The gender pay gap is a stark reminder of inequality on IWD

Men earn 13.3 per cent more than women. That means working women earn 87 cents for every dollar earned by males, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics survey data. But that's the best case scenario.

CARE Australia gender equality social inclusion lead Dr Athena Nguyen told ACM it was a challenging time for women trying to create an equal playing field.

"We're coming through a pandemic era where we've seen reversals in gender equality across the world," she said.

Sydney University senior lecturer Dr Meraiah Foley told ACM "the gender pay gap doesn't measure John and Jane working the same job but being paid differently".

The gender pay gap only compares the average wage of all full-time male workers against the average wage of all full-time female workers, she said.

Pay gap calculations don't factor in part-time or casual workers, and female employees far outnumber males holding these contracts.

Dr Foley said "the gender pay gap can best be understood as a general, and very rough, estimate of women's economic standing in Australia relative to men's economic standing in Australia".

This means women who split their time between working part-time or casual contracts and caring for a family won't be counted as part of the pay gap.

"We know family care disproportionately falls to women," CARE Australia's Dr Nguyen said.

Australia's Workplace Gender Equality Agency said the gender pay gap is closer to 22.8 per cent when part-time and casual workers are included.

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Men are twice as likely to be among the nation's top earners while women are 1.5 times more likely to be in the lowest earning bracket.

A "major contributor" to the pay gap is gender segregation in our industries, Dr Foley said.

"Industries and occupations, across the economy, that are run by a majority female workforce are marked by lower wages," she said.

Dr Foley said that "the progress towards gender equality is always about progression and regression".

The "general arch" is toward improvement, but it's not uninterrupted progression, she said.

Lawyer and human rights advocate Nyadol Nyuon told ACM that despite efforts to close the gender pay gap, "progress has stalled and women continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions".

"This goes to show that we cannot become complacent," the Her Circle advocate said.