BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights Series

Centre PersonnelAlan Duncan, Astghik Mavisakalyan, Silvia Salazar, Lili Loan Vu
Research PartnersWorkplace Gender Equality Agency
Project StatusCurrent (June 2015 to December 2027)

Project Summary

The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre has partnered with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency in order to pursue a common goal of improving gender equality throughout Australia’s workplaces.

A core purpose of the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre is to shed new light on important economic and social issues facing Australia. The gender pay gap has long been one such issue, remaining a permanent feature of the Australian labour market.

Gender pay gaps not only challenge basic notions of fairness, they compromise the current and future economic security of women and represent a lost opportunity in human capital investment and potential.

The BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insight series will add to the evidence base around gender pay gaps and other gender equity indicators through expert analyses and research based on the new WGEA organisational reporting data.

Project Outputs

Presentation: Gender Equity Insights 2025: The power of balance Alan Duncan View the slides by lead author Professor Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, from the launch of the report Gender Equity Insights 2025: The power of balance. About the report The tenth report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights... Read article Publication14 October 2025Gender Equity Insights  |  Presentations Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2025: New Report release 14 October Keen to watch the launch? Link to our recording here. New research from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) will be released in a national online launch event on Tuesday, 14 October 2025.... Read article Event14 October 2025 Read More
New report shows action to improve gender equity linked to career gains and better business performance   Gender-balanced leadership can boost company value by close to $93 million Women leave key industries faster than men, stalling progress for gender equality Fewer than 1 in 3 organisations have a gender-balanced workforce A new report out today shows... Read article Media14 October 2025Media Releases Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2024: The changing nature of part-time work in Australia Alan Duncan, Silvia Salazar, Lili Loan Vu The ninth report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights series provides an in-depth analysis of the evolving nature of part-time work and implications of this change for the future of work in Australia, finding: Part-time roles dropped by 3.2 percentage points... Read article Publication9 September 2024Gender Equity Insights Read More
New report finds the changing nature of work provides new opportunities for workplace gender equality – Part-time roles dropped by 3.2 percentage points in past two years – – A rise in flexible full-time and hybrid roles has enabled more employee choice – – Labour market is shifting, especially in women’s part-time and flexible work... Read article Media9 September 2024Media Releases Read More
Presentation: Gender Equity Insights 2024: The changing nature of part-time work in Australia Alan Duncan, Silvia Salazar View the publication by lead authors Professor Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, and Dr Silvia Salazar, Senior Research Fellow, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre, from the launch of the report Gender Equity Insights 2024: The changing nature of part-time work... Read article Publication9 September 2024Gender Equity Insights  |  Presentations Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2023: Accelerating the pace of change Alan Duncan, Astghik Mavisakalyan, Lili Loan Vu The eighth report in the Gender Equity Insights series from the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) looks at the gender equality strategies at nearly 4,800 Australian employers to determine what factors are accelerating... Read article Publication5 October 2023Gender Equity Insights Read More
New report highlights wide disparity in Australian business’s gender pay equality performance – Best performing Australian companies reduced gender pay gaps by 5.3pp in 3 years – – Businesses that conducted a pay audit improved their gender pay gaps – – Despite progress, women continue to be excluded from top salaries –... Read article Media3 October 2023Media Releases Read More
Executive Summary: Gender Equity Insights 2023: Accelerating the pace of change Alan Duncan, Astghik Mavisakalyan, Lili Loan Vu The BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights 2023 Executive Summary is a printable summary of the key findings and infographics from this year’s report, Gender Equity Insights 2023: Accelerating the pace of change, which looks at the gender equality strategies at nearly... Read article Publication4 October 2023Gender Equity Insights Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2022: The state of inequality in Australia Alan Duncan, Astghik Mavisakalyan, Silvia Salazar Missed the online report launch? You can watch it on YouTube here. The seventh edition of the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights series looks at Australia’s gender pay gap and finds that it could narrow by a third if a more... Read article Publication20 October 2022BCEC Reports  |  Gender Equity Insights Read More
Greater gender balance across industries key to closing pay gap — New report provides first analysis of gender pay gap by postcode — — Insights confirm gender segregation across industries key driver of pay gap — The seventh edition of the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights series released today by the... Read article Media20 October 2022Media Releases Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2021: Making it a Priority Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan For seven years, non-public sector organisations in Australia with more than 100 employees reported annually to the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) on gender equality policies and practices in their organisations. This world-leading data base has advanced our understanding of... Read article Publication26 March 2021Gender Equity Insights Read More
Over a quarter of a century until gender pay gap likely to close — Consistency is the key to implementing gender equality policies and practices — — Mining sector the big improver in gender equality practices — — Regular pay gap audits lead to faster closing of managerial pay gaps — A new... Read article Media25 March 2021Media Releases Read More
BCEC and WGEA launch Gender Equity Insights 2021: Making it a Priority report Gender Equity Insights 2021: Making it a Priority was launched at a breakfast event at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre in collaboration with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) on Friday 26 March. Hosted by Tracy Vo from 9News, the... Read article News29 March 2021 Read More
Watch: BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights 2021: Making it a Priority report launch Watch the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights 2021: Making it a Priority report launch The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency launched their new report, ‘BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights 2021: Making it a Priority’ on Friday 26... Read article News5 May 2021 Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2020 Presentation: Delivering the Business Outcomes Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan Our 2020 Gender Equity Insights report, the fifth report in this series, shows that more women at the top proves better for business: Profitability, performance and productivity increase under female leadership Female top-tier managers add 6.6 per cent to market... Read article Publication23 June 2020Presentations Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2020: Delivering the Business Outcomes Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan Our 2020 Gender Equity Insights report, the fifth report in this series, shows that more women at the top proves better for business: Profitability, performance and productivity increase under female leadership Female top-tier managers add 6.6 per cent to market... Read article Publication18 June 2020Gender Equity Insights Read More
