The gender pay gap remains a significant challenge in workplaces across Australia, with women earning, on average, 13.4% less than men for full-time work, according to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA). While structural and systemic factors play a role, everyday bias—the subtle, often unconscious prejudices that influence workplace behaviours and decisions—exacerbates this disparity. These biases are deeply tied to stereotypes about gender roles, maternal responsibilities, and caregiving norms, creating barriers to equity in pay and career advancement.
Understanding Everyday Bias
Everyday bias refers to the unconscious attitudes and stereotypes that shape how people perceive and interact with others. These biases are often unintentional but can manifest in ways that disadvantage women, perpetuating inequalities in hiring, task allocation, performance reviews, promotions, and pay.
Examples of Everyday Bias That Contribute to the Gender Pay Gap
1. Gendered Career Pathways and Role Segregation
Biases around “appropriate” roles for men and women steer individuals into gendered career pathways. Women are often encouraged to pursue caregiving-related professions, such as teaching, nursing, or administrative roles, while men are pushed toward higher-paying fields like engineering, IT, and finance.
Impact:
- Occupational Segregation: Female-dominated industries typically offer lower wages than male-dominated ones, even when the required skills are similar.
- Leadership Gaps: Women are underrepresented in leadership roles within these fields, missing out on opportunities for higher pay and influence.
2. Maternal Bias and Assumptions About Commitment
Women who become mothers often face stereotypes that they are less committed to their careers. Managers may assume that mothers will prioritise family responsibilities over work, leading to fewer high-stakes assignments or opportunities for leadership roles.
Impact:
- Motherhood Penalty: Women with children are often overlooked for promotions and pay rises, while fathers may experience a “fatherhood bonus,” being viewed as more stable or reliable.
- Career Stagnation: Maternal bias can result in women being pigeonholed into roles with limited upward mobility.
3. Caregiving Norms and the Part-Time Penalty
Traditional caregiving norms disproportionately place responsibility for children, elder care, and other dependents on women. This expectation often leads women to take on part-time work or career breaks, which can carry long-term financial consequences.
Impact:
- Reduced Earnings: Part-time roles are generally lower-paid and offer fewer opportunities for progression, contributing to women’s lower lifetime earnings.
- Superannuation Gap: Career breaks or part-time work reduce superannuation contributions, exacerbating financial inequality in retirement.
4. Bias in Task Allocation
Women are often assigned lower-visibility tasks, such as note-taking, event planning, or administrative duties, while men are given strategic, high-profile projects that demonstrate leadership potential.
Impact:
- Skill Underutilisation: Women miss opportunities to develop and showcase skills critical for advancement.
- Pay Disparities: High-visibility tasks often lead to promotions and pay increases, creating a cumulative disadvantage for women.
5. Unequal Parental Leave Policies
Parental leave policies often reinforce caregiving norms by offering more generous leave to mothers than fathers. This perpetuates the idea that caregiving is a woman’s responsibility, while men’s roles are more focused on work.
Impact:
- Reinforced Stereotypes: Women are seen as the default caregiver, affecting their perceived commitment and career opportunities.
- Workplace Stigma: Men who take parental leave may face stigma, discouraging equitable caregiving practices.
6. Performance Review and Negotiation Bias
Everyday biases influence how performance and ambition are evaluated. Women are more likely to receive feedback focused on interpersonal skills rather than achievements, and their attempts to negotiate higher pay can be perceived as aggressive.
Impact:
- Promotion Gaps: Women may be passed over for leadership roles due to biased evaluations.
- Salary Stagnation: Hesitation to negotiate or resistance from managers contributes to pay disparities.
Addressing Everyday Bias to Close the Gender Pay Gap
To combat the effects of everyday bias and reduce the gender pay gap, organisations must adopt targeted strategies:
- Encourage Gender-Neutral Career Pathways Actively promote and support women entering male-dominated fields and men entering caregiving-related roles through targeted recruitment, mentorship, and development programs.
- Normalise Shared Caregiving Introduce equal parental leave policies for all genders to support shared caregiving responsibilities and reduce stigma around men taking leave.
- Support Flexible Work Without Penalty Ensure that part-time and flexible roles have equitable pay and career progression opportunities, normalising these arrangements for both men and women.
- Implement Blind Recruitment and Pay Audits Remove identifying details from CVs during hiring and conduct regular pay audits to identify and address disparities.
- Standardise Performance Reviews and Feedback Use clear, objective criteria for evaluating performance and providing feedback to minimise the influence of subjective biases.
- Provide Training on Everyday Bias Regularly train managers and employees to recognise and challenge their unconscious biases, particularly those related to gender and caregiving norms.
Conclusion
Everyday bias, while often subtle, plays a powerful role in reinforcing the gender pay gap. From gendered career pathways to maternal bias and caregiving norms, these biases perpetuate inequities that disadvantage women in the workplace. By recognising and addressing these biases through thoughtful policies and cultural shifts, organisations can move closer to achieving pay equity and creating inclusive workplaces that empower everyone to thrive.