Australia’s best-paid jobs are twice as likely to go to men as to women

Male employees account for 64 per cent of roles in the nation’s upper quartile of compensation, jobs that have a total average annual pay of A$221,320 (US$155,000), the Workplace Gender Equality Agency said in a report on Tuesday.

Though female representation in the top category has increased slightly, women remain 1.4 times more likely than men to be employed in the lowest quartile.

“When women are concentrated in lower-paid roles and under-represented in leadership, that imbalance shapes workplace culture – including whether it is safe to speak up,” said Julia Angrisano, national secretary of the Finance Sector Union, which represents staff in fields including banking and insurance.

Industries that pay the most, such as mining and construction, also tend to have the largest gender wage gaps, according to the report.

Across all sectors, the average pay gap in Australia was 11.2 per cent in the 2024-2025 reporting period, a reduction of 0.9 percentage points on the previous data.