Gender equality improving, but more work to be done
ACN welcomes the findings from the fourth gender equality scorecard released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency.
Australia’s gender equality scorecard analysed data covering 40 per cent of employees in Australia and more than 11,000 employers. Progress in some areas is positive but there are many opportunities to make further gains towards greater equality. For example, men take home on average $26,000 more per year than women among full-time employees. Encouragingly there has been a 10.8 percentage point rise since last year in the proportion of employers analysing their remuneration data for gender pay gaps.
“ACN champions gender equality efforts and we praise progress made to increase the representation, value and recognition of women in workplaces across Australia. We would like to see women earning the same as men for doing the same work, but clearly we have some way to go to achieve this goal,” explained Adjunct Professor Kylie Ward FACN, CEO of ACN.
“One of the findings from the scorecard is that female representation on boards has remained static. Nursing is a female-dominated profession and remains underrepresented on many national health boards. ACN is aiming to develop board-ready nurse leaders in the coming years to help raise the profile of our profession and to take our place as equals at key decision-making tables. ACN wants to be part of the solution to bridging the gender pay gap and making workplaces more equal and accommodating to the needs of women,” said Adjunct Professor Ward.
“I am pleased to see more employers promoting flexible working arrangements, but disappointingly the gender pay gap has increased in the health care and social assistance sectors, which is a trend I hope to see reversed in the future,” said Adjunct Professor Ward.
To view the report click here.
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