September 5 is Equal Pay Day, marking the fact that Australian women are earning on average 18.2% less than women.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics recently showed that the wage gap amounts to women earning $283.20 per week less than their male counterparts for doing the same job.
Australian businesses are addressing the gender wage gap and unequal treatment of women in the workplace by signing on to the Women’s Empowerment Principles, a set of seven guiding principles for business developed by UN Women and the UN Global Compact. The Principles are based on best practices from around the world and guide business in transforming workplaces, from eliminating discrimination and harassment in the workplace to implementing enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women.
On Equal Pay Day, BankSA in collaboration with the SA Equal Opportunity Commission and ten other SA businesses signed a statement of support for the Women’s Empowerment Principles. They follow the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI), Business SA and the Australian Institute of Management (AIM), who signed the Principles in July.
