Female nurses in Australia face a pay gap of up to 13%, with male nurses promoted faster, and in more executive roles despite women making up nearly 90% of the nursing workforce.
Edith Cowan University (ECU) researchers who collated the data, have called for a range of flexible work environments to offer more opportunities to accommodate the predominantly female nursing workforce and to tackle increasing workforce shortages.
The ECU research found that a gender pay gap of 4% existed at the six-month mark, widening to 13% at the three-year mark, despite the fact that wages and conditions of work for Australian nurses were controlled through an enterprise agreement made under the Fair Work Act.
Gender pay gap
“In this study, men at three years earned $39.50 per hour compared to women who earned $38 per hour,” said ECU Research Fellow Dr Gemma Doleman.
The findings flagged that men could be receiving penalty payments associated with working weekends and non-sociable hours. Women in the study worked on average 32 hours a week compared to the men who worked 36 hours a week.
Data also revealed the gender wage gap widens with age or work experience. Female nurses aged over 26 years experienced a wage gap of 5% at six months and 16% at three years.
Nurses in the public sector were likely to receive higher remuneration than those working in the private or not-for-profit sector.
Men promoted faster
Men were being promoted more quickly following graduation and that there was a disproportionate number of men sitting in executive roles within the healthcare institutions, the research found.
“Research on nursing career trajectories suggests that men experience a faster rate of career progression compared to women and are over-represented in senior positions in comparison to the proportion of men in the workforce.
“In addition, the cohort of men had an average age of 35 years in this study, which may also suggest that they have undertaken previous study and work that resulted in them reporting being overqualified more than women upon graduation,” Dr Doleman said.
The Australian government has projected a shortfall of around 70,000 nurses by 2035. To address this demand and given Australia’s adherence to traditional gender role ideologies, healthcare institutions should consider alternative working arrangements for female nurses, said Dr Doleman.
“There are a range of flexible work environments that can be considered, including alternative shifts away from the traditional 8 to 12 hours, shorter shifts, or job sharing could offer more opportunities.
“The introduction of new roles in telehealth, which offers nurses the possibility of remote working, or using experienced nurses to on-board new graduates at family friendly times can also be used to support the workforce,” she said.
“Nurses may not enter the workforce anticipating large salaries, but they do wish to be paid appropriately, and research has long shown a strong association between pay rates, job satisfaction and retention of nurses within the workforce.”
