Construction’s Gender Pay Gap Among Nation’s Worst

The construction industry has the second-worst gender pay gap in the country as the gap across all sectors widens.

Women on average earn $36,361 less, 26.1 per cent, per annum than their male counterparts in the construction industry, which was just behind the financial and insurance sector.

Across all sectors, women are working 61 extra days a year to earn the same amount as male counterparts.

National Association of Women in Construction chair Kristine Scheul said the pay gap had widened 1 per cent during the past 12 months.

Scheul said discrimination in hiring, starting salaries and the motherhood penalty impacting career progression were pinch points for women in construction.

“For many women working in construction, we must work at least another month more before we catch up with our male colleagues,” she said.

“It is little wonder that the industry is finding it challenging to recruit women and even if they do, having them stay.

“Why would women want to stay in an industry where it appears they are not valued as highly as their male colleagues.”

Bucking the trend, however, is Australian property group Mirvac, which claims to have a $0 pay gap between its more than 1400 male and female employees, and female chief executive Susan Lloyd-Hurwitz at the helm.

It is the sixth year in a row the company has recorded a $0 gap in the average like-for-like gender pay gap in its annual gender pay parity review.

“We report regularly against our targets for the number of women at Mirvac represented at all management levels and in our talent pipeline, including 50/50 recruitment shortlists for senior leadership roles,” Lloyd-Hurwitz said.

“We have an ongoing investment in women’s mentoring programs and pay close attention to our gender pay parity analysis, where we have maintained a zero pay gap for like-for-like roles for the past five years.”

Mirvac is ranked second in the world and first in Australia and Asia Pacific in Equileap’s Global Report on Gender Equality.

Scheul called on the construction industry to put the gender pay gap under the microscope and start affecting change from the ground up.

She said that while the discrimination experienced by women was, in most instances, unintentional, not addressing it was equally harmful.

“The association is seeking to break down why our industry is finding it so difficult to increase the number of women participating in the industry and then assist women and industry to resolve those issues holding them back,” Scheul said.

“Recognising that there is an issue in the construction industry is one thing, actively working out what to do about it is another.

“We want to see a change in the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s scorecard on the gender pay gap. At the very least, it will be a positive step towards achieving our goal of 25 per cent women in construction by 2025.”