Let's organise to end the pay gap!

What is WGEA?

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) is responsible for collecting and reporting on gender equality data in Australian workplaces. Since 2024, they have been required to publicly release gender pay gap data from Australia's largest employers.

This didn’t just happen - it is the result of union women campaigning to change the law to ensure this information was made public. By having gender pay gap data, we can organise around it and step up pressure on employers to address pay inequality.

What the data tells us:

Unsurprisingly some of the biggest Australian corporate giants continue to have massive pay gaps.

Airlines are one of the worst industries for pay inequality:

• Virgin 35.8%
• Jetstar 43.6%
• Qantas 29%
• Rex Airlines 59.3%

The banks also continue to pay their women workers less:

• Morgan Stanley 45.7%
• Westpac 29.3%
• Commonwealth Bank 27.8%
• Suncorp Insurance Services 24.1%

And what about the companies that claim to be by and for women? That rely on women, as both workers and customers, for their business to be successful. That preach female empowerment through their brand.

What do their gender pay gaps look like? Not great. Awful in fact. 

Female empowerment? 

Despite being a brand with a message of female empowerment, City Chic has one of the highest pay gaps of any Australian company at 65.1%. This means that for every dollar earned by men at City Chic, women earn just under 35 cents. 

Other retail outlets follow suit:

• Forever New 52.8%
• Valley Girl 62.5%
• Pandora 41.3%
• Seafolly 56% (that's a gap 11.5% wider than last year!)

These retail pay gaps reveal the systemic inequality - that women are disproportionately employed in low-paid and insecure customer-facing roles, while men benefit from the stability and higher pay of full-time roles at the top.

It’s infuriating that these companies rely on women as the face of their brands, but fail to have women represented in senior roles in their company. If these companies truly valued women, they would pay them equally.

But it's not all bad news. 

Some employers are getting it right. Some retail stores reported very small, or no gender pay gaps at all.

On top of that, some companies have improved substantially since last year, making it clear that publishing this data is driving real change in some workplaces.

Take Lorna Jane for example. Last year, the activewear brand reported a pay gap of 37.1%. For a company that describes itself as "devoted to empowering women” this was a nasty look. So bad, in fact, that last year they even threatened to sue WGEA and the ABC for publishing the data, fearing damage to their reputation. But this year, Lorna Jane has made a dramatic turnaround. They’ve reduced their pay gap to just 2.9% showing that transparency works. 

In other industries like finance, the pay gap has reduced by nearly 4% in a single year - the fastest on record.

When companies are held accountable they are forced to take action and improve pay equity for women.

Why does the pay gap matter?

Pay inequality is a driver of poverty and gender-based violence. The pay gap contributes to the super gap and Australian women typically retire with as much as 40% less super than men. As a result, women over the age of 55 are one of the fastest growing cohorts of people experiencing homelessness in Australia.  

The social impact of the gender pay gap on women is massive - even when our working lives are over. That's why it is so important that we have this information. We can use it to start conversations, organise collectively and put the pressure on employers to address pay inequities through public accountability and reputational damage. 

What you can do:

• Search your workplace’s pay gap: Use the WGEA data explorer to look up your employer’s data. Talk to your co-workers and use it as a starting point to organise collectively

• Join your union: Union members are paid on average 26% more than non-union members. Union workplaces are safer and more equal. If you’re not already a union member, join! 

• Research before you shop: Look up the pay gaps of the brands you support and make informed decisions about where to spend your hard-earned money

• Get informed: Learn more about how union women are fighting for equal pay at our WRAW Fest online panel discussion ‘How we’re winning equal pay’. More details here

• Get active: Join us at the Melbourne International Women's Day Rally on March 6 where, among other things, we will be demanding equal pay and respect for our work. More details here

By organising in our workplaces, demanding better from employers, and making informed choices as consumers, we can drive real change.  

How we're fighting back!

Union women have been fighting for changes to make sure we are valued, respected and paid equally. The pay gap is currently closing faster than it ever has. This is because of changes campaigned for by union women including: 

• Ending pay secrecy: Pay secrecy policies keep workers in the dark about wage differences, often to the disadvantage of women. Unions fought for the right to discuss pay openly, empowering workers to discuss their wages and challenge wage inequality.  
  

• Casual conversion to secure employment: There is now a clearer and fairer process for casual conversion. Casual conversion allows casual workers who are eligible to apply for secure permanent full-time or part-time employment if they want to. Being in secure employment means we can access more entitlements, and are empowered to speak up.
  

• Superannuation on paid parental leave and two weeks extra paid parental leave: Last year workers in union won superannuation on government funded paid parental leave. This win is especially important for women, who historically have missed out on super while undertaking caring responsibilities. This is a massive step towards equal retirement outcomes for women and closing the superannuation gender gap.  

• Better equal pay laws: Aged care workers have used stronger equal pay laws to fight the undervaluation of their work and as a result have won pay rises of up to 28%. 

• Challenging gender undervaluation in different industries: Workers like medical scientists have argued to the Fair Work Commission that their work has been underpaid because it's mostly done by women, and they've been fighting to fix it! 
  

• Multi-employer bargaining: Multi-employer bargaining allows workers from multiple workplaces, but within the same industry, to collectively push for better conditions across a sector. This change has empowered workers in low-paid, often female dominated sectors to push for better wages. For example, through multi-employer bargaining, early childhood educators won significant pay rises of up to 15% to recognise their work and value. 

• Stronger protections against sexual harassment and discrimination: Under the Sex Discrimination Act, employers are now legally required to take proactive steps to eliminate sexual harassment and sex-based discrimination in the workplace, making workplaces safer and more equitable. Read more about those changes here.

We know we can win equal pay when we fight collectively.