Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

  (i) that 2019 marks the 50 year anniversary of the equal pay decision that gave women the right to be paid the same as their male counterparts,

  (ii) the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) Equality Scorecard, released on 13 November 2019, which found that:

(A) the base salary gap between men and women across all industries and occupations is 15.5% or $15,176 per annum,

(B) when accounting for total remuneration, including overtime and bonuses, the real gap is wider, with men earning $25,679, or 20.8%, more than women each year on average,

(C) the number of female CEOs has remained static at 17.1% , and women make up only 26.8% of board positions,

(D) gender pay gaps favour men across all industries and all levels of the workforce, with financial services, real estate and construction recording the highest gaps,

(E) fewer than 50% of employers offer paid parental leave for employees, and

(F) while 73% of workplaces have a formal policy and strategy in place to support flexible working arrangements for employees, only 2.3% have set targets for men's engagement in flexible work, and

  (iii) that the Federal Government's Retirement Income Review Consultation paper acknowledges that the wages gap between men and women affects women's ability to save for retirement, leading to women retiring with lower average superannuation balances than men; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to:

  (i) increase the resourcing for WGEA and expand its coverage to include the public sector,

  (ii) require all large employers to publicly report their gender pay gap, and strengthen WGEA's powers to take action against employers who fail to report,

  (iii) prohibit the use of pay gag clauses in employment contracts, which disguise the gender pay gap in the private sector,

  (iv) require superannuation contributions to be made for employees taking paid parental leave,

  (v) set gender pay equality as an objective of awards and the Fair Work Act, and

  (vi) take action to close the gender retirement income gap.