Women employed by City of Sydney defy national trends by earning more than male counterparts

By EVA BAXTER

This year the City of Sydney calculated its sixth gender pay gap report and found the organisation’s total gender pay gap was 3.4 per cent in favour of women.

More men are employed by the City, with 1057 male employees to 774 female in 2020-21, yet the average total pay for women is $108,815 to men’s $105,226.

According to federal Workplace Gender Equality Agency data, Australia has a national pay gap of 20.1 per cent in favour of men.

Women’s workforce participation fell about 3.5 percentage points in the first two months of the pandemic, and the hardest hit sectors were those traditionally dominated by female employment.

New Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows a rebound in female employment figures post-lockdown, with women surging back into the workforce faster than their male counterparts, and jobs held by women up 22 per cent over the past month compared with 0.6 per cent for men.

Work to be done

Lord Mayor Clover Moore said the results of the report are particularly encouraging given the negative impacts of COVID on women in the workforce.

“Women make up more than 40 per cent of our workforce and almost half of our leadership roles. Addressing the pay gap has helped the City attract and retain talented women including our CEO Monica Barone, who leads an experienced executive team with a 50:50 gender split.

“While women represent less than a third of all councillors and mayors serving on the 128 councils in NSW, it’s a testament to our progressive city that every council table since 2012 has had a female majority.

“But there’s still work to be done. We will continue our commitment to gender equity and be held accountable by reviewing and reporting our pay gap each year. It’s one of a number of important ways we can support women in our workplaces and in the community,” she said.

The Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012 requires all non-public sector organisations with more than 100 employees to report annually against a number of gender equality indicators, including remuneration.

Councils are not required to do this, but following a council resolution in March 2015, the City began measuring and reporting on its gender pay gap.

A spokesperson for City of Sydney told City Hub, “the City of Sydney strongly believes that gender pay equity is achievable and worth striving for. It allows organisations to hold onto talented staff, creates more opportunity to promote women into senior positions and, as the research shows us, gender balanced leadership teams perform better.

“We’re proud to be a leader within Australia’s public and private sectors when it comes to gender pay equity, as shown in our latest gender pay equity review.

“We hope that the City of Sydney’s track record proves an inspiration for other government organisations as well as private businesses both small and large.”