In what has been the best news to come out of this week, the Labor government is cracking down on companies who pay their employees' different wages due to their gender.
The news comes after a bot on Twitter went viral last year for exposing the gender pay gaps of multiple organisations that shared International Women’s Day posts.
The government seems to be following in the bot’s footsteps, as they will publicly name and shame businesses that are doing the wrong thing.
The “Workplace Gender Equality Amendment (Closing the Gender Pay Gap) Bill 2023” aims to close the gender pay gap once and for all. The bill was introduced into Parliament on Wednesday and gives the Workplace Gender Equality Agency permission to publish the pay gaps of businesses with over 100 workers.
Minister for Women, Senator Katy Gallagher is confident the strategy will work and is encouraging workplaces to do the right thing.
“On average, women working full-time can expect to earn 14.1% less than men per week in their pay packets,” Gallagher said. “The gender pay gap is also holding our economy back with $51.8 billion a year lost when it comes to women’s pay.
“On current projections, it will take another 26 years to close the gender pay gap. Women have waited long enough for the pay gap to close – let’s not wait another quarter of a century.”
Once the legislation has passed, employers will be required to submit the information that will be used to report the gap.
