Media release

The Finance Sector Union (FSU) says the new Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) data confirms gender inequality remains entrenched across the finance industry, with women earning $53,549 less per year than men on average.

Despite women making up 53 per cent of the finance and insurance services workforce, the median total gender pay gap remains at 20.9 per cent, one of the highest in the industry.

The WGEA data shows all of the big four banks have reduced their gender pay gap in the past 12 months, demonstrating that mandatory public reporting is having a positive impact.

Westpac continues to have the worst gender pay gap at 28.1 per cent, only one per cent bigger than CBA’s 27.1 per cent. ANZ’s gender pay gap reduced slightly to 18.9 per cent while NAB leads the way for the big four banks with a gender pay gap of 16.9 per cent.

Super funds have the lowest gender pay gap across the industry, with most sitting at single digits.

While Aware Super has the worst gender pay gap of the super funds (19.9 per cent), that’s still 8 per cent better than the bank with the worst gender pay gap, Westpac.

The finance employer with the most improved gender pay gap is Australian Mutual Bank (AMB) who reduced their gender pay gap from 19.8 per cent to 9.6 per cent.

See a full breakdown of finance employer gender pay gaps here: https://fsu.org.au/WGEA26

With 96 per cent of finance employers recording a gender pay gap favouring men, the union argues that under-reporting of sexual harassment continues to contribute to systemic inequality in the workplace.

These findings feature in the FSU’s second national sexual harassment report Spin vs Reality: Employer rhetoric and worker experiences of sexual harassment at work, to be launched on Thursday.

The FSU engaged with industry and workers to understand the impact and effectiveness of the landmark legislation to introduce a positive duty on employers to eliminate sexual harassment.

An FSU survey of 430 finance workers found that 60 per cent identified an incident of sexual harassment they believed warranted a complaint but did not report it. Among that group, 78 per cent chose not to pursue a formal process.

Only 16 per cent of workers who took the survey made a report about misconduct of any kind.

The report finds too many workers continue to not report sexual harassment, saying it is not serious enough, believing there will be no consequences for the perpetrator or they may experience negative consequences.

Workers continue to see unlawful conduct ignored, minimised or mishandled by senior managers, with alleged perpetrators protected or promoted while complainants experiencing harm or retaliation.

Almost 60 per cent of those who complained rated their employer’s response as poor or extremely poor.

The FSU is calling for meaningful consultation with workers, complaint processes that prioritise fairness and safety and consequence frameworks that reflect the severity of the unlawful conduct.

The union says employers must move beyond compliance reporting and demonstrate real accountability for eliminating gender inequality and sexual harassment at work.

View an advance copy of the report here: https://fsu.org.au/SpinVsReality 

Finance Sector Union National Secretary Julia Angrisano said:

“Progress on gender equality rings hollow when women are paid less and remain unsafe at work.

“We cannot accept a system where women are paid less, silenced more and expected to be grateful for incremental change.

“Equal pay and safe workplaces are not aspirational goals - they are minimum standards and finance sector employers must start meeting them.

“When women are concentrated in lower-paid roles and underrepresented in leadership, that imbalance shapes workplace culture - including whether it is safe to speak up.”

Anonymous finance worker quotes from the FSU’s report:

“I have been the victim of sexual harassment in the workplace perpetrated by a senior manager. A grievance was lodged and quietly swept under the carpet in complete denial of what took place. Escalations of my grievance have resulted in [employer redacted] making retaliatory false misconduct claims against me.”

“I reported three of my direct reports coming to me to advise they’d been inappropriately touched and spoken to by a team member at a recent work function and they would purposely sit away from the team so they didn’t have to speak to him. My manager (one of the contact centre managers) said she’d speak to the colleagues for more information; however, the male colleague was never spoken to and was not held accountable.”

“I reported a manager for grooming and sexually harassing me but they kept his employment and put my safety second as he was an ‘important’ employee and [they were] ‘unable to identify risk’ though I had evidence.”

“In my previous workplace an exec watched his friend sexually assault me at a function. I tried to talk to the exec and was ignored. After the exec left the business, I reported to HR what happened and how I did not believe I would be supported as the exec wanted to protect his friend - I wanted the organisation to do more to show women they would be supported if they made a complaint - or at least be listened to. The matter was swept under the carpet. They made no attempt to ensure I was ok (which I wasn’t) or to address the matter.”