The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) has released the 2024–25 Gender Equality Scorecard, and it paints a picture that is both encouraging and sobering.
Progress is happening — faster than in recent years — yet Australia remains far from gender-equal workplaces. The data shows movement, but also reveals how entrenched many structural and cultural barriers still are.
Here’s my take on what stands out, why it matters, and what leaders should be doing now.
The Good News: Real Progress Is Emerging
Despite the challenges, there are clear signs of momentum:
1. The gender pay gap is closing — slowly, but meaningfully
The national gender pay gap (total remuneration) has fallen to 21.1%, the largest single-year improvement we’ve seen in a long time. On average, women now earn 79 cents for every dollar men earn — still unacceptable, but trending in the right direction.
2. More employers are taking action
Over 55% of organisations reduced their pay gap this year. Many are now conducting regular pay-gap analysis, consulting employees, and reporting findings to leadership.
3. Women are inching into higher-paid roles
The proportion of women in the top earnings quartile has increased, while women in the lowest quartile decreased. This is a sign that some occupational and hierarchical bottlenecks are shifting.
4. Cultural norms around care are changing
Men now take 20% of primary-carer parental leave — small, but important movement toward shared care.
5. Focus on safety and respect is strengthening
Almost all employers (99%) report having policies to prevent sexual harassment. More CEOs are making public commitments to respectful workplaces.
These gains show that transparency and data — especially public release of employer pay gaps — is working.
TThe Reality Check: Major Gaps Persist
Progress should be celebrated, but the Scorecard is also a stark reminder of the deep structural inequalities still at play.
1. The pay gap remains substantial
Women still take home $28,356 less per year on average. Improvements don’t change the lived reality that women continue to bear financial inequity across their working lives.
2. Leadership remains overwhelmingly male
Women represent:
- just 22% of CEOs (no change)
- a minority of board chairs
- a smaller proportion of key management personnel
The “blockage” at the top remains stubborn.
3. Women are resigning at higher rates than men
Despite similar promotion rates into management, women are leaving organisations faster. This suggests deeper cultural issues — burnout, exclusion, bullying, unsafe systems — that salary data alone cannot fix.
4. Accountability for safe workplaces is still weak
Although almost all employers have policies on harassment, fewer than 15% report performance against those policies to their Board or CEO. Policies without governance are not systems — they are placeholders.
5. Occupational segregation endures
Women remain concentrated in lower-paid industries and roles. Until this structural divide shifts, pay gaps will persist.
What This Year’s Scorecard Teaches Us
Across all indicators, one message is clear:
Data + accountability = change.
The introduction of public gender pay gap reporting has been one of the most effective drivers of action in years.
But the Scorecard also tells us:
- Cultural change must accompany structural change.
- Safety and gender equality are inseparable.
- Closing the pay gap requires rethinking care, leadership, and the “ideal worker.”
- Representation matters — but retention matters more.
What Must Happen Next: Priorities for Australian Employers
This Scorecard is a baseline, not a victory lap. With upcoming requirements for mandatory gender equality targets, employers should be preparing now.
1. Move from compliance to transformation
Policies are meaningless without enforcement, transparency, measurement, and leadership accountability.
2. Fix the pipeline and the culture
Focusing only on recruitment won’t work if women continue to resign due to exclusion, burnout, or unsafe workplaces.
3. Close the gap on care, flexibility, and the “ideal worker” model
Encourage — and normalise — men taking parental leave. Redesign roles around flexibility by default, not exception.
4. Strengthen governance on harassment and respect
Boards must receive metrics, monitor performance, and treat safety as seriously as financial risk.
5. Address occupational and industrial segregation
This requires long-term, whole-of-system interventions, not short-term fixes.
The Hidden Danger: Biased AI Could Amplify Every Gap WGEA Measures
One critical area not addressed in the Scorecard — but urgently needing attention — is the intersection of gender equality data with artificial intelligence. As organisations increasingly rely on AI for recruitment, promotion decisions, performance assessment and workforce analytics, there is a real risk that biased datasets and opaque algorithms could entrench or even amplify the very inequities WGEA is trying to close. The opportunity is enormous — AI can help identify patterns, reveal blind spots, and accelerate progress — but only if it is designed, governed and audited with gender equity at the centre. Without this, AI risks becoming a new frontier for inequality rather than a catalyst for change. To explore how to use AI safely, ethically and in service of gender equality, connect with us at ada.ai
Final Thought
The 2024–25 WGEA Scorecard shows that progress is possible when transparency forces action and leadership pays attention. But it also makes clear that Australia’s workplaces have a long way to go.
Gender equality is not a “women’s issue.” It is a productivity issue, a talent issue, a safety issue, and a leadership issue.