More women at the top proves better for business — Profitability, performance and productivity increase under female leadership — — Female top-tier managers add 6.6 per cent to market value of ASX companies — — Female leadership will help businesses thrive in a post-COVID world — As Australia moves... Read article Media18 June 2020Media Releases Read More
Breaking through the Glass Ceiling – What Works? Rebecca Cassells Glass ceilings have featured heavily in Australia’s workplaces for centuries but in recent years significant changes have been made. Women now make up almost 50% of Australia’s workforce and hold around 40% of all full-time jobs, and although women still... Read article Publication22 October 2019Presentations Read More
Equal share of female managers on the horizon, but next century for CEOs — Women breaking through the glass ceiling earn $162k less than men — — Employer-paid parental leave a key driver in mothers returning to work — The highest paid men in Australia are being paid at least $162,000 more than... Read article Media1 March 2019Media Releases Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2019: Breaking through the Glass Ceiling Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan Glass ceilings have featured heavily in Australia’s workplaces for centuries but in recent years significant changes have been made. Women now make up almost 50% of Australia’s workforce and hold around 40% of all full-time jobs. Although women still remain under-represented... Read article Publication1 March 2019Gender Equity Insights Read More
Gender equity. The way things are going, we won’t reach true parity until the 22nd century The good news this International Women’s Day is that women are now moving through the ranks into management roles faster than men. If things continue at this rate it will take just two more decades for women to hold the... Read article Media8 March 2019News & Public Commentary Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2019: Breaking through the Glass Ceiling The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC) and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) invites you to a lunch event to launch the fourth report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity series with special guest speaker, the Hon Julie Bishop MP. Gender Equity Insights 2019: Breaking through the... Read article Event1 March 2019 Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2018: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan This third report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights series extends and strengthens the evidence base around gender pay gaps and how these have changed over time across Australian workplaces. The report uses unique data reported to the WGEA, capturing 4... Read article Publication2 March 2018Gender Equity Insights Read More
Pay gaps close when leaders see the numbers More Australian employers taking action to close gender pay gaps Action three times more effective when data reported to executive or board  Australian employers that measure their gender pay gaps are making positive progress in closing gaps between women’s and... Read article Media2 March 2018Media Releases Read More
Auditing, matching pay and accountability will close the gender pay gap: study Taking action such as correcting like-for-like pay gaps, analysing performance pay and reporting the results to company boards are effective in closing the gender pay gap, new research shows. We found organisations that completed a pay gap analysis in the... Read article Media2 March 2018News & Public Commentary Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2018: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre together with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency invites you to the launch of the third report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity series. Gender Equity Insights 2018: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap extends and strengthens the evidence... Read article Event2 March 2018 Read More
It’s too soon to celebrate a narrowing gender wage gap Rebecca Cassells, Curtin University The gender pay gap is trending downward. It has fallen from 24.7% to 22.4% in the past four years, in terms of total remuneration, according to the latest gender equality scorecard. But it’s not time to... Read article Media17 November 2017News & Public Commentary Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2017: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan, Rachel Ong ViforJ The persistence of the gender pay gap in the Australian labour market is perplexing. The past decades have seen some major advances for women in the workforce and intentional policy initiatives that have targeted a reduction of the pay gap... Read article Publication2 March 2017Gender Equity Insights Read More
Gender balance in leadership drives reduced gender pay gaps Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), in collaboration with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) today released a report revealing top tier female managers in Australian organisations earn on average $93,000, or 26.5 per cent, less per year compared to their... Read article Media2 March 2017Media Releases Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2017: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre together with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency invites you to the launch of the second report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity series. The persistence of the gender pay gap in the Australian labour market is perplexing.... Read article Event2 March 2017 Read More
Will the real gender pay gap please stand up? Whenever the gender pay gap is mentioned there are always those who argue it doesn’t exist, either because of differences in the way men and women work, choices women make or legislation prohibiting it. Whatever the reason, this confused rhetoric... Read article Media8 September 2016News & Public Commentary Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2016: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap Rebecca Cassells, Alan Duncan, Rachel Ong ViforJ This first report in the BCEC|WGEA Gender Equity Insights series seeks to add to and strengthen the evidence base that exists around gender pay gaps throughout Australian workplaces. The report uses unique data reported to WGEA, capturing 4 million workers and more... Read article Publication3 March 2016BCEC Reports  |  Gender Equity Insights Read More
Female senior managers paid $100,000 less than their male counterparts: study Women are paid less on average than men at a senior management level and have less representation on boards, particularly among male-dominated industries, new research shows. Among top tier managers (those reporting directly to the CEO), female managers are paid... Read article Media3 March 2016News & Public Commentary Read More
Gender Equity Insights 2016: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency invite you to the launch of the first report in the BCEC | WGEA Gender Equity series. Gender Equity Insights 2016: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap extends and strengthens... Read article Event3 March 2016 Read More