Shocking new data has named and shamed the businesses with the widest gender pay gap among their staff.
The median Australian female worker is taking home $18,461 less than their male counterpart, new firm-level pay figures have revealed.
Released by the Workplace Gender Equality Agency on Tuesday, pay comparison data for all employers with 100 or more staff has demonstrated the stark split in workers' pay packets between men and women.
Nationally, the median male worker makes $96,945 while the median female worker earns 19 per cent less at $78,484.
The revelations follow tough new rules introduced by the Albanese government last year that require mandatory reporting of company remuneration data.
WGEA chief executive Mary Wooldridge said Australia urgently needed to close the gender pay gap to achieve equality and fairness in the workplace.
It's important information to bring transparency to Australia's medium and large companies in Australia and what we see on the positive front is about 30 per cent have a gender pay gap, she said.
But about two-thirds have a gender pay gap significantly in favour of men and they're the changes that we need to make.
The median female worker is earning 19 per cent less than their median male counterpart, fresh firm-level data has revealed. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw
Among the businesses with 5000 or more employees, airline Virgin Australia reported the most significant pay discrepancy with a gap of 41.7 per cent, while its rival Qantas Airways reported a 37 per cent difference.
When comparing the big four banks, CBA reported the most significant gender pay gap of 29.9 per cent, while Westpac had a 28.5 per cent gap, ANZ 23.1 per cent, and NAB disclosed an 18.8 per cent difference.
Australia's major supermarkets fared far better on disparities between male and female remuneration, below the national average, though still not a parity.
Woolworths reported the median male employee was paid 5.7 per cent more than the median female employee, while Coles recorded a 5.6 per cent difference.
Fast-food retailer McDonald's reported no difference between its male and female median worker.
At the other end of the spectrum, Ritchies supermarkets and liquor stores reported the median female worker was paid 25 per cent more than their median male colleague.
The pay disparities reported by WGEA are calculated by comparing median total remuneration of female and male employees, which accounts for base salary, superannuation, overtime, bonuses, sales commissions and other non-financial benefits.
Part-time and casual salaries are converted into annualised full-time equivalent earnings.
Workplace Gender Equality Agency chief executive Mary Wooldridge said a major attitude shift was needed.
According to WGEA analysis, less than one-third of employers (30 per cent) have gender pay gaps that WGEA considers neutral, meaning they do not significantly favour women or men.
Of the remaining businesses captured by reporting requirements, 62 per cent of median employer gaps were described as in favour of men, where the pay for the median man was more than five per cent more than the median woman.
Just eight per cent of businesses were in favour of women, where the pay for the median woman was more than five per cent higher than the median man.
Ms Wooldridge said a major attitude shift was needed to encourage more men to fill roles typically overrepresented by women, including jobs in the health and caring sector.
It's time to shift. Why aren't there more women who are pilots? Why aren't there more women who are senior executives and CEOs? And why don't we have more men in caring professions? she said.
These are challenges we now face to try and shift that dynamic so people can fulfil all of those roles and bring their full skills and capabilities.
The WGEA data does not capture the salaries of chief executives, head of business, casual managers and staff who were laid off during the reporting period.
Pay data figures for some firms stood in stark contrast to their public advocacy for women's empowerment.
Despite running a social change movement that champions equality and opportunity for women and girls, beauty products giant Mecca reported that the median male employees earnt 10.3 per cent more than median female counterparts.
Athletic apparel retailer Lorna Jane, who markets its vision as empowering women, transforming the world, pays its median male employee one-third more than its median female staff member.
The WGEA analysis also showed significant variation in the gender pay gap across different industries, ranging from the construction sector where the median employer gender pay gap is 31.8 per cent, while the accommodation and food services industry as 1.9 per cent on the same measure.
Labor minister Malarndirri McCarthy said the data was a good first step. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said the data was unacceptable, suggesting increased pay transparency will encourage businesses to enforce positive changes to close equity gaps.
Today's a really important day in terms of showing where our country is going in wanting to bring transparency to what women can earn and should earn, she said on Tuesday.
We're pleased that we were able to get that through the parliament last year, and today's the first of that, and women across the country and employers generally will be able to keep an eye on how they're going and I think this is where we're headed as a nation.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/at-work/australian-female-workers-taking-home-18k-less-than-male-colleagues/news-story/c08700ee45e0b0cc09c56e37e5cefb54
