We’ve all got to get our kicks somehow. I’ve been getting mine by playing a game of compare-and-contrast: looking at the data released on Tuesday showing which companies have the biggest gender pay gaps, and lining it up with what those companies say on their corporate websites, under the “diversity and inclusion” tabs.
Here is CommBank (gender pay gap of 29.8 per cent on base salary, twice the national median of 14.5 per cent) telling us its policy on equality. “Everyone has fair and equitable access to career and development opportunities resulting in diverse representation at leadership levels,” it asserts.
Energy company AGL (gender pay gap of 30 per cent, again, twice the national median for base pay) says it “strives to empower women to achieve their career goals and provide them with opportunities to connect and grow”.
Investment bank Morgan Stanley (gender pay gap of 25 per cent on base salary, and a whopping 48.2 per cent when you factor in bonuses), boasts of its commitment to “Diversity & Inclusion” as one of its “core values”.
So – is the pay gap entirely structural? And is it fair to expect companies to fix gender stereotyping in society at large?
We can blame corporate Australia for some things, but not for the fact that women, for their own reasons, “choose” to do more flexible, family-friendly jobs that happen to be less paid.
Right?
Well, it requires a truly heroic suspension of reason to conclude sexism and discrimination do not contribute to the pay gap. Salary begins to diverge along gender lines at the graduate level, before most women have had babies.
Source: 12ft