Union wins help narrow the gender pay gap

For every dollar a man makes, a woman earns 79 cents.

Over the course of a year, this adds up to a difference of $28,356.

These latest stats show that pay equality has still not been achieved in Australia and more needs to be done to close the gender pay gap.

But working women in Australia are seeing progress – and it’s a big thanks to union member wins that we’re heading in the right direction.

(And no, pay equality is not the same as equal pay, which has been law for decades).

Keeping score with an annual report card

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) is a Commonwealth government agency which aims to advance workplace gender equality.

Every year, the WGEA publishes the Gender Equality Scorecard; a report on the state of workplace gender equality in Australia.

The 2024-25 data has just been released, and there’s a few key points that show we’re on track:

The average total remuneration gender pay gap is 21.1%
The gap has reduced by 0.7% compared to last year, which is a greater decrease than the trend of the previous five years
The size of the gender pay gap has slowly decreased since WGEA began reporting in 2013-14

So things are improving, bit by bit – although, it’s worth noting that progress has been much faster since the Labor Government came into power, and that’s no coincidence…

What is driving the change?

The narrowing of the gender pay gap has not happened by accident – it is a direct result of new work rights and wage reforms won by union members and introduced by the Albanese government.

Union members have long-been campaigning for meaningful changes that address barriers to closing the gap, and in the last few years, over 20 major reforms have contributed to the quicker narrowing of the gender pay gap. These reforms mean new rights for workers; leading to pay rises in undervalued sectors and strong increases in award and collective agreement wages.

For example, after years of campaigning, early childhood educator union members made history by entering into negotiations for Australia’s first-ever multi-employer agreement (which means conditions can be negotiated by workers across an entire industry).

This led to a fantastic win: a long-overdue pay rise of 15%! The second installment of the pay rise is kicking in this week, meaning workers in this overwhelmingly female workforce are now up to $11,000 better off per year.