Gender pay gap

This year the employer gender pay gaps have been published for the first time in order to drive change.

“The release of employer gender pay gaps marks a historic step towards transparency and accountability in addressing gender inequality," Minister Gallagher said.

The average gender pay gap is 21.7 per cent which means to every $1 a man earns their female counterpart earns 75 cents. For the Health Care and Social Assistance sector, specifically for Medical and Other Health Care Services and look at an employer size of less than 250 employees, the average is 18.2 per cent.

Practices must report to WGEA if they employed a total of 100 or more employees in a standalone organisation or in total across all entities under a corporate structure for six months or more from 1 April of the previous year to 31 March of the current year. If you are not sure on your eligibility, more information can be found here: Eligibility | WGEA

With the pay secrecy clause removed from Employment Contracts in 2023 and the publishing of gender pay gaps, there is a great opportunity leading up to International Women’s Day on 8 March to have a transparent discussion in your practice about ways to address gender pay gaps, if any, and how individual unconscious bias plays a role.

What we can learn from the WGEA reporting in three steps:

1. The gap is less than the previous report period by 1.1 per cent
2. Understand if there is a gender pay gap in your practice as it is more than equal pay for equal work although that can be a contributing factor.
3. Set clear expectations of what success looks like and bring in the key decision makers. 

Debra Stevens explains unconscious bias: “is a bias we are unaware of, and which happens outside of our control. It is a bias that happens automatically and is triggered by our brain making quick judgments and assessments of people and situations, influenced by our background, cultural environment, and personal experiences”. 

Prue Laurence talks about unconscious bias in an article she wrote The Surgeon’s Dilemma – A Test for Unconscious Bias. In the article, there is a riddle or a challenge if you will:
A father and his son are involved in a horrific car crash and the man died at the scene. But when the child arrived at the hospital and was rushed into the operating theatre, the surgeon pulled away and said: “I can’t operate on this boy, he’s my son”. This story – called the surgeon’s dilemma is used in this article to demonstrate the way that unconscious bias works, as the surgeon is the boy’s mother.

There are many such stories, some quite elaborate, that point out our unconscious view of the world. Riddles, fables like this one above, highlight for us as individuals what our view of the world is and it is this unconscious bias that has led to and contributes to the gender pay gap.

See if you can come up with a similar story so that individuals in your practice can understand their own unconscious bias, not for everyone to know but to be able to recognise themselves what is unconscious.

If you would like to know how to identify if your practice has gender pay gaps, please reach out to the Workplace Relations Team. 

More information

	Workplace Relations Support  The Workplace Relations Team offers general advice and support via telephone and email to ensure you are not only compliant with Modern Awards and legal requirements but are providing the best possible environment for your employees to be efficient and effective. This service is included within the cost of AMA Queensland membership. You can contact us via phone (07) 3872 2264 and email support workplacerelations@amaq.com.au.
	Workplace Relations Toolkit  Workplace Relations Toolkit product is a 12-month subscription which enables to the practice to operate at a low level of risk as you are given the most up-to-date, relevant and practical support with all employment matters, specifically focusing on medical practice. The Workplace Relations Team keeps across legislative changes and will notify you of the changes that impact you.
	Workplace Relations Tailored Services The Workplace Team is here to help when you need individual, comprehensive, tailored services on a fee-for-service basis when there is significant change or risk within the practice to ensure the smooth running of your practice and the management of your team.