In 2008 the Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) marked 'Equal Pay Day' for the first time in Australia. In 2008 it fell on August 27 - being the date that illustrates the number of extra days many Australian women have to work after the end of the financial year to earn the same as men.

Equal Pay Day is largely a symbolic date, and is calculated by adding the gender pay gap as a percentage onto the end of the financial year in days worked (365 days plus 17.2% = 427.78 days or an extra 63 days counting from June 30th end of financial year). Unfortunately, because the GPG has increased by one percentage point to 17.2%, using this measure, Equal Pay Day 2009 will take place on 1 September - an extra 4 days. Equal Pay Day is aimed at educating the wider community to enliven the pay equity debate, as well as educating the business community on the benefits of pay equity, conducting pay audits, and maintaining fair and equitable workplaces. On Equal Pay Day 2009 EOWA will launch a new pay equity section of the EOWA website which will include a new pay audit tool for business, and an Avant Card campaign aimed largely at young people.

Did you know?

If current earning patterns continue, the average 25 year old male would earn $2.4 million over the next 40 years while the average 25 year old female would earn $1.5 million (AMP NATSEM (2009), “She works hard for the money”, Income and Wealth Report, Issue 22, p. 34.

Women are two and half times more likely to live in poverty in their old age than men — by 2019, on average, women will have half the amount of superannuation that men have (Queensland Government (2009), “Women and Superannuation”, Focus on Women, Office for Women, Information Paper 3).

The pay gap starts from the moment women leave university, with female graduates earning on average $2,000 p/a less than male graduates (GradStats 2008,  Table 4)