Resources companies have reduced their gender pay gap, but work remains – that is the arterial message of the newly released Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) for 2023-24, per the Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia (CME).
The agency said the latest data shows the midpoint of the gap in average total remuneration between male and female workers in the national mining sector in FY24 was 19.8%. The midpoint of the average gender pay gap across all industries was 12.1%.
Encouragingly, the report found the midpoint of the average gender pay gap in the mining sector had fallen by 1.6 percentage points over the past year, one of the best results for an individual industry and well above the nationwide fall of just 0.2 percentage points.
In total, 57% of mining companies improved their average gender pay gap over the past year – slightly outpacing overall improvement of 56%.
It is important to note the data does not compare the pay of men and women performing the same job. Equal pay in those circumstances is a legal requirement – and one stringently upheld by the resources sector.
Instead, the data examines the difference in earnings between all men and all women across all roles.
Despite recent improvements in female participation, CME Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Tomkinson said men continued to outnumber women in the resources sector, a trend that carried over into senior roles and was the primary driver of the pay gap.
“Closing the pay gap in a traditionally male-dominated industry like mining will not be achieved overnight, but women are increasingly voting with their feet to join a sector that has demonstrated its commitment to boosting female participation,” Tomkinson said.
“CME’s most recent Diversity and Inclusion Report found 5,437 women took up jobs in the WA resources sector between 2021 and 2023 – by far the best result we’ve ever recorded. Women now account for just under a quarter of the WA sector’s workforce (24.8%). That is an improvement of 3.3 percentage points in just two years, and up from 19% in our first survey in 2013.”
Tomkinson added that a recent uplift in women working in trades-focused and senior jobs was especially encouraging and, over time, would help address the underlying causes of the pay gap.
“Women held nearly one-third of board roles (32.8%) in 2023, up from 24.4% in 2021,” she said.
“Women in management positions increased from 20.7% to 23.5% in the same period, while 21.4% of machinery operators and drivers were female in 2023 – up from 17% in 2021.”
Tomkinson confirmed that growing flexibility in FIFO rosters and generous parental leave provisions were evidence of the sector’s focus on supporting women throughout all stages of their careers.
“Women remain the predominant caregivers for their children and in many instances stop working for a period to raise young children. This can contribute to the pay gap for women across all industries, but the resources sector has some of corporate Australia’s most accommodating policies and practices in place to encourage retention and to create a more family-friendly work structure.”
The WGEA report also confirmed mining was the best paid industry in Australia, with average total remuneration of $195,141 – around 68% higher than the national average of $115,828.