New work rights and higher wages in sectors like aged care are closing the gender pay gap, which is now shrinking by 1.3 percentage points on average each year.

Equal pay has still not been achieved in Australia but there has been strong recent progress with the gender pay gap now at its lowest point ever at 11.5 per cent. On current progress the gap could close completely within nine years.

This report outlines 20 major reforms under the current Australian Government that have contributed to the quicker narrowing of the gender pay gap. 

Key reforms

• Strong wage outcomes in the past three Annual Wage Reviews and in public sector bargaining, where most workers covered by these arrangements are women. 
• Progress in winning equal pay across female-dominated occupations, especially in aged care and now early childhood education and care (ECEC). 
• Strong growth in women’s full-time employment and workforce participation, post-pandemic. 
• Better rights supporting women to remain connected to work, including a stronger right to request flexible working arrangements, improvements to Commonwealth Paid Parental Leave, paid family and domestic violence leave, and improved childcare subsidies. 
• Greater transparency about pay, including the outlawing of pay secrecy clauses in employment contracts and improvements to company gender pay gap reporting via the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).
• Improved protection from discrimination and sexual harassment at work and stronger obligations on employers to prevent and respond to such unlawful conduct.