Main Australian know-how corporations Canva and NextDC noticed their gender pay gaps greater than double within the final monetary yr – as did the native arm of worldwide information large Amazon Internet Companies (AWS), in accordance with new information launched on Tuesday.
The gender pay hole doesn’t evaluate pay charges for women and men working in the identical roles, however measures the distinction between the common 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 know-how firm within the 2024-25 monetary yr, information 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 yr earlier, that has greater than doubled to 45%, in accordance with the WGEA information.
The statistics confirmed 28% of NextDC workforce consisted of girls, however solely 23% earned within the firm’s prime quartile, the place the common pay was $581,000 each year.
Round 33 % of the workforce within the agency’s lower-middle and lowest quartiles had been girls, 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 large 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 girls, its prime quartile of earners – the place the common remuneration was $580,000 – included 26% girls.
The corporate’s lowest quartile, through which pay averaged $130,000, consisted of 55% girls.
Canva’s chief folks officer, Jennie Rogerson, stated the corporate paid women and men in the identical roles equally, however its sudden gender pay hole improve was “pushed by two elements which are separate from how we make pay selections”.
The primary was that the majority of Canva’s groups labored in technical roles “the place girls stay underrepresented throughout the trade and the place compensation is usually greater”.
“We proceed to put money into inclusive hiring, robust pay practices, profession growth pathways, and early expertise applications to assist enhance illustration over time,” she stated.
The second issue concerned staff participating in a secondary share sale in 2024, which elevated some folks’s incomes for that monetary yr, Rogerson added.
“In 2024, extra males than girls selected to take part within the sale, which impacted these figures,” she stated.
The gender pay hole of Australian market platform Freelancer elevated barely from 35.9% to 37.8% within the new spherical of knowledge, however its prime quartile of earners – with a median remuneration of $269,000 – included 0 girls, in accordance with the info.
NextDC and Freelancer had been contacted for remark.
Different distinguished Australian know-how corporations which noticed their gender pay gaps improve 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 World, Macquarie Expertise Group, and TechnologyOne noticed their gender pay gaps cut back barely.
Pay gaps widen for global tech
Several Australian arms of international technology companies also saw their gender pay gaps increase in the latest data.
The local arm of Amazon’s data and cloud division AWS saw its gender pay gap more than double from 7% to 14.7% in the 2024-25 financial year.
The company reported its Australian workforce consisted of 29% women, who made up 42% of its lowest quartile of earners at an average of $158,000 per annum.
The Australian arm of American IT company Iron Mountain saw its gender pay gap increase from 40.4% to 48.2%.
While 59% of its workforce consisted of women, only 35% earned in its top quartile, where the average total remuneration was $472,000.
The company’s local services arm saw its gender pay gap shrink slightly to 25.6% in 2024-25.
The local arm of American data infrastructure company NetApp reported an increase in its gender pay gap from 26.9% to 34.1%, as well as a 5% increase in the gender pay gap of its average base salary.
The firm reported 18% of its Australian workers were women, but only 5% earned in its top quartile where remuneration averaged around $445,000.
Mark Fioretto, area vice president and managing director for NetApp in Australia and New Zealand, said the company has “an active focus on pay equity and strives to improve continuously”.
“NetApp remains committed to fostering an inclusive workplace where all employees feel valued and supported,” he said in a statement.
The Australian arm of American IT services firm BMC Software also saw an increase in its gender pay gap from 27% to 31.4%.
While 19% of its workforce consisted of women, 8% earned in its top quartile where remuneration averaged $715,000.
The Australian arms of AWS and Iron Mountain were contacted for comment.
Gender pay gap narrows overall
Australia’s overall gender pay gap shrunk by 0.9 percentage points to 11.2% in the 2024-25 financial year, according to WGEA.
The agency’s data spans 10,500 Australian employers, which employ almost 5.9 million local workers.
Companies in the medical, mining, airline, sport, and fashion industries were among those with the largest gender pay gaps in the most recent data.
Overall, men were still 1.8 times more likely than women to be in the upper quartile of earners at their employer, on an average toal remuneration of $221,000.
WGEA CEO Mary Wooldridge said more than half of employers still had a gender pay gap larger than 11.2% in favour of men, and employers in high-paying and male-dominated industries were likely to have wider gaps.
“The fact that men are nearly twice as likely as women to be in the highest paid roles and that women still dominate the lowest paid roles should offer a reality check for anyone who thinks Australia has achieved equality in the workplace,” Wooldridge said.
Australia passed landmark workplace gender equality laws in 2025, which imply Australian corporations with 500 or extra staff have to realize or enhance on measurable targets referring to gender equality, together with the gender pay hole.
* This story first appeared on Information Age. You possibly can learn the original here.
