Equal Pay Day 2024
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has declared August 19 as this year’s Equal Pay Day.
The date marks the 50 additional days into the new financial year that Australian women must work so they can earn the same average pay men earned in the previous year.
The theme of the campaign is “It Doesn’t Add Up,” a call to action for employers to contribute to improving workplace gender equality by investigating and understanding the environment in their own workplace.
Currently, Australia’s gender pay gap stands at 12%. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the full-time adult average weekly ordinary time earnings was $1,982.80 for men and $1,744.80 for women.
Equal pay is the concept of women and men being paid the same for performing the same role or different work of equal or comparable value. In Australia, this has been a legal requirement since 1969. The gender pay gap is different to equal pay.
WGEA research has identified three main contributors to Australia’s gender pay gap:
- gender discrimination (36%)
- care, family responsibilities and workforce participation (33%),
- gender segregation by job type and industry (24%)
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