TO mark Equal Pay Day, the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS) is calling on all governments to do more to reduce the ongoing gender pay gap.

Equal Pay Day is on August 31 this year to mark the 61 additional days from the end of last financial year that women must work, on average, to earn the same amount as men earned in that year.

Research by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) calculated that the current ACT gender pay gap was nearly 8 per cent for full-time employees, with the national gender pay gap being 14 per cent.

ACTCOSS CEO Dr Emma Campbell said: “The national gender pay gap has worsened over the last 12 months. This reflects the disproportionate impact that COVID-19 has had on women and women’s employment.

“The persistent gender pay gap in the ACT and nationally also reflects the gender segregation of the Australian workforce. Women are overrepresented in lower paying jobs in service industries and the community sector.

“The community sector in the ACT is largely a female dominated industry, with up to 80 per cent of the labour force comprising of women. The persistent under-resourcing of the sector has led to low wages and insecure work and this is driving Australia’s gender pay gap.”

Recent research by the Everybody’s Home campaign for Homelessness Week 2021 found that essential community workers would need to spend between one-third to two-thirds of their weekly wages to rent an apartment in most Canberra suburbs forcing them into rental stress.

“While the ACT may have a gender pay gap lower than the national average, the ACT has some of the highest living costs in the country,” Dr Campbell said.

“This means that the overwhelmingly female community sector workforce is struggling to afford secure housing, health services and essential goods.”

YWCA Canberra also uses Equal Pay Day too point out that many women are working long hours with low remuneration in highly-feminised industries, such as early childhood education and care.

It’s not a time to celebrate, the not-for-profit says.

 Over the last year, the national pay gap has grown to 14.2 per cent for full-time employees, a difference of $261.50 each week.

The factors that contribute to the gender pay gap are well known and documented, including lower pay rates in women-dominated industries, a lack of workplace flexibility combined with women still being expected to take on more unpaid care duties, and discrimination and bias in hiring, pay decisions and promotions.

“These are factors we can address”, said YWCA Canberra CEO Frances Crimmins.

“Too many people in leadership still deny the existence or significance of this gap, leading to a lack of action. For the gender pay gap to reduce, governments and the business community need to take active steps toward gender equality.”

According to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency, women and men in Australia tend to be segregated into different occupations and industries, with female-dominated occupations attracting lower pay than male-dominated ones.

“The caring and social services industries have significantly lower pay than occupations in the construction industry,” Ms Crimmins said.

“Remuneration is a reflection of the social and financial value we give to jobs, and this disparity is because traditionally ‘female’ jobs are considered less valuable. This needs to change.

“As a WGEA Pay Equity Ambassador and an employer in the early childhood education and care sector—a low-paid, women-dominated industry—I am continuing to fight for recognition of the professionalism of the sector and for better pay and conditions for the many educators who help children have the best start possible.”