The research, Gender Equity Insights 2018: Inside Australia’s Gender Pay Gap, by the Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre and the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), showed that the resources sector’s gender pay gap was one of the lowest in Australia at 14.7%, compared to a 22.5% industry-wide gap.

It declined from 15.8% a year earlier.

Men working in mining can expect to earn on average almost $165,000 each year in total pay, whereas women’s average annual earning are around $139,000.
 
Chamber of Minerals and Energy CEO Reg Howard-Smith said the results reflected a concerted effort by the resources sector in the past few years to reduce the pay gap between its male and female employees, as well as create more opportunities in the workforce for women.
 
“The resource industry’s commitment to drive greater pay equity is now bearing fruit, with year on year reductions in the gender pay gap,” he said.

The report showed that the proportion of mining employers conducting pay gap analyses rose from 42.9% to 60% year-on-year.
 
“As more and more companies adopt this systematic organizational approach of measuring, taking action and reporting, we will see further reductions in the gender pay gap,” Howard-Smith said.
 
“The resources sector is committed to continual improvement in this area, recognising there is still some way to go before we achieve full equality and inclusion in the workforce. However today’s results are encouraging and show that we are on the right track.”

Australian Women in Resources Alliance spokesperson Tara Diamond said significant effort was being made to bridge the gender diversity gap.

“The resources and energy sector may have the smallest gap of any industry, but recognises that any gap is still unacceptable,” she said.

“By providing development opportunities for women, and eliminating bias in career progression and leadership pathways, our sector is working towards a goal of total pay equity.”

St Barbara is the only ASX miner to receive the WGEA’s ‘Employer of Choice for Gender Equality’ citation, which it recently received for the fourth consecutive year.

The company has significantly reduced the overall pay equity gap since 2007 as a result of changes in gender composition, and for many years has maintained a nil gender pay gap in like-for-like roles.