Gender pay gap wrap: mining, accounting, education

The Workforce Gender Equality Agency today published workforce and gender pay data for the first time from almost 5,000 employers across the country, including 427 from Western Australia.

According to WGEA, WA has the highest mid-point for employer gender pay gaps at 13.9 per cent.

Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre researcher Silvia Salazar said the publication of companies’ data has been done in other countries to further reduce the gender pay gap.

“This has been done in other countries. For instance, if you look at the UK, they have something similar that was put in place,” Dr Salazar said.

“You can see that over there the gender pay gap has gone down farther because of this policy.

“Because when you can point fingers then … [companies are] definitely more motivated to do something about it.

“It means that to some extent those pointing of fingers have pushed these companies to do something.”

Dr Salazar said the companies who vowed to take things seriously were actually doing well, according to the data.

“If you really want to take things seriously, you undertake a pay audit, you see what issues you have [and] how can you bring more women into leadership positions,” she said.

“Then have a tangible equity plan, which shows how the company works and how are you doing things, so how are we getting bonuses, how are we bringing more women into this company?”

Dr Salazar said the data also helped break down gender stereotypes found in select industries.

“For instance, in mining … or in the construction sector, you want to break down the barriers so more women can get in there and then we can maybe see an improvement in the gender pay gap,” she said.

“The mining sector is actually one of the sectors that has been improving quite well over the years.

“It's interesting to see that their effort is paying off. Finding more women in the mining sector, but also into these managerial positions, seems to be the key.”

Miners  

BHP's iron ore division had a 13.9 per cent median base salary gender pay gap, and a 16.4 per cent median total remuneration gap, according to WGEA data.

The miner’s Nickel West business recorded a median pay gap of 24.7 and 21.5 per cent for base salary and total remuneration, respectively.

But the group’s coal arm had a 1.4 per cent pay gap in favour of women for median base salary, and a 0.7 per cent gap in total remuneration in favour of men.

BHP’s chief people officer Jad Vodopija said the miner had spent almost US$32 million in pay adjustment to female employees globally since 2017.

“We conduct annual gender pay reviews to ensure men and women are paid equally for doing the same or comparable work, and our leaders are empowered to identify and close any gender pay gaps in their area of the business,” Ms Vodopija said.

“When we assess the base salaries for like-for-like roles, BHP’s gender pay gap in Australia is around 2 per cent.

“We are making progress, but we have more to do to achieve gender balance at all levels of the organisation and across the full spectrum of trades and professions in our global teams, as we should.”

Meanwhile, fellow miner Rio Tinto had a 2.3 per cent base salary gap in favour of women but a 13.5 per cent total remuneration difference in favour of men.

The miner cited remote working trends and allowances alongside an under-representation of women in senior leadership roles as factors contributing to its pay gap.

But Rio said its internal ‘same job, same location, same pay’ metric calculated its equal pay gap at less than one per cent in favour of men.

“We have set a number of commitments and initiatives to help improve our gender pay gap. This includes senior leadership commitment, leader education, mentoring, career development and identifying and removing barriers to women through the recruitment process,” a Rio spokesperson said.

Roy Hill and Hancock Prospecting’s median base salary gender pay gap was 25 per cent, and its total remuneration difference was 22 per cent both in favour of men. Atlas Iron’s was 15.1 per cent and 14.4 per cent, comparatively.

Iron ore miner Roy Hill said it had doubled the number of women in leadership roles in the past four years.

Hancock Operations chief executive Gerhard Veldsman implored that it was important the data was interpreted as an indication of the representation of women in senior positions and “not misinterpreted as one querying equal pay”.

“We take our obligations regarding equal pay extremely seriously and undertake a robust, like for like pay review process on an annual basis to ensure there is no pay disparity between women and men performing the same work,” he said.

Goldminer and super pit owner Northern Star Resources had a 21.6 per cent median base salary gender pay gap, and a similar 21.5 per cent median total remuneration gap both in favour of men.

The miner’s chief legal officer Hilary Macdonald said it structured its remuneration based on role responsibility.

“There is no gender difference in how this is applied to ensure that we pay people fairly and without bias,” she said.

"The gender pay gap figures published by WGEA are based on the median salary for females compared to the median salary for males. It should not be confused with women and men being paid the same for the same role or comparable job, as this is equal pay."

Fortescue had a 9.4 per cent median base salary gender pay gap, and a 14.6 per cent total remuneration difference both in favour of men, according to the data.

In a statement on its website, Fortescue said gender was not a factor in determining pay.

“Differences between male and female salaries at Fortescue are primarily driven by variation in the types of roles commonly held,” the miner said.

“Typically, there is a higher proportion of female employees in office-based roles and a higher proportion of male employees in technical and site-based roles. These employment areas differ in remuneration.

“We undertake a gender pay equity review as part of the annual salary review process to ensure salaries are equitable on a role-by-role basis.”

Mineral Resources’ gender pay gap was 19.1 per cent in favour of men in terms of base salary, while its median total remuneration gender pay gap came in at 20.9 per cent.

The miner said its gender pay gap was due to having a larger proportion of females in entry-level position, especially within its internal village operational teams.

Big four

Accounting firm PwC Australia has recorded a 4 per cent median base salary gender pay gap and a 3.9 per cent gap in total renumeration in favour of men, according to the data.

Results within the 5 per cent range in favour of either men or women are considered by WGEA as neutral, meaning the statistic does not “significantly favour either women or men”.

PwC Australia’s managing partner Perth Martina Crowley said while the result was within the neutral zone, the firm acknowledged there was still more work to be done.

She said PwC was determined to further reduce the gap.

