ON Equal Pay Day, August 29, Business Professional Women Coffs Harbour (BPW) joined the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) to call for business leaders to commit to taking immediate action.

This year, Equal Pay Day marked the 60 additional days from the end of the previous financial year that women must work, on average, to earn the same annual pay as men.

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The average weekly earnings data, released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), shows that men are earning an average of $263.90 more than women each week, across all industries.

Not only is this a result of the gap in pay in female dominated industries versus same skills/qualifications in male dominated industries, even within sectors, such as the finance industry, a gap is also found, mainly because of the positions women hold in these sectors.

Jacqueline Graham, BPW Australia President said, “The new gender pay gap is 14.1 percent, or $263.90 per week, an increase over the last six months, which means women are making tougher decisions about maintaining their cost-of-living standards in this current inflationary climate.

“Latest monthly household spending indicator released by ABS for June shows an increase over 10 percent.

“Women are earning less than men but spending the same to maintain their households.

“This is not just unequal – it places stress on Australian households.”

According to Coffs Harbour BPW member, Julianne McKeon, for local working women on the Coffs Coast this directly means that, even if the women are in full time work (and many aren’t) they are earning less than men.

“This directly affects themselves and their families and sets many up for a future where, not only might they not ever own their own home, but they may become homeless when their working life is over,” she said.

Australian Gender Equality Council CEO, Kim Amos, said real significant change in the gender pay gap will only come with fundamental structural change.

“To improve the gender pay gap we need to compare like for like work in the current system,’ Ms Amos said.

“We need to improve pay rates in these highly-feminised industries to address like-for-like responsibilities and qualifications.”

Ms McKeon urges local women to find out more by joining the discussion on BPW Coffs Harbour’s Facebook Page.

By Andrew VIVIAN