From 2GB to Mamamia, the media pay gap laid bare
The latest pay gap data shows that media companies run from a massive 51% pay difference (at 2GB) to rare positive situations for women (Mamamia).
In Mumbrella’s graphic of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA), it’s easy to see the best and worst performers. Also, for the first time this year, actual average salaries are available, allowing employees to compare their paypackets with others. (Click to enlarge the graphic below).
In the general data, the WGEA found that Australian women make an average of 78 cents for ever dollar earned by a man.
WGEA published the results for 7,800 individual employers and 1,700 corporate groups, which found just 21% of employers had a gender pay gap within the desire range of plus or minus 5%.
Close to three-quarters of all employers (72%) have a gender pay gap in favour of men, with the higher-paying employers the most likely to have a larger gender pay gap. Just 6.5% of employers have a pay gap in favour of women.
We’ve broken the data down into the various media sectors to see which companies are doing the best by their female employees.
TELEVISION
Network 10 has the smallest pay gap by quite some way in the television world, with a 5.4% gap in favour of men falling just outside of the desired range.
Their upper quartile (the top quarter of employees, in regards to pay packet) had an average total remuneration of $262,000, and was split 55%/45% in favour of men. This compared well to the upper quartile gender split at Foxtel (69%/31%), and Nine (62%/62%). It’s worth noting Ten’s network president, Beverley McGarvey, is female.
Foxtel has the largest pay gap, 18.1% in favour of men, with its upper quartile pay average at $316,000. Its lowest-quartile remuneration is the highest of the networks, with an average of $81,000, compared to $69,000 at Seven, $75,000 at Nine, and $78,000 at Ten.
All commercial networks are female-heavy in the lowest quartile, with WIN Television’s employee split for the lowest quartile (73%/27% in favour of women) almost the inverse of its highest quartile, which has just 29% female, compared to 71% male. Being regional TV, they also pay the worst across the board, too – with the highest quartile averaging out at $113,000.
RADIO
Nine Radio’s 2GB has a gender pay gap of 51.1%, with just 31 women among its 92 employees. Just 13% of women make up the top quartile, which has an average total pay packet of $341,000. Former presenter Ray Hadley’s $4 million annual contract may be skewing those numbers. The median gap is 12.7%, which suggests a male-top-heavy organisation, including the high-paying hosts. Ace Radio’s regional network also has some work to do, with a 25% gap, and a top quartile split 80/20 in favour of men.
The three major networks are all fairly similar, with Southern Cross Austereo boasting the smallest pay gap, of 13.4%, followed by Nova’s 14%, and ARN’s 15.4%. Interestingly, SCA and ARN both have a 53/47 gender split in its upper quartile, with ARN paying its highest earners more — $206,000 compared to SCA’s $196,000. It’s not clear that ARN’s massive contract with Kyle Sandilands and Jackie ‘O’ Henderson would be reflected in the numbers, but in any case they would cancel each other out in terms of gender.
OUT OF HOME
The out-of-home industry has a fairly high gender pay gap, with the best-performing company, JCDecaux, still with a 17% gap.
This compares slightly favourably to Ooh Media’s 17.7%, and QMS’ 17.9%. Val Morgan, who sell cinema advertising, has a gap of 23%. QMS pays its top earners far more on average than its competitors, with the top quartile average of $341,000 well above JCD’s 283,000 and Ooh Media’s $272,000.
Ooh Media is split into two companies for the purposes of WGEA’s data: the aforementioned Ooh Media Operations — with 607 employees, made up of 57% women, and an average pay packet of $146,000 — and Ooh Media Street Furniture, which boasts 149 employees, of which there are just 13 women, and an average across-company total pay of $80,000.
The street furniture arm of Ooh Media managed just a 3.7% gender pay gap, while Ooh Media Operations has a pay gap of 17.7%.
PUBLISHING
Publishing shows the most progress, with Mamamia and The Guardian leading the way. Not surprisingly, for a female-led company with 103 women and eight men, Mamamia has a gender pay gap of 15.7% in favour of women, with the gender composition roughly the same across all four pay quadrants.
The Guardian has a 3.5% gap, also in favour of women, with a total workforce of 60% women.
Fairfax, now known as Nine Publishing, has a gender pay gap of 8.9% in favour of men, followed by News Corp Australia, which has a gap of 10.5% across all its divisions.
Interestingly, for a female-led company with titles including Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day, and New Idea, Are Media has a gender pay gap of 15% in favour of men. Its 491 employees are 76% female, with its upper quartile 61% women.
The worst offender is listing site Domain, which has a 17.4% gap in favour of men, well above its main competitor REA Group, which has a gap of 12.1%
All sectors of the media industry are performing better than the national average. There is still a long way to travel in order to reach pay parity.
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Nathan Jolly is the Features Editor at Mumbrella. He joined the team in July, 2023.
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I do think on-air talent should be excluded from these as it skews things considerably. Very hard to compare across channels when OOH doesn’t have talent on the books.
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It’s so much more than that. Maybe read a bit more about it
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The gender ‘pay gap’ is the product of the different temperaments and choices men and women make. It is not because of any ‘sexism’. Can we please leave this false trope in the past?
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I agree with others, these charts are absolutely meaningless without more detailed data.
The Gender pay gap should just be renamed the ‘skills pay gap’, in most cases. I don’t believe there are many companies, today, that pay women less than men – In the same roles.
My partner (female) is a registered nurse and she gets paid a hell of a lot more than I do. If I was working at the same workplace, as a janitor would I have the right to claim gender pay inequality?
This narrative is just silly and has been captured by the Union movement to try and get better pay in, largely, unskilled or low skilled roles.
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