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DANIELLE CORMACK EMILY SKYE

THEY SAY: Women aren’t as

good at negotiating as men,

that’s why they get paid less.

WE SAY: If you think it’s fair to

pay people based on their salary

negotiating skills, then that’s

totally fine. But if you think that

people should be paid based

solely on their skills, expertise

and value to the company, then

this is a total BS excuse!

And it turns out women are

actually great at negotiating,

we’ve just been taught our whole

lives that it’s not ladylike. “When

women negotiate like men they

are viewed as too aggressive

or pushy and they learn not to

behave like that again,” says

Yolanda Beattie, the public affairs

manager at the Workplace Gender

Equality Agency (WGEA). Repeat

after me: I’m not bossy, I’m a boss.

THEY SAY: Of course women are

going to be paid less, they take

years off to have babies.

WE SAY: Um, hell no! Studies

show that most women end up

having less than 12 months off

when they have a baby, and that

is not what affects their salary –

it’s when they come back to work

that the pay gap begins to widen,

because there are just far fewer

opportunities for people who are

seemingly unavailable 24/7. How

about workplaces find a way to

help support women with children

so that they can come back and

do a kickass job and continue to

move up through the ranks?

THEY SAY: But I get paid more

than my male colleagues, so

things must be getting better?

WE SAY: You go girl, you’re killing

it. But unfortunately that doesn’t

mean there’s not a problem with

the way companies value women.

Most companies don’t intend to

pay women 18 per cent less, but

unconscious bias creeps in, and

the way things are set up means

that women are less likely to make

it up to senior levels. That’s why

public reporting is so important,

because it forces companies to

admit there’s a problem, and it

gives them a chance to fix things.

THEY SAY: You’re getting paid a

decent wage, what’s the big deal?

WE SAY: Because it’s completely

unfair and unethical! And it means

that women have less economic

freedom than men. “If you have

economic independence, you

have a whole lot more choices in

life,” says Tanya Plibersek. “You

can choose good relationships

and more importantly you can

choose to leave bad relationships.

Violence against women and

economic security are related.”

THEY SAY: More women work

part-time, that’s why the gender

pay gap is so big.

WE SAY: Nope, sorry guys. The

gender pay gap is worked out by

comparing the full-time earnings

of men and women, and doesn’t

take into account part-time work.

“The reality is that in our

society we will pay more for the

things we value more. The pay

gap is just another indicator of

gender inequality in Australia,”

says Julie McKay, the executive

director of UN Women Australia.

Pay gap

excuses

debunked

YOU’RE GOING TO HEAR A LOT OF

THESE WHEN YOU START TALKING

ABOUT HOW WOMEN GET PAID 18

PER CENT LESS THAN MEN.

WE’VE GOT YOUR BACK

WHY DOES PAY

TRANSPARENCY

MATTER?

In our petition, we’re calling on the

government to make company-wide

gender pay gaps public because, as

the Sony email hacks in Hollywood

showed, nothing changes until we

shine a light on this issue.

“Gender pay gaps have been a dirty little secret

and sunlight is a fantastic disinfectant,” says

Louise McSorley, the acting director of the WGEA.

“Mandatory reporting is already driving change, and

I encourage all leaders to consider how transparency

on their pay gaps – and their commitments to address

them – can help them build better businesses by

improving gender equality.” Some companies have

already started making their gender pay gaps public

in an attempt to try to fi x things themselves, which

is so awesome, but we still need government help

to get everyone on board.

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