Part Four - Mind the (Pay) Gap — Ladies Talk Money

We know you’re probably sick of hearing about, let alone talking about, the Gender Pay Gap. But here’s why we still need to…

According to the latest figures from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), Australia’s gender pay gap now sits at 14.1%, which is actually an an increase of 0.3 percentage points over the last 6 months.

Thanks. We hate it. 😑

But when we talk about the gender pay gap, we aren't talking about a gap between the pay men and women receive for the exact same work (even though that still exists in some industries). Instead, what we’re actually talking about is the overall position of women in the economy in comparison to men, and the melting pot of social, structural and economic factors that diminish women’s earning capacity over their lifetimes, resulting in a huge discrepancy between financial independence, wealth and wellbeing.

What are those factors, you ask? Oh lady, there are so many:

Unconscious (and even conscious!) bias that reinforces the idea that men’s skills, time and expertise are more valuable than women’s and then sets wage rates accordingly;
Industries, when they are over-represented by women, attract lower wages (again because we don’t equally value women’s time or expertise);
A lack of workplace flexibility for both men and women that doesn’t accommodate the realities and opportunity costs of caring responsibilities;
Higher rates of part-time work for women (due to the aforementioned lack of flexibility, among other reasons);
Women still performing a disproportionate share of unpaid and domestic work (which is valuable but not valued);
Women spending more time out of the workforce for caring responsibilities (which impacts our career progression and growth opportunities) and a lack of affordable and accessible childcare;
Workplace cultures that enforce pay secrecy and allow pay inequality to thrive in silence.
Probably more, tbh

So, as you can see, closing the Gender Pay Gap isn't as simple as striving for pay eq-ua-lity: it’s about equity and removing the systemic barriers that prevent women’s full and equal participation in and out of the workforce, and being valued equally (economically and otherwise) for the paid and unpaid work that they perform.

But lady, that is only part of the story. One glaring omission from Australia’s (and most of the world’s) gender pay gap reporting and data is: the gaps within the gap.

Black women, First Nations women, women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, women with a disability, women with complex mental illness, mothers, queer women - basically anyone who isn’t white, straight and able-bodied - face a whole host of extra challenges when it comes to getting paid what they deserve, along with an even larger disparity.

This is a very complex conversation and is about far more than just equal pay. So, for this topic, we’ve got a few extra videos coming your way (four episodes, to be exact) to make sure we give it the airtime it deserves. And, as much as we’re sick of hearing about it, we’re even more sick of the fact that it still exists.

So, let’s keep the conversation, the actions and the pressure going and continue to work on closing the gender pay gap, once and for all women.

In Ep. 1, we state that Australia’s gender pay gap is 13.4%, which was correct at the time of filming. However, since then, the gender pay gap has actually widened to 14.1%. So….. great. 🙃 You can see the WGEA’s current gender pay gap stats here
We have decided not to use the phrase 'getting paid what you’re worth’ with the aim to remove the connotation that a person's worth has anything to do with their capacity to earn an income, or the amount of said income. Instead, we’ve decided to use the phrase ‘getting paid what you deserve’ because after all, women deserve to be paid (and valued) equally.