Gender segregation in Australia's workforce

The Australian labour market is highly gender-segregated by industry and occupation, a pattern that has persisted over the past two decades. Australia, the UK and the OECD show broadly similar gender segregation patterns. This paper looks at the features of ‘female-dominated’ and ‘male-dominated’ organisations, while highlighting the unequal distribution of women and men across industries and occupations.

Data is sourced from the Workplace Gender Equality Agency’s (WGEA) dataset (2017-18 reporting period) [1], the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ (ABS) Labour Force Quarterly Survey (May 1998 and May 2018 periods) [2].

• Occupational gender segregation has remained persistent over the last 20 years.
• The proportion of women in traditionally female-dominated industries (Health Care and Social Assistance and Education and Training) has increased. 
• Some male-dominated industries (Construction and Transport) recorded a decline in female representation, while others (including Mining, and Electricity, Gas, Water and Waste Services) recorded growth.  
• Although men dominate in leadership roles across all industries (including female-dominated industries), women hold a substantially higher percentage of CEO and key management personnel roles in female-dominated industries.
• Average remuneration in female-dominated organisations is lower than in male-dominated organisations. However, female managers working in male-dominated organisations are more likely to earn salaries closer to their male colleagues.  
• Performance pay and other additional remuneration plays a greater role in male-dominated industries, leading to higher gender pay gaps for total remuneration.
• There has been a substantial increase in the proportion of females in the male dominated Manager occupation (up from 28.3% in 1998 to 36.18% in 2018).
• On an occupational level, male-dominated workplaces have smaller proportions of part-time employees and full-time employees tend to work longer hours ‑ attributes that may deter people with family and caring responsibilities.

The Australian workforce is widely segregated by gender, however, a comparison with the UK and the OECD [3] reveals that industrial segregation is universal within this comparison group.[4]

• Notably, Australia, the UK and OECD, have very low female representation within the Craft and Related Trades and Plant and Machine Operator occupation groups. However, Australia lags behind both comparison groups in Craft and Related Trades. [5]
• Australia has a low female representation within the Skilled Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing occupation group compared with the OECD average, but is notably higher than the UK.
• Australia has low female representation among the Managers and Elementary Occupations occupational categories, with notably less female representation than the UK and OECD in the Elementary Occupations category.[6]
• Australia has very high female representation within the Clerical and Support Workers and Service and Sales Workers occupational categories. In both cases, female representation is well above 60% making these occupational categories female dominated. Within the Clerical and Support Workers occupational category, Australia’s female representation is notably higher than the UK and OECD average.[7]

Figure 1: Comparison of the female composition of occupations (by ISCO category) within Australia, the UK and the OECD [8]

Table 1 breaks down the number of employees in the WGEA dataset (covering non-public sector organisations with 100 or more employees) by organisations that are classified as either:

• Female-dominated (60% or more women)
• Male-dominated (40% or less women)
• Mixed (41% to 59% women).

The data shows that the majority of Australian employees continue to work in industries dominated by one gender. Only 46.5% of employed Australians work in gender mixed organisations.

Table 1: Gender dominance across WGEA reporting organisations, 2018 [9]

The average base salary and total remuneration ('total remuneration' includes base salary, superannuation, performance pay, bonuses and other discretionary pay) of all full-time employees is outlined in Table 2.

An overall comparison of gender-dominated organisations shows that:

• Female employees are paid less than male employees across all gender dominant classifications.
• Employees in female-dominated organisations have lower salaries on average, for base salary and total remuneration, when compared to male-dominated organisations.

Table 2: Average full-time base salary and total remuneration by gender dominance, 2018 [10]

Gender pay gaps across female-dominated, male-dominated and mixed organisations vary, but consistently favour men. Table 3 shows:

• Gender pay gaps in favour of men exist in female-dominated, male-dominated and mixed organisations.
• Performance pay and other additional remuneration in male-dominated industries leads to higher gender pay gaps for total remuneration.
• Female managers working in male-dominated organisations are more likely to earn salaries closer to
  their male colleagues.

