Pay equity is commonly defined as 'equal remuneration for work of equal or comparable value'. The gender pay gap is measured as the difference between male and female earnings expressed as a percentage of male earnings¹.

ABS statistics released in May 2011 show that across Australia, women's average full-time weekly earnings are now 17.2% less than men's earnings².

EOWA Resources on Pay Equity and the Gender Pay Gap

EOWA is committed to supporting businesses and organisations address pay equity issues. Through the website, EOWA seeks to provide a number of practical resources, tools and useful information on gender pay equity issues, including:

• Mind the Gap: Gender Pay Equity Online Course
  A new online course on gender pay equity specifically designed to explain pay equity concepts, terms and issues, outline Australia's pay equity history and show how to "equality-proof" the range of human resources policies, processes, practices and procedures that might unintentionally incorporate gender bias or lead to gender pay disparity outcomes.
   
• Pay Equity Audit Tool
  A payroll analysis tool to enable organisations to analyse whether there are gender-based differences in payment levels for jobs of comparable value. This analytical process enables an individual organisation to pinpoint the remuneration levels and pay components in which gender-based pay gaps or disparities might occur.
   
• Authoritative Research and Information Resources
  Information and research reports on how EOWA reporting organisations have analysed and addressed pay equity issues, as well as relevant factsheets, statistics, surveys, reports and updates issued by other government and public and private sector sources in Australia and overseas and available on the Pay Equity Information page.
   
• Case Studies
  A series of case studies of organisations that have analysed and addressed their pay equity issues, including looking at the business drivers and benefits in actively addressing workplace pay page equity.

• Advice
  EOWA advises reporting organisations on pay equity issues and resources they can use to tackle them.
  
• Awareness-raising
  EOWA raises awareness about pay equity in the wider community through the annual promotion of Equal Pay Day and through public speaking engagements and media interviews.
   
• EOWA Employer of Choice for Women program
  EOWA encourages organisations to address their specific workplace pay equity issues by making undertaking a workforce remuneration analysis one of the essential components towards obtaining the coveted EOWA Employer of Choice for Women (EOCFW) citation.
   
• Developing a Job Evaluation Standard
  EOWA, in conjunction with Standards Australia and workplace stakeholders, is developing an Australian Standard on Gender-inclusive Job Evaluation and Grading, so organisations can minimise gender bias in how jobs are described, evaluated and graded and check their systems and practices for gender bias. The draft Standard DR AS 5376 is open for public comment until 19 September 2011.

Are you interested in engaging a pay equity consultant?

The following consultants have completed the EOWA Pay Equity Workshop and can assist organisations in undertaking pay equity reviews, including the use of the EOWA Pay Equity Tools.

This listing is not an accreditation or recommendation by EOWA. Organisations engaging consultants are responsible for undertaking their own due diligence on the expertise of the consultants.

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1 OECD, Family database: Definitions and methodology, available at:
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/29/63/38752746.pdf
2 ABS, Category 6302.0, Average Weekly Earnings - Trend, February 2011 (released 19.05.11) available at: http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/DetailsPage/6302.0Feb%202011?OpenDocument