Female Professionals May Receive Meaningful Pay Increases

A new round of gender pay equity reviews is set to start, focusing on professional roles that require a university degree. This could lead to significant wage increases for female professionals such as lawyers, academics and architects. However, the process may face funding challenges and structural barriers.

The Fair Work Commission plans to examine pay rates for professional roles covered by 22 modern awards. These reviews follow findings that many of these jobs may be historically undervalued due to the large number of women working in them. Around 70% of those earning minimum award wages in these occupations are women.

This move follows recent decisions awarding pay increases of up to 30% for aged care, health and childcare workers. These were part of gender equity reforms introduced by the federal government in 2022. Those decisions marked the beginning of a wider effort to close the pay gap in industries where women are overrepresented.

Although unions had hoped this stage would also include more frontline and administrative roles such as retail assistants and teachers' aides, the commission decided that this would make the process too broad and slow down progress. Even so, roles like trainee book editors, graduate lawyers, medical researchers, paramedics and veterinary surgeons are still under consideration.

These reviews could impact several sectors including healthcare and the creative arts. Still, questions remain about funding, especially whether state and federal governments will cover the costs. These concerns could limit the extent of any wage increases or cause delays. The Fair Work Commission is expected to begin formal consultations on the selected roles in July.

Source: Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), Industrial Relations News, EY Australia, Clayton Utz