Australian employers are making steady progress in closing the nation’s gender pay gap, according to WGEA’s 2025 Gender Equality Scorecard. Yet the picture at the top remains stark, with senior roles lagging behind and the pace of change still slow.
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) annual report has shown that Australian employers’ efforts are starting to pay off, with the average total remuneration gap falling to 21.1 per cent.
This marks a 0.7 percentage point decrease from last year’s 21.8 per cent, signalling gradual but tangible progress.
In practical terms, this means that for every dollar men earn, women earn, on average, 78.9¢ – a difference of $28,356 annually.
The Gender Equality Scorecard draws on data from 8,200 employers, capturing the experiences of more than 5.4 million Australian workers.
Every Australian state and territory recorded a reduction in its gender pay gap this year, though the divide still ranges widely – from Western Australia’s nation-high of 28.8 per cent to Tasmania’s low of 10.6 per cent.
But despite the progress, the scale of the gender pay gap remains stark: half of Australian employers reported gaps above 11.2 per cent, while only 22.5 per cent fell within the target range of -5 per cent to +5 per cent.
WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge said this modest reduction in the gender pay gap reflects employers’ increasing efforts to implement policies that create fairer, safer, and more inclusive workplaces for their employees.
“Reductions to the pay gap and modest improvements towards gender balance in leadership roles are underpinned by more employers having policies and taking action that can break down gender norms about leadership and caring responsibilities, as well as improving employee safety,” Wooldridge said.
“Employers are shifting the dial towards fairness, which is helping to close the gender pay gap.”
The report examined women’s representation in leadership and senior management roles, revealing only modest progress.
Women now hold 33 per cent of board seats, up 1 per cent, and 21 per cent of chair roles, also up 1 per cent, while female representation among key management personnel has risen 2 per cent to 39 per cent.
However, not all news is positive at the top, where disparities are even widening in some leadership roles.
For the second year, WGEA collected data on CEO salaries and revealed that the gender pay gap among chief executives has grown by 1.2 percentage points, reaching 26.2 per cent.
Female CEOs earn $83,493 less in base salary than their male counterparts, a figure that balloons to $185,335 when bonuses, superannuation, and other payments are included.
Additionally, the report revealed that nearly a quarter of boards still have no women represented at all.
While WGEA’s 2025 Gender Equality Scorecard highlights areas of progress, the organisation warns that when it comes to closing the gender pay gap, “improvement is slow”.
With legislative reforms set to take effect in 2026 requiring large employers to establish and pursue gender equality targets, Wooldridge stressed that taking “comprehensive actions based on data and evidence” is crucial to accelerating progress.
WGEA flagged three key opportunities for employers to accelerate progress and drive broader change: strengthening workplace safety, improving gender balance across organisations and boards, and dismantling entrenched stereotypes about leadership, work and caring.
“WGEA encourages all employers to undertake a comprehensive gender pay gap analysis and as part of that review performance pay structures and access to overtime, to ensure they are fair and accessible for everyone,” Wooldridge said.
“This should be an annual process, even if salaries are set by awards or market rates.”
