Will the gender pay gap never close?

The news of New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson being booted out of her role after just three years has restarted the debate about equal pay for women – an issue that affects (and has affected) so many of us.

Reports abound that Abramson was fired after confronting her bosses with the issue of her salary. Some weeks ago, apparently, she had discovered that her pay and pension benefits had not been at the same level as the man she had replaced in the role (Bill Keller) – and it’s a fair assumption that she would have wanted to know why on earth that was. Whilst it’s not known the exact figures, and some are disputing that there was actually a disparity (Abramson had not been at the Times for as long as the previous editor, which could explain the pension difference), it’s certainly kicked this fiery issue back out into the open.

In the aftermath of the firing, that terribly gendered phrase “pushy” has been bandied about – as in, how pushy that she should want to ask about equal pay. Hmmmm.

More proof, it would seem, that we’re no nearer to women being paid the same as men, even now, in the year 2014, than we were 60 years ago.

Over in the UK, The Independent newspaper recently reported that women in the British Foreign Office were being paid 10% less than their male counterparts in diplomatic and senior positions. While the average salary for the most senior male civil servants in the department was £131,360, for women it was just £118,470.

Meanwhile, here in Australia, it would appear the gender pay gap is actually getting wider.

The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) found in a 2013 study that there was a $266 a week difference between what men and women in full-time work earn in this country.

The WGEA’s Dr Carla Harris said at the time the findings were released: “[The gap] has actually been steadily increasing since about 2004 … from about 15% in 2004 and now we’re looking at about 17.5% over the last year.”

Calculations show that it takes an extra 64 workdays a year for a woman to catch up with her male counterpart. Over the whole year, that works out to be nearly $14,000.

I, for one, find these statistics astounding. Sadly, they also don’t surprise me.

Having worked hard throughout my career, on more than one occasion I have discovered men that are junior to me on higher salaries. And there has always been a culture of “keep shtum or face the consequences”. To speak out is to appear pushy, as Jill Abramson found to her cost.

Here are some of the reactions on Twitter as the news spread:

It all begs the question, how on earth is this still happening in modern society? In modern Australia? How have we not moved on from this blatant sexism and inequality? We want to throw this open to the floor – how many of you out there have had similar experiences in the workplace? How do you feel about the fact that pay is still not equal between the sexes, this far into the 21^st century? Have your say in the comments below…