Progress on gender pay gap work

The Ministry of Women's Affairs will soon receive its second tranche of funding of $500,000 to continue work to address the gender pay gap. 

Minister of Women's Affairs Pansy Wong said today that the Ministry was making good progress on new work aimed at reducing the gap.

"Last year, the government allocated an additional $2 million over four years for this work.  Progress to date includes:

• Promoting flexible work arrangements in order to retain skilled women in the workforce while addressing skills shortages and productivity concerns. A case study of flexible work practices in the accounting sector was completed as the first phase of this work.

• Completing an analysis of graduate incomes; highlighting post-graduation income differentials between men and women graduates; and partnering with the universities to study what is driving these differentials.

• Completing and publishing an analysis of women's labour market participation, with a focus on mothers' participation.

• Addressing occupational segregation by encouraging more women into trades; assisting with the establishment of networks for women working in the trades; and conducting research on patterns of occupational segregation in emerging industries.

• Creating career pathways for women in low-paid occupations, and completing work to support the establishment of a pathway for support workers in home-based and residential care into enrolled nursing."

"The Ministry is also making progress in the government's other priority areas for women, including ending violence against women and increasing the number of women on boards," says Pansy Wong.