What's Missing Matters.

Women are paid 13.3% less than men on average in Australia.

Equal Pay Day marks the 56 extra days from the end of the financial year that women must work to earn the same average pay. 

That’s the equivalent of eight weeks additional paid work, at the average rate of pay for women.

—Workplace Gender Equality Agency 

It’s a timely reminder of the ongoing pursuit of gender equality in the workplace.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), sets the date of this significant day to continue to raise awareness on the gender pay gap and the challenges that women face in our modern workforce.

Although progress has been made, women continue to earn less than men, they are less likely to advance their careers as far as men, plus they accumulate less superannuation savings for retirement.

Impacts on the Economy

The gender pay gap costs the Australian economy $51.8bn every year.

By taking action on the gender pay gap, your organisation can make real impact on an individual level for women in your workforce, and a business level.

However, with links to the country’s overall economic performance, taking action on the gender pay gap seems critical, particularly in our current climate.

In a recent FlexCareers poll, 56% of respondents voted that their company is not making changes to reduce the gender pay gap, with 44% believing that they are. 

Although this is promising, there needs to be more done in order to achieve gender parity in wages. The gender pay gap won't go away on its own. 

Breaking down the Gender Pay Gap

Despite decades of advocacy and awareness campaigns, the gender pay gap can still seem difficult to understand or hard to relate to.

But the difference between the average earnings between men and women add up.

We thought this video was a great watch to help understand the long term effects of the gender pay gap better.

How does that make you feel?

As leading experts in gender diversity, flexible work and work-life balance, much of our work is about raising awareness on the solutions that can be activated to chip away at that gender pay gap. Clearly there is still so much work to be done!  

We asked the FlexCareers team about how they feel about Equal Pay Day.

"If your mother, sister or bestie found out they were getting paid less than their male peers, how would you support them? Do you apply the same thinking to your own arrangements?"

— Lucy

"Equal Pay Day serves to remind me of everything we need to see actioned to hit gender parity in wages. We need more women in leadership, we need more men taking on caring responsibilities in the home, and we need to see feminised workforces valued fairly. The flow on effects of 8 weeks extra work every year on a woman's lifetime earnings are mind blowing!"

— Belinda

"The Gender Pay Gap is obviously something I know about, but Equal Pay Day really breaks it down. It's a significant date to raise awareness about the challenge we are up against. Seeing it so clearly makes it hit home— 8 weeks additional work! This keeps me inspired to keep going and working towards more positive change."

— Amy

What can we do?

We are privileged to see the proactive initiatives put into play to make real change. From game changing parental leave benefits, to progressive return to work programs targeted at women returning to the workforce after a career break, these initiatives contribute to tackling the ongoing and cumulative problem that the Gender Pay Gap presents.

Equal Pay Day by State