TV gender gap outed
Wilkinson shines light on inequality
WOMEN earn 22 per cent less than men working in television, making Lisa Wilkinson’s walkout a gamechanger for an industry renowned as a “boys’ club’’.
Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) director Libby Lyons said the resignation over equal pay “proves in a very high-profile way that gender pay gaps are real’’.
“I think it was a very brave move for Lisa and I applaud that she has taken such a brave step,” she said.
WGEA data reveals that women working in free-to-air television earned 22 per cent less than their male colleagues, for equivalent fulltime work, last year.
Men made up 71 per cent of key management personnel, two-thirds of senior managers and 55 per cent of “professionals’’, including journalists.
Ms Lyons said Australian women in top management jobs earn $97,000 less, on average, than men for doing equivalent full-time work.
She said employers must pay women fairly – or risk the financial or reputational
damage when an underpaid female staffer quits to work for a competitor.
“It can really hurt your brand,’’ she said. “For the sake of allegedly $200,000, I’d suggest there’s been a lot more damage to that (Channel 9) brand over the last 24 hours.’’
Federal Minister for Women Michaelia Cash said it was “critical that men and women doing the same job are paid the same wage”.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten said millions of Australian women would have taken “a small measure of comfort” from Ms defection.
“Too many Australian women at work are denied opportunities for leadership roles because of their gender, patronised and passed over for promotions in favour of less-qualified men,’’ he said.
A spokeswoman for Women in Media, an initiative of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, said the media industry was “very much a mates’ network’’.
“We congratulate and thank Lisa for standing up to a pervasive and widespread inequality where the pay gap in the media is 23.3 per cent,’’ she said.
The Nine network is under pressure from marquee advertisers to find the right replacement for Wilkinson with tens of millions of dollars in advertising revenue at stake in the lucrative breakfast TV market.
“These shows make serious cash,” industry analyst Fusion Strategy expert Steve Allen said.
Nine boss Hugh Marks indicated he will initially look internally to fill Wilkinson’s position. Wilkinson’s