Statistics from the United States show that in America, women dominate the real estate business with all states having more female real estate agents compared to their male counterparts. Interestingly, female real estate agents, on average, list fewer homes in the US compared to their male counterparts, but women tend to put homes on the market for a higher price than their male colleagues. Nevertheless, the Highlights of women’s earnings in 2013 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics shows that the gender pay gap for American real estate brokers and sales agents stands at 18.5%.

While the American data may be unpalatable, Australian figures are even more concerning with the gender pay gap for the rental, hiring and real estate services industry sitting higher, at 28.7%. In Australia, the gender divide in the real estate sector is fairly balanced with men and women representing 52% and 48% of the real estate profession respectively. However, men are more likely to be sales agents and own their own business in comparison to women who tend to be employed as property managers.

As a result of these differences, the latest Census showed that of all female real estate agents who stated their income, only 8.5% were earning $2,000 and over as their total earnings per week – the proportion stood at 23.5% for men. The latest Average Weekly Earnings publication by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the gender pay gap for Rental, Hiring and Real Estate Services was the third worst level across the industries and almost 10 percentage points above the national average. The overall Australian gender pay gap figure hit a record high of 18.8% late last year and is now at its worst level in the last two decades.

The gender pay gap is the difference between the average of all female and all male earnings expressed as a percentage of male earnings. In November 2014, the average weekly ordinary time earnings of women working full-time were $1,289.30 per week, or $298.10 per week less than men, who earned an average weekly wage of $1,587.40 per week. In Australia, the gap in the private sector is considerably larger relative to the public sector, 22.1% and 12.3% respectively, while across the states the figure varies greatly from 11.6% in the Australian Capital Territory to 25.6% in Western Australia. Commonwealth Government’s Intergenerational Report – Australia in 2055 (IGR) released in March clearly shows that elevated female workforce participation is a desirable goal to drive higher levels of prosperity through economic growth.

Despite the increase in female workforce participation from 46% to 66% over the last four decades, the rate remains lower compared to Canada and New Zealand. IGR suggests that policy settings that seek to remove barriers to female participation in workforce include availability of childcare, flexible working arrangements, and removal of discrimination. Closing the gender pay gap is another important policy setting that the Government needs to look into given Australia currently has the largest gap in the last 20 years.

With the gender pay gap making one of the key challenges for women in today’s world, REIA believes that tax reform can assist in the Government’s aim of increased workforce participation – a desirable goal that can deliver $25 billion to Australian GDP according to Grattan Institute.