New report shows where gender pay gap issues still reside

This is apparent not least through the recommendations coming from the Women's Economic Equality Taskforce and the Commonwealth Treasury's employment white paper.

Despite this, progress towards improved economic outcomes for women remains too slow in Australia and we must consider what can be done to accelerate the pace of change.

A new report from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) in partnership with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) draws insights from WGEA's world-leading reporting data on the progress of women's economic equality in Australian workplaces.

The report finds some improvement on average gender pay metrics and in the share of women in the workforce and in leadership positions, but the rate of change has been gradual.

And we also see big differences between the best and worst performing businesses when it comes to gender equity in the workplace.

We've found the pace of improvement in gender pay equity outcomes to have been quicker among managers, with less change for non-management occupations.

Now this isn't too surprising because businesses have had further to travel to deal with gender inequalities at the management and leadership level.

But business leaders do need to make sure they don't focus attention on one employee group at the expense of others.

Another area of focus relates to gender differences in accessing top levels of pay.

We often look at pay equity in terms of average gender pay gaps within a business, or across an occupation, or a whole industry sector.

But pay opportunities are actually quite variable, and one aspect of gender pay inequality that tends to be overlooked is the unequal access to higher earnings, even for those in the same occupation and age cohort.

In our report, we compare the pay of say, the top 10 per cent of women and the top 10 per cent of men at the same age within occupational classes alongside the median or average pay gap.

We find that salaries can be relatively balanced between genders for typical salaries, but women are found to have progressively less and less access to the highest levels of remuneration within an occupational tier at the same age.

And that's something that we need to be aware of - the glass ceiling within an occupational class.

Which is why businesses need to make sure that processes for remuneration, performance ratings and performance related-pay are insulated from any form of gender bias.

Because a lot of this discrepancy tends to come from an unequal access to discretionary pay between women and men, not necessarily in base pay, but more individual discretionary pay awards.

So, what do businesses need to do to accelerate the pace of change in delivering better gender equity outcomes for their employees?

We see a greater pace of change when organisations undertake pay equity audits and analyse their remuneration with a gender lens.

Analysing remuneration processes for gender bias is crucial, and not just for base pay but for the full spectrum of discretionary awards, commencement salaries and performance related pay.

The best performing businesses also have enhanced parental leave provision for secondary as well as primary carers, as well as reporting, training, and accountability for flexible work.

And businesses tend to outperform their sector when they put in place tangible pay equity action plans.

Accountability also matters.

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It's not just a matter of analysing the data but of acting on the information through gender equity action plans.

Accountability for gender equality as a business objective is best actioned through organisational reporting of gender equality indicators.

This is why the recent legislative changes to the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 that will require businesses to report gender equality metrics to their executives and governing boards are an encouraging agent of accelerated change.

The last call to action is to break down the gender stereotypes, entry barriers and attitudinal biases that hinder women's aspirations for careers in specific occupations or industries.

This is a shared responsibility between governments, communities, schools and families, but the businesses are an integral part of the solution and have an important role to play in creating a positive and a supportive workplace environment.

This is why work design settings around flexible work, family policies and support for people experiencing domestic violence are so important.

We find that the best performing companies take seriously the implementation of measures that create an environment which is more attractive and more engaging for all genders.