A new survey by Lloyd Morgan, a recruitment agency, found that men in the finance sector in Australia are not only more likely to receive bonuses than women (52% for men vs. 44% for women) but those bonuses are also triple the amount paid to women.
To make matters worse, the bonus gap in the finance sector is actually increasing. Last year, the gender pay gap in finance sector bonuses grew by 28%. In Australia, the gender pay gap in the finance sector is nearly twice the national gender gap (across all sectors).
Nonee Walsh of ABC News Australia explains that due to the gender pay gap in Australia, women would need to work an additional 64 days per year to earn the same pay for the same work as their male peers.
Given these statistics, it’s not surprising that Australia ranked low in the 2012 list of the best and worst places to be a woman on earth. In the list of the best developed countries to be a woman, Australia ranked 32nd out of 44.
Learn more about the gender pay gap in the What’s She Worth? infographic, and check out more 2012 gender pay gap statistics.
What do you think? Are you surprised by this news? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the gender pay gap in the finance sector, in Australia, and around the world.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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As a former recruitment agent I can testify that in 20 years of work the average payment per employee was higher for men than for women at the same level. This is killer stat and often just highlighting it to the management can help them realize that they sometimes “accidentally” (I know) skew the bonus bot towards males.
Hopefully things have changed in the UK now (I worked in the call centre industry primarily)
DJ