Prominent Australian companies under lens for gender disparity in pay

New data released Tuesday revealed that the gender pay gap is greater than the 19% national average at several of Australia’s largest companies, including Commonwealth Bank, national carrier Qantas, and oil and gas explorer Woodside.

In response to legislation passed in March 2023 requiring them to disclose the pay of male and female employees, the government released data on gender pay gaps at companies with more than 100 employees for the first time.

Even though governments and businesses have been talking about closing the gender pay gap for years, the report highlights the stark differences in wages between men and women at some of Australia’s largest employers.

The median total remuneration gap for 2022/23 was 19% in favour of men, while the difference in median base pay was 14.5% and in average total pay it was 21.7%, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) said.

Only one-third of companies had a median gender pay gap between the target range of -5% and +5%.

“There is a substantial problem in this country when you’ve got essentially two thirds of businesses with a gender pay gap in favour of men,” Minister for Women Katy Gallagher told reporters.

“It’s not about shaming, it’s not about naming, it’s not about saying men should be paid less. It’s about driving that change that we need to see in organisations to make sure that women are getting a fair crack at opportunity and that we are closing the gender pay gap over time,” Gallagher said.

Australia’s top banks and energy firms were some of the biggest laggards in gender pay parity.

The median total remuneration gender pay gap at Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest bank with almost 50,000 staff, was 29.9% while the gap at top power producer AGL (AGL.AX), opens new tab and top oil and gas explorer Woodside Energy was 33.2% and 30.2% respectively.

Australian units of international investment banks like UBS (UBSG.S), opens new tab and Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab had more men holding top jobs, driving the pay gaps in these firms to over 40%.

At the other end of the scale, the gap at supermarket operator Woolworths (WOW.AX), opens new tab, one of Australia’s biggest employers, was just 5.7%.

It was 28.5% at the Australian operations of Thomson Reuters (TRI.TO), opens new tab, the parent company of Reuters News.

Commonwealth Bank said it was “committed to regularly reviewing gender pay data”. AGL CEO Damien Nicks, in an emailed response, said though the company was disappointed with the gender pay data, it was taking action to close the gap.

Lower representation of women in senior roles is consistent across the industry, UBS said in a statement to Reuters, adding that it conducts annual pay reviews to ensure no gender bias exists. Woodside referred Reuters to its fact sheet on promoting gender pay equity.

Morgan Stanley and Thomson Reuters did not immediately respond to a request seeking comments on the report.
The report also showed significant variation across industries, with the mid-point employer gender pay gap at 31.8% in construction while it was 1.9% at hotels and restaurants.

Several countries have been taking steps to force companies to report the difference in earnings of male and female staff. Britain in 2017 made it mandatory for all companies with more than 250 employees, resulting in the gap reducing over the years. The European Union enacted similar legislation in 2021.

The Australian government plans to also publish the pay gaps of public companies and agencies next year.

With inputs from Reuters