Healthscope exhibit praiseworthy median total remuneration gender pay gap of -9.5% and -11.8%, respectively.

In early 2025, gender pay gaps for Commonwealth public sector employers with 100 or more employees will also be published, as will the next results for private sector employers.

“On Equal Pay Day, WGEA is calling on all employers to understand what the gender pay gap is and what causes it so that they can take effective action to end the gap in their workplace,” Wooldridge stated.

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