The Status of Women Report Card 2023 | Driving change with data.
International Women’s Day is over, so what is Australia really doing to make gender equity a national priority, and what can businesses do to keep this on the agenda? Join us as we unpack this year’s Status of Women Report Card, with ways to turn stats into sustainable change.
A path to parity
The Australian Government has released their yearly Status of Women Report Card to help identify, address and improve the experiences of women and girls in Australia. The report uses evidence-based research to measure gender inequities across economic outcomes, education, health, safety and wellbeing, housing and gender norms; so that we can change them for good.
While the Status of Women Report Card is just one piece of the National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality puzzle, it’s an essential one. This data could be what dramatically transforms our economic, education and healthcare systems; ending gendered poverty for good. Or it might simply shift the way we think about workplace policies and do good business even better.
Globally, Australia is ranked 43rd for gender equality.
We know what you’re thinking, “How did we get here?”. Although Australia has the 4th highest level of tertiary educated women in the OECD (Organisation for Economic and Cooperative Development), women still face a number of barriers to equity in the workforce, with some of these disparities emerging right after they graduate.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics,
disparities in pay and occupational segregation (the underrepresentation of women in STEM and men in health and education) emerge immediately after graduation
on average, women aged 15-64 years do 55.4 hours of work a week, 2 hours more than men – more than half of this is unpaid labour
full-time starting salaries for women average at $67,000 and $69,000 for men
when women become parents, their earnings fall by 55% in the first 5 years of parenthood and remain low for the following decade
women reportedly retire with 23.1% less superannuation than men of the same age
So, what’s going on? Well, it has a lot to do with gender norms, workplace participation and hours worked.
According to the report, women complete 34.7 hours of unpaid work per week.
In addition to work duties, women still complete a majority of the carer, home and child-rearing responsibilities in Australia. Even if they’re the breadwinner. As a result, women are less likely to participate in the workforce (62.1%), and more likely to work part-time (42.9%) than men (18.8%).
As part-time positions generally pay less per hour than full-time work, the pay gap extends beyond hourly wages to full-time wages. And, because it’s rare that a high-level post is offered as a job-share or with flexible working hours, women tend to dominate lower-paid positions or occupations; often working in jobs that afford them flexibility at the cost of pay (Criado Perez, C. 2019. “Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias In A World Designed For Men”). But, these factors aren’t just affecting our workforce – they’re affecting our bottom line.
Advancing gender equity makes sense and dollars.
$12-28 trillion to be exact. Planning for better gender equality is more than good business; it could be what sets your business apart with diversity and inclusion topping the list of priorities for today’s jobseekers. And, if retaining the best talent isn’t enough of a drawcard, McKinsey has found that companies in the top quartile of racial, ethnic and gender diversity are 15-35% more likely to exceed industry medians in their financial returns.
So, how can you turn stats from the Status of Women Report Card into better workplace practices?
While all businesses are different, here are some of the ways you can make gender equity part and parcel of your offering:
Assess where you stand, and where you’d like to be. You can’t change what you can’t see.
Consider your current workplace practices and processes. How does your business currently address the gender pay gap and could your business offer more supportive and equitable practices across: promotions, performance reviews and succession planning, parental or carer leave, remuneration packages and working arrangements.
Recognise the unpaid workload within your workforce. Foster a workplace culture that recognises and respects the lives and commitments of employees outside of the workplace. This might mean revisiting your parental or carer leave policies and ensuring that your team feels empowered and enabled to take it. Better yet, lead by example. Improved recognition could also mean developing more inclusive workplace processes (from general meetings to team-building and training exercises) that support your team in showing up as their best selves.
Be flexible. Every team is different and requires unique strategies to suit their needs. The best solutions will be the ones informed by your team.
Ready to level the ledger?
Reach out for a chat. Partnering with equidi can help you acquire a deeper understanding of the dynamics of your business with a tailored profile of your own. Providing you with a clear view of where you're at across every part of your business - we’ll help you simplify the complex, invest your time where it’s needed most, and close the gaps for good.
