“There are still some cultural issues with men taking up paid parental leave… There is a perception that they look like they are not committed.”
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency on Tuesday revealed that although there is a 50/50 split in men and women working in finance in Australia, men held 66 per cent of so-called “upper quartile” roles and 55 per cent of “upper-middle quartile” positions – but just 38 per cent of jobs in the lowest quartile.
“I think there is an important structural issue. These types of roles demand a lot from people, so it is understandable they are compensated [well],” Ms Steed said, adding that it affected family and friends as these roles required sacrifices.
Bridging the divide
Investment banks, which logged some of the widest gulfs in gender-based pay, were heavily skewed toward men at the highest-paying positions.
Barrenjoey, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs employed 12 per cent, 13 per cent and 14 per cent of women in their highest-paying positions, respectively. Women made up 53 per cent of lower-quartile positions at Barrenjoey, 64 per cent at Morgan Stanley and 60 per cent at Goldman.
Morgan Stanley set up a local diversity council to work alongside its Australian executive committee to address the gender pay gap, the bank’s local chief executive Richard Wagner said. The initiative aimed to develop, retain and promote more women into positions of seniority where the base pay, bonuses and responsibilities increased.
“Whilst this is the first year these figures have been publicly reported… this has been a key focus of the firm,” Mr Wagner said.
The US bank established a multi-year action plan to address the gap, which included the monitoring of internal metrics, providing more inclusive job descriptions, diverse candidate slates and gender-balanced interview panels.
WGEA’s gender pay gaps do not measure the pay women and men receive for doing the same or comparable job, but illustrate how having more men in the most highly paid roles can lead to gaps when pay is considered from an organisation-wide perspective.
“We know that when it comes to equal pay for equal work, we compensate men and women the same,” said Sarah Rennie, the co-CEO at investment bank Jarden, but she recognised that the gap existed due to a dearth of women in well-paid roles.
Read more about Australia’s gender pay gap
- Bonuses, overtime drive 19pc gender pay gap The median pay gap at businesses with 100-plus employees was published for the first time on Tuesday, and the construction, professional services and banking industries recorded some of the worst disparities.
- Full list | To zero in on the country’s most prominent firms, The Australian Financial Review has collated the data for companies in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 sharemarket index, and the 50 largest private companies by revenue.
- Investment banking boys’ club gender pay gaps near 50pc The biggest gender pay gaps in Australian workplaces are not found on construction sites or down mines but behind trading screens in state-of-the-art office towers.
- When we talk about the gender pay gap, this is what we mean The Workplace Gender and Equality Agency released individual employers’ gender pay gaps for the first time on Tuesday. Here’s how to understand the numbers.
- These companies nailed the gender pay challenge. It wasn’t easy Companies such as Super Retail Group, Wesfarmers, PwC and Cotton On have the most balanced pay rates between men and women employees.
- Diversity advocates McKinsey, BCG, Bain land pay gaps over 30pc Strategy firms that advise clients to increase the diversity of their workforces and leadership teams have gender pay gaps that are up to double the national gap.
- PwC leads the way on reducing the gender pay gap Big four consulting firm PwC is the only major consultancy that has effectively eliminated its gender pay gap.
- Corrs lags top law firms on gender pay gap Firms with a higher proportion of women partners tended to have a smaller median pay gap among staff, new data from WGEA shows.
- Oil, gas giants claim highest pay gaps in resources industry More men working offshore and at remote mines in roles that attract away-from-home allowances and higher pay, fuel the mining industry’s highest pay gaps.
- IPO hopeful Rokt has largest gender pay gap of tech unicorns Male-dominated software engineering and sales teams have worsened the pay divide across the local technology sector.
- Opinion | The time for empty promises on women’s pay is over The gender pay gap data for individual companies to be released this week has many limitations, but it will still be a historic moment than can be a force for good.
Source: afr.com
