This Calculator Will Show You Just How Badly The Gender Pay Gap Is Ripping You Off
Australian women are making $263 less each week than men.
A new calculator is showing Australian women and non-binary workers just how badly they’re being ripped off by the gender pay gap.
The Victorian Trades Hall Council’s We Are Union released the online tool on Monday to coincide with international Equal Pay Day, helping employees visualise how the gender pay gap affects them — and how much they’re actually owed.
“Gender pay inequality affects all of us, because ultimately we all live in an unequal society where the work of women is undervalued,” said Assistant Secretary of Victorian Trades Hall Council, Wil Stracke in a statement.
The calculator — intended as a general representation rather than specific advice — uses an individual’s gender identity, annual income, employment status, as well as intersectional considerations such as ethnicity, disability, and sexuality, to illuminate industry salary disparities.
Women are on average earning $263 per week less than men, as reported by the government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). Meanwhile, they are also projected to lose $684 billion in superannuation contributions by the time gender pay equality is reached, and would have to work 60 extra days to earn the same as their male counterparts.
With inflation, the gender pay gap actually grew to 14.1 percent in May, according to stats by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week. Director at WGEA, Mary Wooldridge, noted that while there has been an increase in workplace participation from women, it has been reflected in lower-paying jobs.
“When politicians talk about inequality, they’re often talking about a lower representation of women CEOs or executives. But that’s not what impacts most women,” said Stracke. “What impacts women is that Australia’s workforce is highly gender segregated, and ‘women’s work’ is undervalued by our society.”
“At the same time, we have systems that impose a financial penalty on women who have children, while rewarding men who do the same. Women experience discrimination in hiring and advancement processes, and women experience pressure to work fewer hours and in more precarious arrangements.”
Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke has committed to overhauling Australia’s Fair Work Act to platform pay equality under the Albanese Government, encouraging transparency through public reporting of gender pay gaps at companies with more than 250 employees.
“Nothing will change until women get angry about this disrespect, and exercise power in their workplaces like educators are doing. If you care about equality, you have to organise for it,” said Stracke.
The Pay Gap Calculator can be accessed here.