Table 3: Full-time gender pay gaps by gender dominance in organisations, 2018 [11]

Note: Base salary and total remuneration exclude CEOs/Heads of Business in Australia. Total remuneration includes base salary, superannuation, performance pay, bonuses and other discretionary pay.

Table 4 shows the persistence of industrial gender-segregation over the last two decades. Each of the 19 industries is classified as either female-dominated, male-dominated or mixed*.

Between 1998 and 2018:

• The Health Care and Social Assistance and Education and Training industries are increasingly dominated by women.
• Many of the male-dominated industries, including Wholesale Trade, Manufacturing, Electricity, Gas and Water and Waste Services and Mining have seen an improvement in female representation.
• Declines in female representation are recorded in two male-dominated industries: Construction and Transport, Postal and Warehousing, Information Media and Telecommunications and the mixed industry: Financial and Insurance Services.
• Amongst the mixed industries, Public Administration and Safety, Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services, and Information Media and Telecommunications in particular have become more gender balanced over the past 20 years.

Table 4: Proportion of female employees by industry, 1998 and 2018 [12]

Table 5 shows the proportion of Chief executive officer (CEO) and Key management personnel (KMP) positions held by women. A comparison of gender dominance reveals:

• Men hold the majority of leadership roles, even in female-dominated industries.
• However, women are substantially more likely to hold CEO or KMP roles in mixed industries and especially female-dominated industries.

Table 6 highlights the persistence of labour market gender-segregation by occupation between 1998 and 2018.[14]

• Occupational gender-segregation has remained consistent, with the greatest improvement in the Managers occupation category, although it persists as a male-dominated occupation. The professional’s category has also seen an increase in female representation of 7.3 percentage points over the past 20 years.
• The most notable movements have been in male-dominated occupational categories where there has been a decrease in female Machinery Operators and Drivers and an increase in female Managers.
• WGEA reporting data also shows that the representation of women steadily declines with seniority so that most senior levels of management are heavily male-dominated.[15]

Table 6: Gender Composition by Occupations Over Time [16]

Figure 2 demonstrates that there is a relationship between managerial employment and age, and the experiences of men and women are different.

• The proportion of the male workforce employed in managerial occupations is higher than females for all ages except 15-24 year olds.
• The gap between the proportions of the workforce employed in managerial occupations for each gender widens with age.

Figure 2 shows the proportion of the male workforce and female workforce respectively employed in a managerial occupation at different age bands [17]

Note: Data is based on May as the reference period. Occupations are ranked from largest proportion of female employees to smallest.

Table 8 below shows the average weekly hours for women and men employed full-time by occupation. The maximum weekly ordinary hours for a full-time employee is currently set at 38 hours a week.[18]

Results show that:

• Both women and men exceeded this weekly amount, working an overall average of 40.6 hours per week.
• The average for women working full-time is 38.8 hours, with men working 3.9 hours more in an average 42.7 hour week.
• Female and male managers work the most hours per week in all occupations (42.1 and 47.6 hours, respectively).
• The weekly working hours are highest in male-dominated occupations when compared to mixed and female-dominated occupations. 

Table 7: Full-time average weekly hours worked by gender and occupation, 2018 [19]

When we look at the amount of time spent in paid work, it is important also to consider time that is spent on unpaid care work. Unpaid care work is still largely performed by women. The disproportionate amount of time women spend on unpaid care work, arguably limits women’s capacity to engage in paid work and poses barriers to entering certain occupations – contributing to the gender segregation present in the Australian workforce today.

The Household, Income, Labour and Dynamics (HILDA) survey is a source of valuable insight into the ways men and women invest their time. [20] HILDA data indicates that:

• In 2016, working age men spent 35.9 hours in paid employment and 13.3 hours on housework on average per week, 5.4 of these unpaid hours were spent directly caring for children and disabled or elderly relatives. In 2016, the average total amount of hours men spent working was 53.3 hours per week.
• In 2016, working age women spent 24.9 hours on paid employment and 20.4 hours on housework on average per week, 11.3 of these unpaid hours were spent directly caring for children and disabled or elderly relatives. In 2016, the average total amount of hours women spent working was 55.8 hours per week.