Gender salary gap a ‘choice’, finds science equity group

The gender salary gap is a “choice” which universities can take active steps to alleviate, according to a “report card”.

Science in Australia Gender Equity (Sage) has found that institutions which sign up to its parity initiatives are gradually eliminating differences in earnings, while those that do not are moving in the opposite direction.

Sage’s analysis of the latest Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) data found that the average median total remuneration gender pay gap among its member universities had eased from 7.9 per cent to 6.4 per cent over the past three financial years. Among non-members, the differential had grown from 8.9 to 9.5 per cent.

The “two-speed gap” was more pronounced among medical research institutes (MRIs) and public sector science research agencies, where the gender pay disparity had grown to 4 and 7.1 percentage points respectively.

Sage CEO Janin Bredehoeft said some institutions were making an “active choice” to let their gender pay gaps widen. “Those that haven’t moved beyond an audit…have seen, on average, their pay gap increase,” she said.

Sage was established by two learned academies in 2014 to help improve gender equality in STEM and medical institutions. It accredits several dozen Australian universities, MRIs and science agencies under the Athena Swan programme.

Its research found that most of the 40-odd universities monitored by WGEA had conducted gender pay gap analyses over the previous 12 months and taken actions on the findings, irrespective of whether they were Sage members. All but three had formal policies or strategies on equal remuneration between men and women.

However, only about half of public sector science agencies had taken these measures.

The worst-performing agency, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (Nopsema), had a median remuneration gap of 46.3 per cent last financial year. It said that as the offshore energy regulator, its regulatory workforce had historically drawn from male-dominated engineering and marine science disciplines.

“People undertaking the same type of work are paid equally, regardless of gender,” said chief executive Sue McCarrey. “Nopsema’s leadership team is taking a proactive approach to improving gender equity and reducing the gender pay gap across the agency.”

In MRIs, the disparity ranged from 22.4 per cent at the Centenary Institute to negative gender pay gaps – where women typically out-earned men – at the Melanoma, Ingham and Burnet institutes.

Centenary said pay gap figures were influenced by structural factors including workforce composition. A spokesman said the institute was “committed to pay equity and undertakes regular monitoring to ensure fair and consistent remuneration for comparable roles”.

The worst-performing university, Avondale at 24.6 per cent, is not a Sage member. Nor, however, is the best-performing university – Torrens – where men’s and women’s median earnings were identical in 2024-25.

Overall, median gender pay gaps at 13 universities including nine Sage members fell within WGEA’s target range of 5 per cent. Seven universities, including two Sage members, recorded gaps of over 10 per cent.

Bredehoeft said pay equity was “particularly important in a sector where employers struggle to attract and retain women, and where we see high rates of attrition at every level of a woman’s…career”.

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com