Our commitment and gender equality
As the leading consumer advocacy group in Australia, CHOICE is committed to building a diverse, equal and inclusive organisational culture. We recognise and respect the diversity of our workforce and ensure our staff feel valued and respected, have equal access to resources and opportunities to contribute to our organisation's growth.
We are an organisation founded by a woman, a trailblazing consumer advocate 60 years ago, and we are proud of the progress we are making in gender equality. With women making up 48% of CHOICE's total workforce, 40% of our key management staff and 67% of our board members in the 2022–23 WGEA reporting period, we are committed to continuously improving our strategies and policies towards a more gender-equal work environment.
CHOICE gender pay gap
The Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) annual gender equality reporting highlights the existing gender inequities in today's workplace, emphasising disparities between men and women. This year, the current national average is reported at 21.7%.
| Primary measure | National | Industry | CHOICE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Average total remuneration gender pay gap | 21.70% | 19.50% | 9.40% |
| Median total remuneration | 19.00% | 24.20% | 2.20% |
| Median base salary | 14.50% | 22.50% | 6.40% |
By comparison, at CHOICE, our gender pay gap result for the 2023 reporting period shows we are currently at a median base salary gender pay gap of 6.4%, with a median total remuneration gender pay gap of 2.2%.
Our total workforce gender composition for the 2022–23 reporting period shows a breakdown of 48% women and 52% male.
While our results are pleasing and positive compared to the industry (Information, Media and Telecommunications) and the national average, we recognise that we still have work to do to improve this.
Gender pay gap drivers
Our workforce composition in the 2022–23 reporting period shows that women are slightly underrepresented at management level; however, are equally represented within non-management roles.
We recognise that a certain percentage of senior and technology roles within CHOICE typically attract a more male-dominated talent pool. In light of this, we continue to ensure that our recruitment and retention strategies highlight our commitment to providing equal opportunities to all genders during the hiring process and throughout the employment cycle.
Our current policies and strategies also provide equal opportunities for men and women to access benefits and opportunities such as flexibility, parental leave, training and career progression.
Our strategies and initiatives
CHOICE has met the majority of WGEA's recommendations with regards to having formal policies, strategies and consultation in place that supports gender equality, flexible working and parental leave. We also have strategies and policies in place to support staff impacted by domestic and family violence, sex-based harassment and/or discrimination, along with providing support for their managers.
At CHOICE, we are proud of our overall results and are committed to continue to implement initiatives, review and improve our policies and strategies to ensure we maintain our great results, and keep up our good progress towards closing the gender pay gap. We are currently in the process of pursuing opportunities to improve gender equality further through our ongoing review of internal policies and strategies, improving pay transparency initiatives, and the ongoing review of gender pay gaps across our organisation.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
