Latest Australian Bureau of Statistics have revealed that female graduates in starting salaries earn about 11 per cent less than their male counterparts and Wagga is not exempt. 

Dr Andreia Schineanu, who has been undertaking research in community attitudes towards gender, said she is not surprised by this gap. 

“I am surprised that it is only 11 per cent, which hopefully indicates that actions towards closing that gap are beginning to work,” she said. 

“But we still have so far to go, because this gap will only increase in comparison to her male counterpart as a woman progresses in her career.” 

“In occupations dominated by women, such as community services, which are relatively low paying, the pay gap is the lowest but still favour men, mainly because they have the ability to work overtime more than women.”

The report found that dentistry was the highest pay gap among male and female graduates, with a man earning up to $19,500 more than a woman. However, engineering was the only industry where female graduates were paid more. 

Dr Schineanu said that some people argue that inequalities in pay between men and women can be explained by the different ways that each gender works. 

“For example more women work part time in lower paid jobs, however many studies show that significant gender pay gaps remain once differences between women and men are accounted for,” she said. 

“A 2009 report from the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling found that 17 per cent of the overall wage gap was due to industrial segregation (the fact that women work in lower paid jobs) and the most percentage, 60 per cent, was due to unobserved factors or simply being a woman.”

Local engineer Mick McAuliffe said that while he is open to female perspectives, he does not think women are suited or interested in his trade. 

“I would definitely hire a male over a female, because my trade is very dirty and there’s a lot of heavy lifting and welding and therefore there’s restrictions in who I can hire,” he said. 

“There’s only two of us in my business at the moment and I’m not saying that I would never hire a female; I would definitely consider it, if I had more employees.”

Mr McAuliffe argued that women would better suit other areas of engineering. 

“I think women would bring other aspects into the trade and different perspectives, as there’s all types of engineering,” he said. 

“I appreciate the female perspective on a lot of things but if it’s the dirty, dusty and welding side of engineering, I think it would be harder for women to fit in. 

“But, never say never.” 

GHD’s, an engineering consultancy firm, regional manager Justeen Kirk said she is surprised that female graduates are earning slightly more and not equal to men in engineering. 

“There is absolutely no reason why women should not be engineers,” she said. 

“In my office alone we have a female graduate in environmental science, the year before we had a female graduate and we also have a female summer intern, in the greater Canberra office – including Wagga. 

“It’s all about our brains and the ability to build and design, fix current systems and building something brand new.” 

Ms Kirk said that all graduates, regardless of their gender, start at the same salary and a salary is determined by their experience. 

“When I interview someone it has nothing to do with their gender, it’s all about how they are going to fit into our working environment, their potential and personality and working with the team; the rest can be taught,” she said. 

“When you’re fresh out of university, we’re looking at your attitude and how willing you are to learn and do the work, this has nothing to do with the sex of the person.” 

Dr Schineanu said the long term solution to get rid of gender inequality would be to change community attitudes towards gender. 

The Wagga Women’s Health Centre just received a $1.2 million grant to change community attitudes, together with the Wagga council, which was based on research over five years by Dr Schineanu and Lauren Darley-Bentley.

“But, that will take a very long time, so meanwhile there are things that can be done at the organisational level,” she said. 

“Firstly an organisation must work to correct like-for-like pay gaps. But for this to happen, they must have commitment from the organisational leadership so the boss(es) need to be on side about addressing gender pay gap. 

“And progress on these actions must be reported to the CEO or the board on a regular basis to ensure progress.”

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While Ms Kirk argued that attitudes need to change, she said it should not solely rely within firms. 

“There is a push in schools and universities for STEM subjects and engineering is such a great opportunity, with huge benefits for women, which I don’t think is widely known,” she said. 

“I used to be on the committee for the Property Council and we found that many parents who’s children have strong mathematics and science skills are wanting them to become lawyers and accountants. 

“I think engineering is still seen as a ‘blokey’ or rough and male-dominated industry and we need to tackle these stereotypes inside the home, before the children start these subjects in school.”