“PwC Australia first reported our gender pay gap in 2015 and we have worked tirelessly over many years to reduce this gap, as well as cultural diversity pay gaps,” Ms Crowley said.

“Transparency has helped us create greater accountability alongside targeted strategies, including applying a gender lens across our promotion, performance review and hiring processes and improved workplace flexibility. 

"As a large employer, we play an important role in reducing this gap and we will continue to share our gender and diverse cultural background pay gap as part of our commitment to transparency.” 

Industry peer EY recorded a gender pay gap of 15.9 per cent for median base salary, and 15.4 per cent for total remuneration both in favour of men.

EY Regional Managing Partner and chief executive for Oceania David Larocca said they were committed to narrowing their gender pay gap.

“Our result demonstrates progress, but it also shows more work to do,” he said.

“Half of our total EY Oceania workforce are women, and as a result of our efforts we’re seeing more transition into leadership roles, with the percentage of female Partners at EY increasing from 20 per cent to 31 per cent in the past 10 years with a target of 40 per cent by 2027.”

Deloitte Australia's median base salary and total remuneration gender pay gap was both 16.7 per cent in favour of men. The firm has a goal of 40 per cent female representation across all leadership teams and job levels by FY28.

And KPMG Australia's gender pay gap was 12.9 per cent for base salary and 13.7 per cent for total remuneration in favour of men, the lowest result for the big four accounting firms.

KPMG attributed its gender pay gap to having a lower proportion of women in leadership roles and a higher proportion of women working in part-time roles. 

Tertiary education

WGEA found 53 per cent of the 81 tertiary education providers across the country had policies that achieve gender pay equity.

The WGEA reported a median base salary gender pay gap of 3.7 per cent at Edith Cowan University, 4.1 per cent at Curtin University, 9.3 per cent at The University of Western Australia, and 10.3 per cent at Murdoch University.

The data also recorded a median total remuneration gender pay gap of 8.2 per cent at UWA, 8.5 per cent at Curtin, 3.1 per cent at ECU, and 9.5 per cent at Murdoch.

WGEA data shows a median base salary gender pay gap of 9.9 per cent at The University of Notre Dame Australia, which operates campuses in Fremantle, Broome and Sydney.

The University of Notre Dame has a 11.4 per cent gap in median total remuneration, according to WGEA.

A University of Notre Dame Australia spokesperson said the school welcomed the results and recognised there was more work to be done to close the gap.

“This is a national challenge and all employers, including Notre Dame, have an important role to play,” the spokesperson told Business News.

“The university takes seriously its role in providing a just and equitable workplace and we will use this data to further drive improvements in this area.”

Curtin University submitted an employer’s statement to WGEA, that said the university would continue to implement initiatives to ensure a more inclusive workplace and implement fair and equitable hiring practices.

The university also published its workforce profile, which shows a disproportionate concentration of men in the upper pay quartiles and women in the lower quartiles.

“The gender pay gap (GPG) is not a measure of equal pay; the right to equal remuneration for equivalent roles is protected by federal industrial legislation,” Curtin’s statement reads.

“The GPG refers to the total percentage difference between the average hourly earnings for men and women across an organisation or selected group without regard to their specific roles or type of employment.

“Curtin’s GPG for average total remuneration is 9.9 per cent across the 6,914 Curtin employees included in the dataset for the 2022-23 reporting period.

“Like Curtin’s GPG for average (mean) base salary and median base salary, this is slightly below the respective industry comparison rates but requires ongoing monitoring and action as we work to close the gap.”

In its employer statement provided to the WGEA, UWA reported its workforce comprises 58 per cent women and 42 per cent men.

“Within this, we are seeking to analyse the gender composition across levels and roles for a deeper understanding of factors contributing to the current gender pay gap,” UWA’s statement reads.

UWA said, in its statement, that women were under-represented in its mid-tier leadership or manager roles and over-represented among part-time and casual employees, a situation that occurred more generally for the higher education sector.

UWA’s employer statement also said the university had a relatively greater gap than the rest of the sector.

“The University of Western Australia is analysing the gender composition across levels and roles for a deeper understanding of factors contributing to the disparity in the distribution of median remuneration and salaries across our workforce,” a spokesperson said.

“This will help inform our measures to address disparities.”

A Murdoch University spokesperson said the median pay gap at the university sat at 9.5 per cent, lower than the industry average, but could improve.

"To this end, we are taking proactive measures to eliminate gender pay disparity, including the recruitment of a dedicated Gender Equity Project Coordinator and the establishment of a Gender Pay Gap Working Group to develop a comprehensive action plan that will address gender-based pay discrepancies and foster a workplace where all individuals have equal opportunities to thrive and succeed," the spokesperson said.

ECU’s gender pay gap was the lowest out of all WA universities at 3.7 per cent, which ECU vice-chancellor Steve Chapman welcomed.

“It’s pleasing to see ECU once again leading the way when it comes to gender equity, we strive every day to make our institution a better place to work for our staff,” he said.

"We actively identify, reduce and at every opportunity remove the attitudinal, behavioural, and cultural barriers that impede our workplace for female staff, and that includes pay barriers.

“While we agree there is still a way to go, we can be proud that as an institution we are proactively seeking to do everything we can to close the gap.”

However, Professor Chapman said the WGEA figures did not fairly represent the pay distribution by gender at Edith Cowan College, in Joondalup.

According to WGEA, Edith Cowan College has a 42 per cent gender pay gap in both its median base salary and the median total remuneration.

“The female College Director and Principal has not been included in the data calculations,” Professor Steve Chapman said.

“Edith Cowan College has four senior managers, three of which are female. We are proud to have females in leadership roles at Edith Cowan College.”