Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) has released the first of three papers in its Gender Economic Equality Study providing new evidence and insights on how gendered Australia’s jobs, work and pay are and how balancing all three out is vital to improving productivity and accelerating progress towards gender economic equality.
Paper 1 New Perspectives on Old Problems: Gendered Jobs, Work and Pay presents a detailed analysis of gendered occupational segregation over time and fills key evidence gaps on gender pay gaps, including intersectional gender pay gap data. The research finds that regardless of which pay gap measure or benchmark is used, First Nations females have the highest gender pay gaps in Australia.
The study introduces a new approach to measuring and understanding gender occupational segregation called the Gender Segregation Intensity Scale (GSIS).
Key findings include:
- Only 1 in 5 workers work in gender-balanced occupations
- Almost 70 per cent of occupations have retained the same level of gender segregation over the last 15 years.
- Occupation shortages typically worsen as gender segregation intensifies, particularly in almost completely male dominated occupations.
Occupational trends show some movement towards gender balance:
- Roles such as Ambulance Officers, Dental Practitioners and Barristers have shifted from male-dominated to gender-balanced.
- Occupations including Veterinarians and School Principals have become more female-dominated.
- Males are shifting into selected female-dominated roles, such as Aged and Disabled Carers.
The study also provides important intersectional insights:
- First Nations workers are more likely to be employed in highly gender-segregated roles and less likely to work in gender-balanced occupations.
- CALD (Culturally and Linguistically Diverse) workers show distinct patterns, with CALD women contributing to the gender balancing of high-skill professionals roles in health, IT and accounting.
- Occupations like Doctors, Software Programmers and Civil Engineers are becoming both more gender-balanced and culturally diverse.
Qualitative research, including focus groups and interviews with workers from diverse backgrounds, highlights how gender inequality is compounded by race, culture and life stage. These lived experiences underscore the role of structural discrimination and bias in shaping career outcomes and broader inequalities.
The report also introduces additional and unique approaches to measuring gender pay gaps, including a 10-year accumulated measure that captures long-term impacts.
Key findings include:
- The accumulated 10 year gender pay gap is 30.7%, compared to the annual point-in-time gap of 25.7%
- Males outearn females in 98 per cent of the 688 occupations analysed.
- First Nations women face the highest pay gaps, with a 10-year gap of 38.1%.
- There are over 100 occupations where the pay gap is over 25% and almost 30 occupations with a pay gap over 35%.
- Some of the occupations with the highest gender pay gaps in the country are in the male dominated trades, health and finance.
- Gender pay gaps widen and worsen at the highest grades of segregation intensity.
For more information download the full report. You can also look up the gender pay gaps in over 600 occupations in the dashboard.