Female pay pain

Longer lives, but ...

THE Australian battle of the sexes continues, with women earning less and working less than men, but living longer, a national snapshot shows.

Men drink more, smoke more and spend less time with the children, the Gender Indicators report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows.

Despite this, eight out of 10 adults are happy with their lives.

The data, released yesterday, shows women are more educated and more likely to have a bachelor’s degree — particularly in management — while men are more likely to major in architecture and engineering.

Despite this, women still earn on average .89 per cent of male earnings — a gap that starts from the time they graduate from university.

Female graduates have a median starting salary of $56,000 compared with $60,000 for men, and women earn less in 16 of 19 industries.

There are also differences in health.

“Women report more longterm health conditions (80 per cent of females compared with 77 per cent of males) and more psychological distress (14 per cent of women, compared with 10 per cent of men),” ABS spokesman Dean Adams said.

“But they also live longer: a girl born in 2013-15 can expect to live 85 years, while a boy can expect to live 80 years”.

Young women are also more twice as likely to suffer anxiety as men, although men are three times more likely to take their own lives.

The ABS data also shows women, who have the most day-to-day responsibility for children, take 95 per cent of primary parental leave.

“In the private sector last year, 84,884 mums and 33,306 dads took parental leave,” Mr Adams said. Almost all of the men took secondary parental leave.