The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) yesterday (4 March) released its recent Pay Gaps Report for 2023-24, which revealed 57% of mining companies improved their average gender pay gap.
The Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CMEWA) Chief Executive Rebecca Tomkinson says closing the pay gap in a traditionally male-dominated industry will not be achieved overnight.
“But women are increasingly voting with their feet to join a sector that has demonstrated commitment to boosting female participation,” the CEO says.
WGEA’s report also found the midpoint of the average gender pay gap in the mining sector had fallen by 1.6 percentage points over the past year — which CMEWA says is one of the best results for an individual industry.
However, despite recent improvements in female participation, Tomkinson says men continue to outnumber women in the resources sector.
“A trend that carried over into senior roles and was the primary driver of the pay gap,” she says.
According to WGEA, four out of five employers in male-dominated industries, such as mining, have a gender pay gap in favour of men.
Of the four industries where 90% of employers have a gender pay gap in favour of men, three are male-dominated. WGEA says this may be in part because many male-dominated industry employers have higher average total remuneration.
The WGEA report also found the most gender-balanced industry was public administration and safety, while mining ranked second, behind financial and insurance services, for the least gender-balanced.
Tomkinson says growing flexibility in fly-in, fly-out rosters and generous parental leave provisions are evidence of the mining sector’s focus on supporting women throughout all stages of their careers.
“Women remain the predominant caregivers for their children and in many instances stop working for a period to raise young children,” she says.
“This can contribute to the pay gap for women across all industries, but the resources sector has some of corporate Australia’s most accommodating policies and practices in place to encourage retention and to create a more family-friendly work structure.”
Alongside facing gender-based challenges, the mining industry also continues to face challenges generally in attracting both men and women into the sector.
The WGEA report reveals that mining comprises only about 22% women in the workforce – the second lowest out of all industries, with construction ranked the lowest with only 21% female representation.
Despite the challenges the sector continues to face, the report confirmed mining is the best paid industry in Australia with an average wage of $195,141 — 68% more than the national average wage of $115,828.
WGEA’s Employer Gender Pay Gaps Report sets a benchmark from which employers can drive change. It includes the publication of 2023-24 gender pay gaps across 7,800 private sector employers and 1,700 corporate groups.
Write to Aaliyah Rogan at Mining.com.au
Images: Glencore
