EQUAL PAY DAY – AUSTRALIA

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Australia marked Equal Pay Day on 23 August 2023. This internationally recognised day symbolised the 56 days into the new financial year that women must work to earn the same, on average, as men did last year because of Australia’s gender pay gap.

This year, the Australian Government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) used Equal Pay Day to educate Australians on what the gender pay gap is and why it matters. Through a campaign called What’s Missing Matters, WGEA called out that the missing pay for women in Australian by highlighting all the different things in life that are hard to see until they are no longer there. 

WGEA posted images of a car without wheels, a map of Australia without Tasmania, Ken without Barbie! Each post encouraged audiences to think about how women, on average, are paid 13.3% less than men and to comment and post about why that matters to them. 

Drawing attention to these ordinary images and moments in popular culture was a successful entry point to explain what the gender pay gap is and help people understand that the gender pay gap is different to equal pay. The engaging campaign helped draw in and educate audiences on workplace gender equality.