New Data On Victorian Women’s Pay Gap Reveals Alarming Differences

The pay gap between First Nations women and non-Indigenous men is at 21 per cent, a landmark report by Victoria’s Commission for Gender Equality in the Public Sector has found.

Almost 300 organisations’ workforce and survey data were analysed as part of the report.

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It also found Indigenous heritage, cultural diversity, disability, and gender identity are among the demographics to record significantly bigger pay gaps for women.

Culturally and racially marginalised women are paid on average 19 per cent less than men.

The gap was the same for women with disabilities compared with men without disabilities.

When it came to reported levels of sexual harassment, transwomen and other trans, non-binary, or gender-diverse people reported rates of 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.

It compared to transgender men, eight per cent, cisgender women six per cent and men, four per cent.

One positive of the report found homosexual women hold managerial positions at a similar rate to both straight and gay men and have higher salaries than women in all other sexuality groups.

Public Sector Gender Equality Commissioner Niki Vincent said gender equality initiatives have for “too long” excluded those who “do not fit the default mould of the straight, white, able-bodied woman”.

“This report shows that compounding forms of discrimination have notable impacts on career progression, pay inequality, and the experience of sexual harassment and discrimination at work,” Ms Vincent said.

“An intersectional approach to gender equality is no longer a nice to have, it’s a must have – without it, our work will continue to reproduce some of the very patterns of inequality we seek to address.”

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