Main Australian expertise corporations Canva and NextDC noticed their gender pay gaps greater than double within the final monetary 12 months – as did the native arm of worldwide knowledge big Amazon Net Companies (AWS), in response to new knowledge launched on Tuesday.
The gender pay hole doesn’t examine pay charges for women and men working in the identical roles, however measures the distinction between the typical earnings of women and men inside an employer or trade.
Knowledge centre operator NextDC had the very best gender pay hole for an Australian-founded data expertise firm within the 2024-25 monetary 12 months, knowledge from the federal government’s Office Gender Equality Company (WGEA) confirmed.
Whereas NextDC reported a gender pay hole of twenty-two.1% in favour of males a 12 months earlier, that has greater than doubled to 45%, in response to the WGEA knowledge.
The statistics confirmed 28% of NextDC workforce consisted of ladies, however solely 23% earned within the firm’s prime quartile, the place the typical pay was $581,000 every year.
Round 33 % of the workforce within the agency’s lower-middle and lowest quartiles have been ladies, the place whole remuneration averaged between $111,000 and $86,000.
The gender pay hole in NextDC’s common base wage shrunk from 20.4% to 18.3%.
Software program big Canva additionally noticed its gender pay hole greater than double from 12.7% in 2023-24 to 27.1% in 2024-25, whereas the gender pay hole for its common base wage remained regular at 11.7%.
Whereas 38% of Canva’s workforce consisted of ladies, its prime quartile of earners – the place the typical remuneration was $580,000 – included 26% ladies.
The corporate’s lowest quartile, during which pay averaged $130,000, consisted of 55% ladies.
Canva’s chief individuals officer, Jennie Rogerson, mentioned the corporate paid women and men in the identical roles equally, however its sudden gender pay hole enhance was “pushed by two elements which can be separate from how we make pay selections”.
The primary was that almost all of Canva’s groups labored in technical roles “the place ladies stay underrepresented throughout the trade and the place compensation is usually larger”.
“We proceed to put money into inclusive hiring, sturdy pay practices, profession growth pathways, and early expertise packages to assist enhance illustration over time,” she mentioned.
The second issue concerned workers participating in a secondary share sale in 2024, which elevated some individuals’s incomes for that monetary 12 months, Rogerson added.
“In 2024, extra males than ladies selected to take part within the sale, which impacted these figures,” she mentioned.
The gender pay hole of Australian market platform Freelancer elevated barely from 35.9% to 37.8% within the new spherical of information, however its prime quartile of earners – with a mean remuneration of $269,000 – included 0 ladies, in response to the info.
NextDC and Freelancer have been contacted for remark.
Different outstanding Australian expertise corporations which noticed their gender pay gaps enhance included Atlassian, which rose from 10.5% to 12.5% ; and Xero, which rose from 10.9% to 12.2%.
The likes of Afterpay, WiseTech International, Macquarie Know-how Group, and TechnologyOne noticed their gender pay gaps scale back barely.
Pay gaps widen for world tech
A number of Australian arms of worldwide expertise corporations additionally noticed their gender pay gaps enhance within the newest knowledge.
The native arm of Amazon’s knowledge and cloud division AWS noticed its gender pay hole greater than double from 7% to 14.7% within the 2024-25 monetary 12 months.
The corporate reported its Australian workforce consisted of 29% ladies, who made up 42% of its lowest quartile of earners at a mean of $158,000 every year.
The Australian arm of American IT firm Iron Mountain noticed its gender pay hole enhance from 40.4% to 48.2%.
Whereas 59% of its workforce consisted of ladies, solely 35% earned in its prime quartile, the place the typical whole remuneration was $472,000.
The corporate’s native providers arm noticed its gender pay hole shrink barely to 25.6% in 2024-25.
The native arm of American knowledge infrastructure firm NetApp reported a rise in its gender pay hole from 26.9% to 34.1%, in addition to a 5% enhance within the gender pay hole of its common base wage.
The agency reported 18% of its Australian staff have been ladies, however solely 5% earned in its prime quartile the place remuneration averaged round $445,000.
Mark Fioretto, space vice chairman and managing director for NetApp in Australia and New Zealand, mentioned the corporate has “an energetic give attention to pay fairness and strives to enhance constantly”.
“NetApp stays dedicated to fostering an inclusive office the place all workers really feel valued and supported,” he mentioned in a press release.
The Australian arm of American IT providers agency BMC Software program additionally noticed a rise in its gender pay hole from 27% to 31.4%.
Whereas 19% of its workforce consisted of ladies, 8% earned in its prime quartile the place remuneration averaged $715,000.
The Australian arms of AWS and Iron Mountain have been contacted for remark.
Gender pay hole narrows total
Australia’s total gender pay hole shrunk by 0.9 share factors to 11.2% within the 2024-25 monetary 12 months, in response to WGEA.
The company’s knowledge spans 10,500 Australian employers, which make use of nearly 5.9 million native staff.
Corporations within the medical, mining, airline, sport, and vogue industries have been amongst these with the most important gender pay gaps in the latest knowledge.
Total, males have been nonetheless 1.8 occasions extra possible than ladies to be within the higher quartile of earners at their employer, on a mean toal remuneration of $221,000.
WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge mentioned greater than half of employers nonetheless had a gender pay hole bigger than 11.2% in favour of males, and employers in high-paying and male-dominated industries have been more likely to have wider gaps.
“The truth that males are practically twice as possible as ladies to be within the highest paid roles and that ladies nonetheless dominate the bottom paid roles ought to provide a actuality examine for anybody who thinks Australia has achieved equality within the office,” Wooldridge mentioned.
Australia handed landmark office gender equality legal guidelines in 2025, which imply Australian corporations with 500 or extra workers have to attain or enhance on measurable targets referring to gender equality, together with the gender pay hole.
* This story first appeared on Info Age. You may learn the authentic right here.
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